STONE AND PLAQUE ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BELMONT HOUSE

STONE AND PLAQUE ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BELMONT HOUSE, Perry Hill Court, Ruckhall Lane, Belmont, Hereford

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Overview

A sandstone rock with inset metal plaque which was carved and placed in 1813. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1099702
Date first listed:: 22-Oct-1986
List Entry Name:: STONE AND PLAQUE ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BELMONT HOUSE
Statutory Address:: STONE AND PLAQUE ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BELMONT HOUSE, Perry Hill Court, Ruckhall Lane, Belmont, Hereford

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1099702
Date first listed:: 22-Oct-1986
Date of most recent amendment:: 17-Dec-2012
List Entry Name:: STONE AND PLAQUE ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BELMONT HOUSE
Statutory Address 1:: STONE AND PLAQUE ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BELMONT HOUSE, Perry Hill Court, Ruckhall Lane, Belmont, Hereford

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: STONE AND PLAQUE ABOUT 200 YARDS WEST-NORTH-WEST OF BELMONT HOUSE, Perry Hill Court, Ruckhall Lane, Belmont, Hereford

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: County of Herefordshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Belmont Rural
National Grid Reference:: SO4748538794

Summary

A sandstone rock with inset metal plaque which was carved and placed in 1813.

Reasons for Designation

The Stone and Plaque about 200 yards west-north-west of Belmont House are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historic Interest: the stone and plaque reflect the history of the estate in the C18 when it was owned by John Matthews (a friend of Richard Uvedale Price) who built his house and laid out the park to take advantage of the Picturesque potential of this riverside setting; * Group Value: the stone and plaque form part of the context for Belmont House, a country house designed by James Wyatt, which forms the core of the present house. They also form an ensemble with the walled garden and its ancillary buildings.

History

The Old Hill estate was bought by John Matthews in 1788 and he immediately employed James Wyatt to build a new house for him. At the same time he started to lay out the landscape. He is later believed to have employed Humphry Repton to help with designs in the 1790s, but this plaque shows that Matthews was making alterations to his park from the start and that he was on cordial terms with a neighbour who was to become a noted commentator on landscaping.

Foxley was the estate of the Herefordshire land owner Sir Uvedale Price (1747-1829). He published his ‘Essay on the Picturesque, As Compared With The Sublime and The Beautiful’ in 1794, and this, together with a poem 'The Landscape' published by another neighbour, Sir Richard Payne Knight, in the same year, had a profound effect upon the perception of natural scenery in England.

Details

A sandstone rock with inset metal plaque which was manufactured and set in place in 1813. The boulder has been left in its raw state to the majority of its surface, but a recessed rectangular panel has been carved in the eastern face to receive a cast iron plaque, which bears the following wording in raised lettering:

THE ACORN FROM WHICH / THIS OAK SPRANG / WAS SOWN AT / FOXLEY / AD / 1773 / THE SAPLING WAS PLANTED AT / BELMONT / BY / JOHN MATTHEWS ESQ / AD / 1788 / IT MEASURED FIVE FEET / SIX INCHES / IN / CIRCUMFERENCE / AD / 1813.

There is now no oak tree standing near to the boulder and plaque, but there are two headstones for dog graves c. 5 metres to the north.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: 155347
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Brooks, A, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, (2012), 100
Whitehead, D, 'The Picturesque' in Belmont, Herefordshire The Development Of A Picturesque Estate , (), 1-8
Whitehead, D, 'The Picturesque' in Belmont, Herefordshire The Development Of A Picturesque Estate , (), 1-11

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.