The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-10
FOUR MONKS REBUILD ABBEY OF BUCkFAST;
 REGARDED AS MIRACLE
Vanished Pile of Buckfast, in England Nearing l Restoration Through Hand LAbor of
 Faithful Few

ten" was never assessed. The state ment in Domesday to this effect is ex- plicit: ''Bucfestre is the head of the Abbacy. It never paid gold.'' MT. Baring-Gould even thinks that before Saxon times the place was already a centre of British monachism dating from about 500 A. D.
 The obscurity in which the early beginnings of the Abbey are wrapt also necessarily holds good as regards the names of the early Abbots The first Abbot of Buckfast whose name is known, Or rather whose name is identifiabIe as that of an Abbot Of Buckfast, is Aelfwine, in the reign of King Canute.
 This King made to the Abbey the donation of Zeal Monachorum. The grant is recognized in the Hundred Rolls of Edward I. Concerning other properties attached to the Abbey, it is evident that in course of time they became very extensive. The Abbey owned lands in the village of Holne (the birthplace of Charles Kingsley in whose ancient church the Buckfast Arms are still to be seen to this day: at spitchwick and Widecombe-in-th Moor, besides the larger manors of Staverton, Ash and Brent.
 The Abbot also possessed ga11ows at Bovey Heathfield, with the power of life and death. Other possessions could be mentioned as having been added to the Abbeyls domain, but a word must be said concerning the woolen industry established by the monks of Buckfast centuries ago, and which even in our days is the prevailing industry of Buckfastleigh and Buckfast. So effective was this industry in the s thirteenth century that Abbot William Giffard obtained a royal privilege for weekly market at Buckfastleigh and a yearly Mich aelmas fair at Brent.
 From all this it will be seen that the Abbots of Buckfast in pre-Refor- nation days were farmers, manufac- turers, landlords and noblemen (each Abbot ranked. as a feudal baron.)
 After the Norman Conquest, the Buckfast Community was affiliated to the order of Savigny (famous. mon astery:<in Normandy, which became identified with the Cistercian move ment. About the year 124O, cer- tain Sir Robert de Hellion of Ashton, owning a mansion and lands about a mile and a half from the Abbey, moved possibly by the austerity of life led by the Cistercian monks of Buck fast, resolved to give them some wine on the great festivals. For this pur- pose he bestowed his manor upon est. Mary of Buckfast and the monks serving God there"
 In acknowledgement, the monks are to present him and his heirs forever with a pound of wax on tho feast of the Assumption. Out of the revenues of the. manor the Abbot was to pro- vide his monks yearly with 64 gallons of wine, to be drunk on the festivals of Christmas. Candlemas, Whit-Sun- day and the. Assumption-16 gallons on each feast day.
 Perhaps the most interesting royal charter conferred on the Abbey is that of Henry II. confirming the rights of the monks. This charter was witness ed and signed by Archbishop Theo- bald and St. Thomas a Beckett. who was then Chancellor. In the turbu- lent times of his Irish wars King John entrusted to the monks of Buck fast, for safe-keeping. the crown jewels and vessels of gold and silver which were in 1915 retrSned to him by two of the monks. On April 1, 1297. the Abbey was
 
 way under which the King passed Is still standing. It is very likely that the great pestilence of 1349 exacted it's toll of victims at the Abbey as elsewhere. It is generally supposed that Abbot William Clifford died o1 the malady and several of his monks with him.
 The last Abbot, Gabriel Dunne, or /; Dome, was appointed only a very ] short time before the suppression o1 1 the Abbey, and probably for that very purpose. At any rate the act was 1 ratified in the Chapter House on Feb iN2, 153S, and Dunne received an an nuity of f12O for his consent to the surrender. At the time the monk: were reduced in numbers, and only nine appear. on the pension list. l To prevent the bells of tn Abbey church being broken in pieces ane | sold for the price of the metal, the i inhabitants of Buckfastleigh paid f3; | 5s for them.