Buckfast Abbey, Baptismal Font
This bronze Font Cast by Bernhard Witte (German collegiate goldsmith) B 7/8/1868 D 11/12/1947, he did much of the work on the Abbey between 1907-1932. The font is a copy of the font in Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. The figures on the side of the font, give a graphical account of Christian Baptism - for example, the Israelites passing through the Red Sea, and the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.
At the base of the font, there are four kneeling figures. These figures are the symbols of the four great rivers of paradise, Gihon, Tigris, Phison and Euphrates. The font weighs 317 kg. The heavy cover is raised by means of a system of counterweights above the ceiling.
Official list entry
Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: II*
List Entry Number: 1209774
Date first listed: 10-Jan-1951
Statutory Address 1: CHURCH OF ST MARY, BUCKFAST ABBEY, BUCKFAST ROAD
Location
Statutory Address: CHURCH OF ST MARY, BUCKFAST ABBEY, BUCKFAST ROAD
County: Devon
District: Teignbridge (District Authority)
Parish: Buckfastleigh
National Park: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference: SX 74147 67411
Details
Abbey church. Built 1907-1932, on the foundations of the medieval Cistercian abbey church (except the east end). FA Walters. For the Benedictine monks who established a house here in 1882. Most of the building work was carried out by a small group of monks working under a master mason. Snecked local grey limestone with Ham Hill dressings; copper roof. Style "mixture of English Cistercian and French early Gothic" (Pevsner). 1965 east end Blessed Sacrament chapel to the designs of Paul Pearn. Plan: church with 8-bay lean-to aisles plus galleried western bay; central crossing tower; transepts with chapels; 3-bay choir with choir aisles; east end Blessed Sacrament chapel with undercroft. EXTERIOR: west end of nave with flanking projecting buttresses containing stairs to gallery, rising as pinnacles with broach spire roofs, bases and pinnacles decorated with blind arcading. Round-headed west doorway with shafts, left and right shafts with cushion capitals and carved gable. Doorway has 3 orders of zigzag, billet and chevron moulding on engaged shafts; 2-leaf door with elaborate ironwork. Above the doorway a recessed 3-centred blind moulded arch containing 2 round-headed windows with shafts and a roundel window above. Above the archway blind arcading decorates the gable. West ends of lean-to aisles have smaller versions of the buttresses flanking the nave and paired round-headed openings (one blind) with roundels above. North side of 9-bay nave has pilasters and a corbelled parapet. Round-headed triforium windows linked by string rising as continuous hoodmould. Nave with parapet and round-headed windows, the hoodmould string interrupted by the pilasters. Small gabled porch in second bay from the west with set-back buttresses, parapet and round-headed outer doorway with shafts and chevron-carved arch. Easternmost 2 bays of aisle with taller roof and blind arcading above the windows. North end of north transept with tall paired arches containing 4 tiers of glazed blind and glazed windows, either round-headed or roundels. East side of transept has one-bay chapel. The choir continues in the same style with lean-to choir aisle roofs. 1965 concrete east end chapel on 4 columns with shallow gabled roof. Tower with 3 stages above nave roof. Clasping pilasters; corner pinnacles with 2 tiers of blind arcading and broach spires, crow-stepped parapet. Lower stage has lancet windows in round-headed recesses, middle stage has small lancet windows in moulded arched recesses; 2-light plate-traceried louvred belfry windows. INTERIOR: Stone-vaulted, the aisles with transverse vaults. Arcades with piers with engaged shafts and chamfred and moulded arches. Nave rib vault with red sandstone infill. Triforium has a pair of 2-light pointed arches to each bay with super-ordinate round-headed blind arch. Aisle walls decorated with blind round-headed recesses containing triple round-headed arches on shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals. Stone-vaulted west end gallery on piers with canted bays to parapet. Tower arches on short paired shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals. Crossing has corbelled stone gallery; transepts have simple galleries on moulded corbels with cast-iron railings. Choir has similar detail to nave but carved, not moulded capitals and stone infill to the vaulting of choir and choir aisles. East end of sanctuary has 2 round-headed arches and 2 round-headed windows above the triforium with a central shaft rising to a carving of the Coronation of the Virgin. The furnishings, floors, painted decoration and stained glass are unexpectedly lavish, particularly the outstanding metalwork, which is mostly 1928-1932 by Bernhard Witte of Aachen, inspired by German Romanesque metalwork and described in some detail in Pevsner. The stained glass is a remarkable collection, mostly still in the medievalising Victorian tradition and of the highest quality. In addition the church contains a C16 ivory crucifix donated by the Clifford family of Ugbrooke, the leading Roman Catholic family in Devon. 1965 Blessed Sacrament chapel by Paul Pearn conceived as a setting for ambitious mosaic stained glass designed by Father Charles Norris, one of the Buckfast Abbey monks. Historical note: the rebuilding of the abbey church by the Buckfast monks was well-publicised in the national and local press and one of the monks with an interest in photography recorded much of the work: the archive is held by the abbey. Buckfast Abbey became an important focus for Roman Catholicism in Devon in the late C19 and C20 with the monks serving private chapels in the area, including Ugbrooke in Chudleigh for the Clifford family and Dundridge in Harberton for the wife of Sir John Harvey. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-: 222-226).
© Historic England 2022
Buckfast Abbey, Baptismal Font
This bronze Font Cast by Bernhard Witte (German collegiate goldsmith) B 7/8/1868 D 11/12/1947, he did much of the work on the Abbey between 1907-1932. The font is a copy of the font in Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. The figures on the side of the font, give a graphical account of Christian Baptism - for example, the Israelites passing through the Red Sea, and the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan.
At the base of the font, there are four kneeling figures. These figures are the symbols of the four great rivers of paradise, Gihon, Tigris, Phison and Euphrates. The font weighs 317 kg. The heavy cover is raised by means of a system of counterweights above the ceiling.
Official list entry
Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: II*
List Entry Number: 1209774
Date first listed: 10-Jan-1951
Statutory Address 1: CHURCH OF ST MARY, BUCKFAST ABBEY, BUCKFAST ROAD
Location
Statutory Address: CHURCH OF ST MARY, BUCKFAST ABBEY, BUCKFAST ROAD
County: Devon
District: Teignbridge (District Authority)
Parish: Buckfastleigh
National Park: DARTMOOR
National Grid Reference: SX 74147 67411
Details
Abbey church. Built 1907-1932, on the foundations of the medieval Cistercian abbey church (except the east end). FA Walters. For the Benedictine monks who established a house here in 1882. Most of the building work was carried out by a small group of monks working under a master mason. Snecked local grey limestone with Ham Hill dressings; copper roof. Style "mixture of English Cistercian and French early Gothic" (Pevsner). 1965 east end Blessed Sacrament chapel to the designs of Paul Pearn. Plan: church with 8-bay lean-to aisles plus galleried western bay; central crossing tower; transepts with chapels; 3-bay choir with choir aisles; east end Blessed Sacrament chapel with undercroft. EXTERIOR: west end of nave with flanking projecting buttresses containing stairs to gallery, rising as pinnacles with broach spire roofs, bases and pinnacles decorated with blind arcading. Round-headed west doorway with shafts, left and right shafts with cushion capitals and carved gable. Doorway has 3 orders of zigzag, billet and chevron moulding on engaged shafts; 2-leaf door with elaborate ironwork. Above the doorway a recessed 3-centred blind moulded arch containing 2 round-headed windows with shafts and a roundel window above. Above the archway blind arcading decorates the gable. West ends of lean-to aisles have smaller versions of the buttresses flanking the nave and paired round-headed openings (one blind) with roundels above. North side of 9-bay nave has pilasters and a corbelled parapet. Round-headed triforium windows linked by string rising as continuous hoodmould. Nave with parapet and round-headed windows, the hoodmould string interrupted by the pilasters. Small gabled porch in second bay from the west with set-back buttresses, parapet and round-headed outer doorway with shafts and chevron-carved arch. Easternmost 2 bays of aisle with taller roof and blind arcading above the windows. North end of north transept with tall paired arches containing 4 tiers of glazed blind and glazed windows, either round-headed or roundels. East side of transept has one-bay chapel. The choir continues in the same style with lean-to choir aisle roofs. 1965 concrete east end chapel on 4 columns with shallow gabled roof. Tower with 3 stages above nave roof. Clasping pilasters; corner pinnacles with 2 tiers of blind arcading and broach spires, crow-stepped parapet. Lower stage has lancet windows in round-headed recesses, middle stage has small lancet windows in moulded arched recesses; 2-light plate-traceried louvred belfry windows. INTERIOR: Stone-vaulted, the aisles with transverse vaults. Arcades with piers with engaged shafts and chamfred and moulded arches. Nave rib vault with red sandstone infill. Triforium has a pair of 2-light pointed arches to each bay with super-ordinate round-headed blind arch. Aisle walls decorated with blind round-headed recesses containing triple round-headed arches on shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals. Stone-vaulted west end gallery on piers with canted bays to parapet. Tower arches on short paired shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals. Crossing has corbelled stone gallery; transepts have simple galleries on moulded corbels with cast-iron railings. Choir has similar detail to nave but carved, not moulded capitals and stone infill to the vaulting of choir and choir aisles. East end of sanctuary has 2 round-headed arches and 2 round-headed windows above the triforium with a central shaft rising to a carving of the Coronation of the Virgin. The furnishings, floors, painted decoration and stained glass are unexpectedly lavish, particularly the outstanding metalwork, which is mostly 1928-1932 by Bernhard Witte of Aachen, inspired by German Romanesque metalwork and described in some detail in Pevsner. The stained glass is a remarkable collection, mostly still in the medievalising Victorian tradition and of the highest quality. In addition the church contains a C16 ivory crucifix donated by the Clifford family of Ugbrooke, the leading Roman Catholic family in Devon. 1965 Blessed Sacrament chapel by Paul Pearn conceived as a setting for ambitious mosaic stained glass designed by Father Charles Norris, one of the Buckfast Abbey monks. Historical note: the rebuilding of the abbey church by the Buckfast monks was well-publicised in the national and local press and one of the monks with an interest in photography recorded much of the work: the archive is held by the abbey. Buckfast Abbey became an important focus for Roman Catholicism in Devon in the late C19 and C20 with the monks serving private chapels in the area, including Ugbrooke in Chudleigh for the Clifford family and Dundridge in Harberton for the wife of Sir John Harvey. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-: 222-226).
© Historic England 2022