Sept. 16.- Tavistock to Buckland Abbey and Moreton Hampstead. Buckland Abbey; Sir Trayton Drake. This is an old place situated in a bottom, chiefly remarkable for having been the residence of the circumnavigator Drake, and for containing various articles which he carried round the world with him, including his drum, writing-desk, chest of drawers, &c. There is a curious Elizabethan ceiling in the hall; and there are double windows, and a very ingenious contrivance to prevent the doors from slamming; viz. a cork put half-way into a tin tube, the latter being fixed to the style of the door in such a manner that the door strikes first on the cork, and consequently its force is broken by the compression of that elastic material. A piece of Indian rubber might be let into the style in such a manner as to have the same effect; and there is an excellent contrivance for the same purpose by Sir John Robison, described in our Architectural Magazine, and in the Supplement to the Encyclopï¾µdia of Cottage Architecture. The farm-yard is close to the house, and the barn is doubtless that which belonged to the monks. We guessed it at 200 ft. long, 30 ft. wide, and 60 ft. to the ridge of the roof. The roof is supported by curved beams or rafters, which meet in the centre like an arch, and support purlins. Against each arch thus formed there is an exterior buttress; and thus, no cross ties being required, no interruption is given to the storing up of corn in the sheaf. In this barn are two threshing-machines; they are wretched pieces of machinery, and cannot, we should think, thresh clean. The farm-yard lies on a slope, in consequence of which, the whole of the drainings of the dunghill run to waste. A more wretched specimen of farm-yard management we never saw on so large a scale.
