The first place we went was 700-year-old Buckland Abbey, which was originally a Cistercian abbey, founded in 1278. It remained an abbey until Henry VIII discontinued the use of monasteries. In 1541 Henry VIII sold Buckland to Sir Richard Grenville, who began the conversion of the property from an abbey to a house. Grenville eventually sold the house to Sir Francis Drake in 1580. Drake lived in the house for 15 years, and then his descendants lived there until 1946, when it was sold and then, two years later, it became a National Trust property. It had been added to and changed many times over the years.
The next photos are of the barn.
Next is a photo of the cider press.
Next are pictures of the grounds.
The story of Sir Francis Drake is very interesting, especially the fact that some people view him as a hero and others view him as a pirate!
He was born very close to Buckland Abbey to a family of modest means. He spent his early years learning the skills of a sailor, and he became quite a famous sailor, politician, and slave trader. He was the 2nd person, after Magellan, to sail around the world. He and his uncle made fortunes by abducting West Africans and trading them into slavery in exchange for high-value goods.
He seemed to always be at odds with the Spaniards, and in one of his exploits, he captured a Spanish ship, which was full of riches from Peru. Drake took these riches to the Queen, and she was so delighted with the vast fortune, she made Drake a knight and gave him 10,000 pounds. He used 3,000 pounds of that money to buy Buckland Abbey and the surrounding land.
A few years later Drake was the second in command in the battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588.
He was definitely a man with an interesting story!
4 comments:
I liked that sign where it talked about how they improved efficiency. I wonder how long it took for them to think of adding those doors. When they did I bet some of the people thought, "Duh! Why didn't we think of that 100 years ago!"
Glad Ron had some time off so you could go to more new places. That is a very interesting place and your write=ups are always so good and informative.
That barn looked bigger from the inside that it did on the outside.
Isn't it neat to stand where Sir Frances Drake stood? So much history in England and you are getting to experience it slowly instead of in a rushed vacation. What an experience! I'm so glad you are getting to do a lot of walking and investigating. You may be in shock when you finally come back to the big city!
Steve
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