7 Churches to Explore in Herefordshire

A majestic parish church which was one of the great Cistercian monasteries of England. The abbey was founded in 1147 by monks from Morimond in France - the only daughter house ever founded by Morimond. The church was begun in 1175 and consecrated one century later.

Belmont Abbey is a monastery of the Benedictine Order operational for 1500+ years. It stands on a small hill overlooking the city of Hereford to the east, with views across to the Black Mountains, Wales to the west. The 19th century Abbey also serves as a parish church.

The ruins of a church built within the earthworks of a Norman motte and bailey castle. This church remained in use until the 1860s, when it was replaced by the adjacent new church. The church is built of sandstone rubble dressed with tufa, and is of a very simple plan, with a single aisless nave, chancel, and west tower.

Hereford Cathedral is built on a place of worship used since Saxon times. It contains some of the finest examples of art and architecture from Norman times to the present day, including the famous Mappa Mundi, the medieval Chained Library and the Hereford Magna Carta. There are also many opportunities for visitors to experience the music of the cathedral with a range of concerts and recitals taking place during the year.

Kilpeck Church is located in Herefordshire near the Welsh border. It was home to the finest collection of Romanesque sculptures in England. It was built in about 1140 and has survived remarkably intact and unaltered to the present day. One of the iconic attraction in this area and attracts a lot of tourists.

Rotherwas was the family chapel of the Roman Catholic Bodenham family. The chapel features an Elizabethan timber roof, a very striking 18th-century tower topped by a peculiar spire, and extravagant Victorian-era interior paintings. The Victorian remodeling of Rotherwas Chapel was the work of Peter Paul Pugin. Nearby is the site of successive houses: the medieval half-timbered mansion, its stone-built Tudor extension and its Georgian successor, built-in 1732 but itself demolished in 1926.

The priory of St. Peter and St. Paul was established in the parish of St. Peter, Ipswich, for Austin canons about the end of the reign of Henry II. The building was constructed for a Benedictine Priory in about the 13th century, although there had been an Anglo-Saxon monastery in Leominster, possibly on the same site. In 1539 the east end of the church was destroyed along with most of the monastic buildings, but the main body of the church was preserved.