On 7 October 2017, a conference marked the launch of this volume of essays relating to Buckfast Abbey in Devon. Chaired by the volume’s editor, the Rev Dr Peter Beacham FSA, both book and conference were fitting celebrations to mark the abbey’s millennium in 2018. For those of us who were fortunate to attend, it was a full and memorable day, rich in scholarship relative to the cultural history of the pre- and post-Dissolution abbey buildings and its exceptional collection of metalwork.

Like the abbey itself, this book is a remarkable achievement. It should not come as a great surprise that Peter Beacham, whose publications include the revised edition of Buildings of England: Cornwall (2014), has heroically pulled together a sumptuous, authoritative and diverse collection of thirteen chapters, written by eleven eminent historians. Chapters are arranged in chronological order and are beautifully illustrated, ensuring that the overall narrative is easy to follow.

The first four chapters, by Nicholas Orme, David M Robinson, Stewart Brown and John Cherry, perfectly portray the archaeology, architecture and history from its foundation in 1018, through to the abbey being absorbed into the Cistercian Order in 1147, and culminating at its dissolution during the Reformation. These chapters are wonderfully complementary and build a clear picture of the abbey’s grandeur using excavated evidence, reconstruction drawings and plans, comparative analysis with other abbey complexes, and early documentary sources. From the Dissolution, Cherry lucidly portrays the abbey site devoid of monks, using antiquarian and artists’ sources, perhaps the most famous being J M W Turner’s 1826 watercolour Buckfastleigh Abbey, Devonshire. Several images, dating from c 1806, show a Gothic country house built from the abbey ruins, which the author connects, but rightly cautiously so, to James Wyatt.

In 1872 the abbey site was sold by the Bentall family to Dr James Gale, the infamous ‘blind inventor’ who a decade later sold to the exiled French Benedictine Order, the first brethren arriving six months later. Chapters by Aidan Bellenger and Roderick O’Donnell articulate the religious revival and the architectural aspirations of the archaeologist, antiquarian and architect Frederick Arthur Walters FSA. Walters first visited Buckfast in 1883, funded to the tune of £20 from the Society of Antiquaries for ‘stripping the site’. In 1883 a restoration committee was formed and soon after Walters was invited by Abbot Anscar Vonier to carry out archaeological excavations with the continued support of the Antiquaries. O’Donnell’s chapter takes us through the restoration project, from the laying of the foundation stone in 1907 through to its consecration in 1932, and draws attention to the design influence of A W N Pugin. This chapter draws on a rich and varied collection of architectural plans, which is held in the Buckfast Abbey archives.

It is the collections – in this case, the sacred silver and other metalwork – that form the basis for the next chapter. Here Marian Campbell takes the reader on a wonderful journey through remarkable examples of twentieth-century craftsmanship on show, such as ‘the Golden Book’, a silver-and-copper cover embellished with gilt and enamel and signed by Bernhard Witte, various highly decorated German chalices, altar pieces, candlesticks and architectural fittings such as the font and the copper and gilt corona. Many of these pieces reveal the remarkable vision of Abbot Vonier and the generosity of many of the abbey’s benefactors. Bringing us right up to date are chapters by Alan Powers on Buckfast school, a 1960s ‘natural extension’ by the architect Francis Pollen; Stewart Brown looks at how the monks have created a self-sustained community; Robert Proctor covers the art and architecture of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, completed in 1966 and with wonderful glass by Dom Charles Norris; and Peter Beacham covers the development of the modern precinct.

There is no doubt that this is a wonderfully written, erudite and generously illustrated book, richly illuminated throughout with plans, drawings and photographs gathered not only from the vast Buckfast archive but also newly commissioned architectural images of the abbey buildings and museum-quality photographs of the collections. It is difficult to aim any criticism at a volume that has been so well planned and delivered. However, superb production standards aside, for this reviewer there is one problem – its size. Being 300 × 250mm (11.75 × 9.75in), it is hefty in weight and price. I fully accept that academic books are getting bigger and this is not as immense as many others coming onto the market. Nevertheless, as a volume it is difficult to handle and is more at home on a bookstand than a lap. Arguably, a book like this is best used within the architectural space itself, so I cannot help but wonder if the full and double page illustrations would have the same impact and use if they were smaller, thus making the whole volume more manageable? Perhaps a more compact version would have better satisfied the interests of the vast numbers of visitors who are attracted to the site each year?

However, in the scheme of things, this is but a trifle as the narrative of the book holds together well, avoiding the common pitfall of becoming too fragmentary when dealing with variations to a single theme. There is no doubt that this is a fitting tribute to a unique monastery and community as well as being a credit to everyone involved. To conclude, this is a magnificent book that admirably celebrates and narrates its way through 1,000 years of history. However, the reader might like to consider investing in two further items before reading: first, a lectern on which to rest the book; second, to toast the book in a true, monastic spirit, a glass or two of Buckfast Abbey’s famed home-made heady tonic wine, which, at 15 per cent alcohol, has been described as having ‘supernatural powers’ and itself has had mixed reviews, being described as ‘smooth’, ‘rounded’ and ‘mature’ and, by one less-complimentary commentator, as tasting ‘a bit like undiluted Ribena mixed with Benylin’.