Medieval music from a Devon monastery

Buckland Abbey in north Devon is administered by the National Trust and is a well known historic building. 

The abbey was a late addition to the monasteries of medieval England, being founded in the laterr thirteenth century by the Countess of Devon for Cistercian monks from Quarr in the Isle of Wight. 

It is probably best known these days for its post- dissolution history and adaptation as the home of the Grenville family and then of Sir Francis Drake. 

A recent discovery from the monastic life of Buckland is that of sections of plain chant in a Customary from the abbey which is now amongst the Harleian MSS in the British Library. 

My friend Professor James Clark from Exeter University was the person who realised the significance of the musical notation in the manuscript. From this has come an exhibition at Buckland until the end of October and recordings of the music. As James Clark says this enables us to hear the daily chant of an English monastery on the eve of the dissolution.

The story was reported by the Daily Telegraph in Music silenced by Henry VIII to be heard for first time in 500 years