Venue Type & Location
Performance Spaces
Overview
Set in the secluded, wooded valley of the River Tavy a few miles NW of Plymouth. Accessible by water from the English Channel. An unusual conversion from a Cistercian abbey church with rubble walls and granite dressings to an Elizabethan residence. The original church had a traditional plan, with central tower and N and S transepts with 2 adjoining chapels on each side. The restored house, with a few other monastic buildings (notably the tithe barn), remains on the site.
Performance History
Possible performance venue. Although relevant family records do not survive, Sir Francis Drake's musicians are recorded elsewhere in the 1590s.
Current Status
History of the Venue
1278 Abbey founded by Amicia, Countess of Devon, as a Cistercian house.
1539 Dissolution.
1541 Granted to Sir Richard Grenville.
ca. 1576 Grenville's grandson, another Sir Richard, converted the abbey church into an impressive residence. 2 floor levels added and the nave of the church divided into 3 reception rooms, with bedrooms and withdrawing room above. The E end of the nave and crossing became the great hall: transepts demolished to allow more light in and a fine plaster ceiling inserted. Kitchen added in NE corner between the wall of the N transept and the N side of the former chancel.
1581 Purchased by Sir Francis Drake.
1642 Occupied by royalist forces.
1646 Drake family returned to live at Buckland.
ca. 1770 5th Baronet began extensive restoration work. Georgian staircase and other panelled rooms at E end added.
1920s Former chancel restored from use as the servants' hall and refurnished as a chapel.
1937 Fire in the roof damaged W wing of the house.
1940--5 Used as a naval store.
1946 Captain Arthur Rodd acquired the Drake house, barn and gardens.
1948 Estate given to the National Trust and managed by the Plymouth City Council as the Drake and Westcountry Life Museum.
1949--51 Extensive restoration and modernization.
Record Source
REED Devon 256
Patrons who owned this venue
| Name | Date | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Drake, Francis | 1540-1596 | Knight |
Bibliographic Sources
- Buck, Samuel, and Nathaniel Buck. [A Collection of Engravings of the Castles, Abbeys, and Towns in England and Wales]. 5 vols. London: The authors, 1726--52
- Cherry, Bridget, and Nikolaus Pevsner. Devon. London: Penguin Books, 1989
- Cumming, Alex A. Buckland Abbey. Norwich: Jarrold & Sons, 1981
- Gaskell-Brown, C. 'Buckland Abbey.'. Devon Archaeological Society Proceedings 53 (1995): 25--82.
- Gray, Todd. The Garden History of Devon: An Illustrated Guide to Sources. Exeter: U of Exeter P, 1995
- Hoskins, W.G. Devon. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1973
- Rowse, A.L. Sir Richard Grenville of The <i>Revenge</i>: an Elizabethan Hero. London: Jonathan Cape, 1937
- Weaver, Lawrence. 'Buckland Abbey, Devonshire. A Seat of Sir Francis F. Eliot-Drake, Bt.'. Country Life 39 (1916): 338--44.
- Youings, Joyce. 'Drake, Grenville and Buckland Abbey.'. Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association 112 (1980): 95--9.