Featuring dawn redwood. Verified occurrence recorded by Redwood World. Although built to an old style, Buckfast Abbey is actually a 20 th Century construction. The clean, unworn faces of the stone blocks give this fact away. Centrally placed in the courtyard, however, is a Giant Redwood that must have been planted back in Victorian times. Although still a nice specimen, its foliage does look a little on the sparse side and I suspect this may be due to the extent of pathway and compacted lawn surrounding it. Other than this it seems in good health. At the back of the Abbey, in the private quarters, stands a young Dawn Redwood. This is ideally placed, being just a few feet from the river. There is also a set of beehives that have been producing honey for many years, some eleven tons or so in 2007! If you visit Buckfast Abbey be sure to leave your sandwiches at home and sample the delights of their excellent restaurant (The Grange).
Visit information
- Access
- Access unknown
- Last verified
- 10 Apr 2026
- Official site
- redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/buckfastleigh.htm
Redwood species here
Dawn redwood is a deciduous redwood from China, known from fossils before living trees were documented in the 1940s. It reached British collections soon afterwards and is now found in parks, botanic gardens, and arboreta, where its soft summer foliage and rusty autumn colour make it distinct from evergreen giant sequoias and coast redwoods.
Present. A deciduous conifer thought to be extinct until rediscovered in a remote Chinese province in 1941. Seeds were distributed to botanical gardens worldwide in the late 1940s. Unlike its evergreen relativ
Field observations
Photos
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Redwood at Buckfastleigh - Buckfast Abbey
About this place
About Buckfastleigh - Buckfast Abbey
Buckfastleigh - Buckfast Abbey is located in Buckfastleigh, Devon, England.
Species Present
Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Native to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, giant sequoias were introduced to Britain in the 1850s during the Victorian plant-collecting era. They are the world's most massive trees by volume and have thrived in the UK's mild, wet climate, often growing faster than in their native range. Many Victorian-era plantings now rival mature specimens in California.
Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
The tallest trees on Earth, coast redwoods can exceed 100 metres in their native California. Less common in Britain than giant sequoias, they prefer sheltered, moist locations and can still reach impressive heights in the UK. The tallest known coast redwood in Britain is over 50 metres.
Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)
A deciduous conifer thought to be extinct until rediscovered in a remote Chinese province in 1941. Seeds were distributed to botanical gardens worldwide in the late 1940s. Unlike its evergreen relatives, the dawn redwood loses its needles in winter, turning a striking copper-bronze in autumn.
Data sourced from Redwood World (redwoodworld.co.uk) and enriched by Redwood Finder.