Buckfast Abbey
Buckfastleigh, Devon
Nestled in the shadow of Dartmoor, in a beautiful wooded valley beside the river Dart, Buckfast Abbey is a working monastery offering visitors a tranquil refuge from the hectic pace of everyday life.
St Matthew's in Landscove is a beautiful mid 19th century Grade II* church designed by John Loughborough Pearson, who later became the architect of Truro Cathedral. It has a pretty Victorian broached spire, and the attractive churchyard is approached through a delightful Grade II slate roof lychgate.
The building of the church was generously financed by a Miss Champernowne of nearby Dartington Hall at a cost of £3000. The CofE School next to the church was built to serve the children of the many parishioners living nearby who were employed at the Penn Recca slate mine from where the slate roof of the houses of Parliament was quarried. A vicarage was also built next to the church.
There are two significant stain glass windows on both the east wall and the west end, one to commemorate Miss Champernowne and the west end to celebrate the coronation of King Edwards in 1901. We have very many church kneelers which gets much commented on and adds to the attractiveness of the church.
We have a number of weddings at St Matthew as there is a wedding venue close by. We had 9 weddings last year and nine booked for 2026 many of them from other parts of the country, and this brought a thousand extra people in to our church last year. We very much enjoy hosting these weddings and see it as an important part of our mission.