Discovering Belmont Abbey

Heritage Lottery Fund grant secures future of and wider access to Belmont Abbey Church

6th April 2006

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded Belmont Abbey a grant for their project “Discovering Belmont Abbey”, it was announced today.

Over the summer, initial funds will be made available to finance the preparations of the final details for the project, which centres on making the Abbey Church more accessible to a wide range of people, enlarging the Abbey’s educational activities, displaying some of the Abbey’s historic artefacts and restoring the fabric of the Pugin-designed Grade 11* listed Abbey Church.

Once these detailed plans have been approved by HLF, the full scale project will commence thanks to an award of £704,000

Belmont Abbey, situated on the western edge of Hereford, is the home of a community of Benedictine monks. The monastic community use the Abbey Church, built in 1854, for their daily round of services and the Church is also used by the local parish. The project aims to make the history of monasticism more freely accessible by creating a display area, providing interpretative materials, including guides specially designed for the visually impaired, and making necessary adaptations to improve access for the disabled.

Commenting on the award, Father Paul Stonham, Abbot of Belmont, said “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund have awarded us this grant for the Abbey Church. It will ensure that the Abbey is preserved for future generations and that the resources we have here are made more widely available. The Community are very grateful to the HLF and excited, if somewhat daunted, by the work which will be required by our band of volunteers, small staff and the Community itself to see this project through”.

Explaining the importance of the award, HLF’s regional manager Anne Jenkins said, “Belmont Abbey Church is an outstanding example of Victorian architecture and it is vital that we preserve it and encourage more people to visit it and learn about monastic life. Combined with the other resources at the Abbey and the plans for enhancing the educational facilities, this ambitious project will attract a wide range of people for many years to come.”