Buckfastleigh

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Buckfastleigh is a small market town in Devon, England on the A38 at the edge of Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge District Council and (for ecclesiastical purposes) lies within the Totnes Deanery. It has a population of about 5,000. It is a centre of tourism, and is home to Buckfast Abbey, the South Devon Railway, and the Buckfastleigh Butterfly Farm and Otter Sanctuary.

Geography

Geographically, Buckfastleigh straddles the confluence of two small streams from Dartmoor which feed into the River Dart just to the east of the town. About one mile to the north lies Buckfast, home of Buckfast Abbey. To the northwest lie Holne and Scorriton on the southern ramparts of the Dartmoor massif.

History

The original settlement was at Buckfast, where an abbey was founded by King Canute around 1030. For some reason this abbey perished by the early 12th century but it was refounded by monks from Savigny in 1134-36. The abbey passed to Cistercian rule in 1148 and remained so until the Dissolution.

Buckfastleigh itself was The Clearing of Buckfast, and probably originated in the 13th century. It developed slowly as a wool town and by the mid 19th century had 4 woollen mills and 2 corn mills.

A railway branch from Totnes to Ashburton was opened in 1872 which passed just to the east of the town. The section from Buckfastleigh to Totnes is now operated as a heritage railway by the South Devon Railway Trust.

Census data shows that in 1801 the population was 1525, and 2781 in 1901.

Famous people

Through the ages several of the sons and daughters of Buckfastleigh families have earned a place in history, scholarship or commerce. One illustrative example is provided by Professor William Hosking, who became, in 1840, the first Professor of Architecture at King's College in London.

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