Blackfriars Friary, preaching cross and cemetery, and hospital and chapel of St John in Hereford

Reasons for Designation

A friary was usually an urban settlement housing a community of male mendicants, of which the Dominicans (Blackfriars) are one of the principal English religious orders of friars. Such sites are usually characterised by a discrete group of buildings and open spaces bounded by a precinct wall. As the main concerns of the friars were preaching, evangelism and learning, they were not segregated from the secular world and often friaries were located close to town gates and main thoroughfares. The orders allowed no private property and the friars subsisted solely through alms and gifts of benefactors. Hereford Blackfriars is an important religious site with a rare example of a preaching cross. The priory represents a late foundation established upon a cleared site and as such has special significance for providing information on the changing architectural, social and demographic patterns of friaries of the 14th century.

Details

The monument includes the remains of a medieval Dominican friary, associated monastic buildings, a precinct area and a cemetery and preaching cross. The friary and cemetery area were only partly enclosed within a precinct wall with its northern edge defined by the Tan Brook. The friary, established in 1322, included a church and a cemetery, and a variety of associated domestic and religious buildings. Excavations in 1958 confirmed the below ground plan of the walls of the cloisters and the nave of the church. Documentary records have also identified a gatehouse to the west and a variety of domestic buildings and tenements, surrounded by gardens, orchards and a drainage system. The cemetery lies to the west of the friary, and burials have been discovered in the gardens which now cover part of the site. The cemetery includes a 14th century friar's preaching cross which was restored in 1864. Today, the only standing parts of the original monastic buildings are those of the western range of the prior's refectory and a section of the wall of the cloisters to the east. Other standing buildings include those of the Coningsby Hospital, a Grade II* listed building, in the north western area of the site, which was built from stone of the first friary buildings after they were partially destroyed in 1538. The hospital stands on the site of the chapel and hospital complex erected in 1200 by the Knights' Hospitallers (Order of St John of Jerusalem). The Coningsby Hospital and the twentieth century structures in the area, including an ambulance station are excluded from the scheduling, but the ground beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

13610

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Knight, M G, Shoesmith, R, Trans Woolhope Club in Blackfriars Preaching Cross: The Restoration of 1864, (1983), 227-243
Butler, L A S, Trans Woolhope Club in Excavations at Blackfriars, Hereford, 1958, (1958), 334-42
Marshall, G, Trans Woolhope Club in The Blackfriars Monastery And The Coningsby Hospital, Hereford, (1918), 239ff

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry