The history of Buckfastleigh T


here is some considerable dispute as to the age of the granites of Dartmoor. Modern geologists put the age at just more than 300 million years. In any case, magma thrust up through the earths crust and formed a huge mound of granite which cooled slowly in a great reservoir beneath the overlying rocks. This produced the big crystals of quartz and feldspar that you see today in the weathered granite tors on top of Dartmoor.


The 350 million year old Devonian Limestone, on which Buckfastleigh has been built is one of the oldest rocks to be found in the south west of England. Hard though it is it is never-the-less dissolved by rainwater to form caves and underground passageways. The Pengelly caves on the outskirts of the town contain the bones of prehistoric animals – cave lions, straight tusked elephant, hippopotamus and hyenas, that died and were washed into the caves more than 100,000 years ago. You can visit the caves and the small museum which will tell you about the importance of this site in the pre-history of our region. A monastery has existed near Buckfastleigh for nearly a thousand years. The first one was located on the bluff overlooking the town where the remains of Holy Trinity Church now stand. Monasteries were major centres of industry in their day. The Domesday Book compiled in the 1080s AD showed that the Abbey had a smithy, two ploughs and ten serfs, 670 sheep, 29 pigs, 88 oxen and a large area of woodland. After the Norman Conquest, in 1066, King William stole great areas of Devon from their Saxon owners and gave more than 12,000 acres of prime land around Buckfastleigh to one of his followers, William de Falesia. This second Abbey was closed by Henry VIII in the 16th century and then fell


4


Benedictine monks in the first half of the 20th century. You are never far from the sound of running water in Buckfastleigh. Water from the moor powered flour, textile and paper mills in and around


into decay. The third Abbey was built by present day


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44