About St Michael and All Angels

The side altars are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Joseph, St Benedict, and a Memorial Altar commemorating the old boys of the school who lost their lives in the Second World War. The North Transept was formerly an elaborate chantry chapel dedicated to the Welsh Saints. In the chapel of St Benedict, a reliquary with ornate brass doors contains a relic of the True Cross which is venerated on Good Friday and the Feast of the Holy Cross.

In the north transept, below the main window illustrating the four fathers of the Welsh

Church, is the ornate tomb of Bishop Brown osb, the first bishop of the new diocese of

Newport and Menevia. The other monument is that of Bishop Hedley OSB and together

within this chapel they remind us of the close association of Belmont with the Principality of

Wales and the Archdiocese of Cardiff.

What is now the Belmont Parish Centre has a long and varied history. The hall is actually one

of the oldest buildings on the site dating back to 1853 pre-dating the Abbey church by six

years. It was built by the Wegg Prosser family as the parish church/school of SS. Peter &

Paul and was served by a secular priest, Fr. David Lambe until the opening of the monastery.

The attached house was built as a convent for the Daughters of Charity who taught in the

school until 1859. Thereafter a lay teacher ran the school and lived with his family in the

house.

This little parish school closed in 1917 and until 1926 the building was used as the school

hall and classroom for the Belmont monastery Alumnate students (a school for those

considering the priesthood). In 1926 the number of boys increased and the Alumnate became

the newly founded lay-school which moved in to the monastery, which added a purpose-built

extension in 1932. This was the beginning of Belmont Abbey School as most people

remember it. The hall was then used for Parish functions, Christmas parties for the local

children, whist drives and jumble sales. The heating arrangements were quite inadequate so

that people constantly shivered!

In 1930 the Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel was formed by some of the ladies of the

parish: Mrs Major, whose son was a pupil in the school; Mrs Cecil Wegg-Prosser; Mrs

Rosser; Miss Colette Rosser, Miss Pritchard and many others. They met each week to make

articles for sale at the annual fete. This fete was traditionally held in a large marquee erected

in the paddock in the monastery wood (that area behind what is now the PCT building). The

proceeds from the fete helped to pay for two taxis and later a bus, to take the children of the

Parish to the Sisters of Charity School in Bullingham. The cost was £1 per day, but the fete

raised something over £300 per annum towards this expense, a considerable sum of money in

those days.

During the war, Bullingham convent evacuated to Croft Castle, and the Parish School, which

had closed in 1917, was re-opened in the hall with two mistresses and 20 or so children. The

hall was still available for Parish events, whist drives and also a very successful Welcome

Home Party for the Dunkirk soldiers who were brought to Bradbury Barracks. This was

arranged by the Belmont and Clehonger War knitters, organised by Mrs Massey-Lynch. This

group raised money to pay for the wool to knit comforts for the services. The ladies also

organised very successful American Teas in the hall.

The Parish School closed in 1947 and the building, which had been held on a 999 year lease,

was sold to the Abbey by the trustees of the estate of Major John Wegg-Prosser in 1949. In

1954 the Belmont Abbey School refurbished the hall very elegantly as the Phillips (school)

library. Later this was dismantled and the room became, under Mr Rick Mobbs, the school art

department. In the early 1970’s it was transformed into the school music department. Then,

while the Abbey Church was being restored in 1978/79, the hall became, once again, the

Parish Church, as it had been in the 1850s before the Abbey was built.

In 1994 the Belmont Abbey School closed. A few years later, the parish under its new parish

priest, Fr Simon, began renting the hall and the attached house (commonly known as Bleak

House) as the Parish Centre and residence. The house since the time of the old parish school

had been the residence of staff, senior boys and, for a short while, guest rooms for visitors to 

the monastery. Finally, the Parish had returned to its historic roots and had its own parish

identity and base. Today, the Parish Priest lives in ‘Bleak House’ and has the convenience of

a parish office, meeting room, hall, and storage area and kitchen facilities all in one place. It’s

not ideal that the hall is some way from the Church but the facilities for the parish are very

welcome. The hall is used for parish events and is also hired out to groups and organisations

to offset the cost of rental and maintenance. particularly worthwhile or delicious.

The organ at Belmont also underwent a significant programme of restoration and enlargement in 2009 by Nicholson and Co. It is one of the finest and most comprehensive instruments in Herefordshire and the Archdiocese of Cardiff. The organ has 3 manuals and a pedal board.

There is also a separate ‘floating’ West Great organ to help support congregational singing.

The organ has 51 speaking stops and 2998 pipes; the largest being 32 feet in length and the 

smallest 2 inches. The action is electrical throughout and a state of the art computer system

allows the organ to be fully programmable. It is used to accompany around 1500 Monastic and Parish liturgies a year. We, the parishioners, are privileged to worship at Mass and to share the Monastic Office with the monks.