Belmont Abbey

The Abbey Church is a grade II* Listed building. Its construction began in 1857 and it was consecrated on 4 September 1860. It was built to the designs of Edward Welby Pugin, son of the great Augustus Welby Pugin. Built in the decorated, early English style, it demonstrated the resurgent optimism of the restored Catholic faith. The exterior is in local pink sandstone, simple and unadorned, reminiscent of many classical monastic facades of the fourteenth century. The interior is faced with warm Bath stone. The church is dominated by four elegant, steeply pointed, arches which support the central tower. Originally this was the crossing, but now the altar stands here at the centre of the Church. Belmont Abbey is a monastery of the English Benedictine Congregation dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. Since its foundation Belmont Abbey has served as a cathedral and a monastic house of studies. It has played an important part in the development of monasticism in Great Britain and is home to a thriving community of monks, who still follow the Rule of St Benedict.