Belmont Abbey Church of St Michael and All Angels
Additional and amended Grade II Listing by English Heritage
In November 2011 representatives from English Heritage for the West Midlands began the process of reviewing their listings for the group of monastery buildings at Belmont Abbey in the light of their proximity to the projected by-pass route to the west of Hereford. The results of their investigations have just been published.
Not only has the Grade II listing been confirmed for the various Abbey buildings, but the lych gate, curved lateral walls and piers to the north of the graveyard have been added to the Listing as Grade II. The English Heritage Advice Report notes (November 2012) :-
“the design of the gates, gate piers and crescent walling is accomplished and well matched to the other Gothic revival buildings designed by the Pugin brothers on this site … the group of Roman Catholic buildings at Belmont, which includes the Abbey Church of St Michael and All Angels, the Monastery, the Almshouses, the School and teacher’s house, and Belmont House with its chapel, and the lych gate is one of the most complete surviving groups which resulted from the benefaction of a wealthy landowner in the mid-C19.”
English Heritage’s decisions are timely as Herefordshire Council still seems to be trying to proceed with building a South West link from the A49 to the A465 within their much-derided Relief Road plans. Here for Hereford opposes this link, just as it opposes other proposed links on either side of the City, because the economic case for building a so-called Relief Road has not been substantiated. The damage to high grade agricultural land, heritage assets and environmental bio-diversity resulting from the building of any links cannot be over-estimated. English Heritage’s support for Belmont Abbey, House and parkland is to be welcomed.
