The Abbey Church is at the centre of the monastic life of the Benedictine monks at Buckfast, since it is there that the Monastic Community gathers to pray and celebrate the sacraments. The Architecture Buckfast Abbey conforms exactly to the original Cistercian ground plan. The basic shape is cruciform, with the Church positioned in an east-west direction, the cloister and domestic buildings lying on the south side. Although the actual work of rebuilding the Abbey Church was done by the monks, the design originated from the architects Frederick and Edward Walters. The building style is Cistercian Transitional Norman, with several features based upon Cistercian abbeys found at Kirkstall near Leeds, and Tewkesbury in Gloucester.
Cistercian architecture has a powerful simplicity, often to the point of austerity.
Buckfast has elements of Cistercian design, such as pointed Gothic windows, all harmoniously complemented by rounded Romanesque arches of Anglo-Norman style. The exterior walls of the church and domestic buildings were built of local blue limestone. The window arches, quoins, coping stones turrets and West Front are in mellow Ham Hill stone quarried in Somerset. The Interior A view down the nave towards the choir and High Altar shows the mix of both Gothic and Romanesque windows and archways. The interior architecture of Buckfast reflects the original austere Cistercian style, with the interior walls built from white Portland Stone.