St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom

History : Iron Age | Roman | Anglo-Saxon | History : Medieval : Modern | Governance | Neighbourhoods | Nearby towns and villages | Transport : Road : Rail | Buses | Culture and media | Sport | Cricket | Sport : Football | Gymnastics | Hockey | Rugby league | Rugby union | Skateboarding | Links with other sports | Education

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 St Albans is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England and the main urban area in the City and District of St Albans. It lies east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, about 20 miles north-north-west of central London, 8 miles south-west of Welwyn Garden City and 11 miles south-south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north and it became the Roman city of Verulamium. It is within the London commuter belt and the Greater London Built-up Area.

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History: Iron Age There was an Iron Age settlement known as, Verlamion, or Verlamio, near the site of the present city, the centre of Tasciovanus' power and a major centre of the Catuvellauni from about 20 BC until shortly after the Roman invasion of AD 43. The name "Verlamion" is Celtic, meaning "settlement over or by the marsh". The town was on Prae Hill, 2 km (1.2 mi) to the west of modern St Albans, now covered by the village of St Michael's, Verulamium Park and the Gorhambury Estate. Although excavations done in 1996 produced finds which include silver coins from the Roman Republic era dating from 90/80 BC. There was evidence of trade with the republic and that a settlement already existed on the site 50 years before Julius Caesar attempted to invade Britain. However, it is believed that the tribal capital was moved to the site by Tasciovanus (around 25 to 5 BC). Cunobelinus may have constructed Beech Bottom Dyke, a defensive earthwork near the settlement whose significance is uncertain.

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Roman The Roman city of Verulamium, the second-largest town in Roman Britain after Londinium, developed from the Iron Age settlement and was granted the rank of municipium around AD 50, meaning that its citizens had what were known as "Latin Rights", a lesser citizenship status than a colonia possessed. It grew to a significant town, and as such received the attentions of Boudica of the Iceni in 61, when Verulamium was sacked and burnt on her orders. Excavations preceding the museum's new entrance done in 1996–97 within the centre of the Roman town gave archaeologists the chance to date a black ash layer to 60–65 AD, thus confirming the Roman written record. It grew steadily; by the early 3rd century, it covered an area of about 125 acres (51 ha), behind a deep ditch and wall. Verulamium contained a forum, basilica and a theatre, much of which were damaged during two fires, one in 155 and the other in around 250. These were repaired and continued in use in the 4th century. The theatre was disused by the end of the 4th century. One of the few extant Roman inscriptions in Britain is found on the remnants of the forum. The town was rebuilt in stone rather than timber at least twice over the next 150 years. Roman occupation ended between 400 and 450 AD.

The body of St Alban was probably buried outside the city walls in a Roman cemetery near the present cathedral. His hillside grave became a place of pilgrimage. Recent investigation has uncovered a basilica there, indicating the oldest continuous site of Christian worship in Great Britain. In 429 Germanus of Auxerre visited the church and subsequently promoted the cult of St Alban.

A few traces of the Roman city remain visible, such as parts of the city walls, a hypocaust – still in situ under a mosaic floor, and the theatre, which is on land belonging to the Earl of Verulam, as well as items in the museum. Further remains beneath nearby agricultural land have only had a few exploratory trenches, which have never been fully excavated and were seriously threatened by deep ploughing, which ceased in 2005 after compensation was agreed. Test trenches in 2003 confirmed that serious damage had occurred to buildings on the northern side of Old Watling Street by deep ploughing. Permission needs to be granted to enable the full extent of the damage to the western half of Verulamium to be investigated.

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Anglo-Saxon After the Roman withdrawal the town became the centre of the territory or regio of the Anglo-Saxon Waeclingas tribe.

St Albans Abbey and the associated Anglo-Saxon settlement were founded on the hill outside the Roman city where it was believed St Alban was buried. An archaeological excavation in 1978, directed by Martin Biddle, failed to find Roman remains on the site of the medieval chapter house. As late as the eighth century the Saxon inhabitants of St Albans nearby were aware of their ancient neighbour, which they knew alternatively as Verulamacæstir or, under what H. R. Loyn terms "their own hybrid", Vaeclingscæstir, "the fortress of the followers of Wæcla", possibly a pocket of British-speakers remaining separate in an increasingly Saxonised area.

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History: Medieval The medieval town grew on the hill to the east of Wæclingacaester where the Benedictine Abbey of St Albans was founded by Ulsinus in 793. There is some evidence that the original site was higher up the hill than the present building, which was begun in 1077. St Albans Abbey was the principal medieval abbey in England. The scribe Matthew Vickers lived there and the first draft of Magna Carta was drawn up there. It became a parish church after the dissolution of the Benedictine abbey in 1539 and was made a cathedral in 1877.

St Albans School was founded in AD 948. Matthew Paris was educated there and it is the only school in the English-speaking world to have educated a Pope (Adrian IV). Now a public school it has, since 1871, occupied a site to the west of the Abbey and includes the 14th-century Abbey Gateway. One of its buildings was a hat factory, a link with the city's industrial past.

On Abbey Mill Lane, the road between the Abbey and the school, are the palaces of the Bishops of St Albans and Hertford and Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, claimed to be the oldest pub in England.

Between 1403 and 1412 Thomas Wolvey was engaged to build a clock tower in the Market Place. It is the only extant medieval town belfry in England. The original bell, named for the Archangel Gabriel sounds F-natural and weighs one ton. Gabriel sounded at 4 am for the Angelus and at 8 or 9 pm for the curfew. The ground floor of the tower was a shop until the 20th century. The first- and second-floor rooms were designed as living chambers. The shop and the first floor were connected by a flight of spiral stairs. Another flight rises the whole height of the tower by 93 narrow steps and gave access to the living chamber, the clock and the bell without disturbing the tenant of the shop.

Two battles of the Wars of the Roses took place in or near the town. The First Battle of St Albans was fought on 22 May 1455 within the town, and the Second Battle of St Albans was fought on 17 February 1461, just to the north.

A street market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, founded by Abbot Ulsinus, still flourishes. In 1553, Henry's son Edward VI sold the right to hold the market to a group of local merchants and landowners via letters patent which also incorporated St Albans as a borough. The old market hall, which dated from around 1596, was replaced by the Corn Exchange in 1857.

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History: Modern Before the 20th century St Albans was a rural market town, a Christian pilgrimage site, and the first coaching stop of the route to and from London, accounting for its numerous old inns. Victorian St Albans was small and had little industry. Its population grew more slowly than London, 8–9% per decade between 1801 and 1861, compared to the 31% per decade growth of London in the same period. The railway arrived in 1858. In 1869 the extension of the city boundaries was opposed by the Earl of Verulam and many of the townsfolk, but there was rapid expansion and much building at the end of the century, and between 1891 and 1901 the population grew by 37%.

In 1877, in response to a public petition, Queen Victoria issued the second royal charter, which granted city status to the borough and Cathedral status to the former Abbey Church. The new diocese was established in the same year, in the main from parts of the large Diocese of Rochester.

In the inter-war years it became a centre for the electronics industry. In the post-World War II years it expanded rapidly as part of the post-War redistribution of population out of Greater London. It is now a popular tourist destination.

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Governance St Albans has two tiers of local government, at district and county level: St Albans City and District Council and Hertfordshire County Council. The main part of the urban area of St Albans (the pre-1974 borough) is an unparished area, directly administered by St Albans City and District Council.

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Neighbourhoods • Batchwood • Bernards Heath • Chiswell Green • Cell Barnes • Cottonmill • Fleetville • Hill End • Jersey Farm • Marshalswick (also extends into Sandridge parish) • New Greens • Sopwell • St Julians • St Stephens (not to be confused with St Stephen) • The Camp • Townsend.

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Nearby towns and villages

Other nearby towns: Borehamwood, Luton, Stevenage, Berkhamsted, Barnet (historically a separate town, a London borough since the 1960s) • Nearby villages: Abbots Langley, Kings Langley, Bricket Wood, Colney Heath, Elstree, Frogmore, Lemsford, London Colney, Markyate, Park Street, Radlett, Redbourn, Sandridge, Wheathampstead, Shenley • Nearby hamlets: Chiswell Green, Colney Street.

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Transport: Road St Albans is north-east of the intersection between the M1 and M25 motorways. Access from the north is by junction 8 of the M1 while access from the south is by junction 6. Access from the west is by junction 21A of the M25 while access from the east is by junction 22.

The A414 road runs directly south of St Albans between Hemel Hempstead and Hatfield. The A405 road provides a direct link to Watford.

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Transport: Rail Two railway stations serve the city: St Albans City, which is situated 0.5 miles (800 m) east of the city centre, and St Albans Abbey, which is situated approximately 0.7 miles (1 km) south-west of the city station.

St Albans City on the Midland Main Line is served by Thameslink services, on a frequent and fast rail link to central London. Suburban services stop at all stations on the route, while express services are non-stop to London St Pancras. Trains run north to Harpenden, Luton, Luton Airport Parkway and on to Bedford. St Albans Abbey station is the terminus of the Abbey line from Watford Junction.

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Buses St Albans is well served by local buses, with links to local villages and major towns run by Arriva, Uno, Red Eagle, Sullivan Buses and several small operators. Buses in Hertfordshire are run under the Intalink Partnership

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Culture and media St Albans has a cultural life, with regular concerts and theatre productions held at venues including Trestle Arts Base, St Albans Abbey, The Horn, The Pioneer Club, Maltings Arts Theatre, the Alban Arena, the Abbey Theatre, St Peter's Church and St Saviour's Church, given by organisations including St Albans Bach Choir, St Albans Cathedral Choir, St Albans Cathedral Girls' Choir, St Albans Symphony Orchestra, St Albans Chamber Choir, St Albans Chamber Opera, The Company of Ten, St Albans Choral Society, and St Albans Organ Theatre. St Albans is also home to Trestle Theatre Company, who have been creating professional, physical storytelling theatre since 1981. Originally known for their work with masks, Trestle collaborates with UK and international artists to unify movement, music and text into a theatrical experience. The Sandpit Theatre is a theatre attached to Sandringham School which hosts plays throughout the year, mainly performances put on by the pupils of Sandringham School. The school also hosts Best Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school for children aged 4 to 16. Furthermore, St Albans is home to many music acts such as Enter Shikari, Friendly Fires, Maximum Love, The Zombies, Trash Boat and Your Demise.

The Odyssey Cinema (formerly the Odeon) on London Road is an independent, arthouse cinema that was restored and re-opened in 2014. Originally opened in 1931, it stands on the site of the Alpha Picture House, Hertfordshire's first cinema, which was opened in 1908 by film-making pioneer Arthur Melbourne-Cooper.

The Watercress nature reserve is by the River Ver and is run by the Watercress Wildlife Association.

St Albans Museums runs two museums: Verulamium Museum, which tells the story of everyday life in Roman Britain using objects from the excavations of the important Roman Town; and, the St Albans Museum + Gallery, located in the old St Albans Town Hall, which focuses on the history of the town and of Saint Alban.

The area is served by 92.6FM Radio Verulam, a community radio station.

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Sport In December 2007, Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of St Albans were the 10th most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 30.8% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 90 minutes.

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Cricket Clarence Park plays host to St Albans Cricket Club. The club currently runs four Saturday sides, playing in the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League and also two Sunday sides in the Chess Valley Cricket League. In 2008 the club's 1st XI won the Hertfordshire League Title. In the previous two seasons, the first XI came 5th (2011) and 4th (2012) in division one.

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Sport: Football The local football team is St Albans City FC: its stadium is on the edge of Clarence Park and the team won promotion from the Conference South League in 2005–06. It played in the Nationwide Conference Division of the Football Conference for the 2006–07 season, but finished at the bottom of the table and was relegated.

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Gymnastics St Albans Gymnastics Club, founded in 2005, provides the St Albans area with recreational classes as well as a professionally managed competitive squad.

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Hockey St Albans is also home to St Albans Hockey Club, based in Oaklands, St Albans. The club is represented at National league level by both women's and men's teams, as well as other local league competitions. The club's nickname is The Tangerines.

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Rugby league St Albans Centurions Rugby league Club have their ground at Toulmin Drive, St Albans. They play in the London Premier League. In 2007 and again in 2010 'The Cents', as they are known, won 'the triple' – topping the league, and becoming the Regional and National Champions of the Rugby League Conference Premier Divisions.

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Rugby union Old Albanian RFC is a rugby union club that plays at the Old Albanian sports complex. They play in National League 1 the third tier of the English rugby union system. Saracens A team and OA Saints Women's Rugby team also play here. This complex hosts the offices of the Premiership Rugby club Saracens (and have recently moved their home ground to Barnet). St Albans RFC play at Boggymead Spring in Smallford. Verulamians RFC (formerly Old Verulamians) play at Cotlandswick in London Colney.

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Skateboarding St Albans is home to one of the country's oldest indoor skateparks, the Pioneer Skatepark in Heathlands Drive, next to the former fire station. Its ramps are available to all skateboarders and inliners. A new outside mini ramp was built in March 2005. A second outdoor mini ramp was opened at Easter 2009.

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Links with other sports St Albans is additionally home to a community of traceurs from around Hertfordshire.

St Albans was once home to the then most prestigious steeplechase in England. The Great St Albans chase attracted the best horses and riders from across Britain and Ireland in the 1830s and was held in such high esteem that when it clashed with the 1837 Grand National the top horses and riders chose to bypass Aintree. Without warning the race was discontinued in 1839 and was quickly forgotten.

St Albans was once home to Samuel Ryder, the founder of the Ryder Cup. He ran a very successful packet seeds business in the 1890s which at one time he ran from a packing warehouse on Holywell Hill (currently Café Rouge). His interest in golf and sponsorship led to his donation of the now famous Ryder Cup. He is buried in Hatfield Road Cemetery, where in July 2012 the Olympic Torch Relay passed by to honour him.

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Education St Albans has many state primary and secondary schools, and a number of independent schools.

The law school of the University of Hertfordshire used to be based in Hatfield Road in St Albans until it moved to the university's De Havilland campus in Hatfield in 2011. Hertfordshire County Council purchased the site. The interior of the former law school building has since been refurbished and now forms part of Alban City School, a state-funded Free School for primary aged children, which started taking reception class children in September 2012.

A campus of Oaklands College, a further education college, is also located in Smallford in St Albans.

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St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom 
<b>St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom</b>
Image: Adobe Stock Nicola #401979246

St Albans has a population of over 57,000 people. St Albans also forms one of the centres of the wider Hertfordshire County which has a population of over 1,184,365 people. It is estimated there are around 5,825 businesses in St Albans.

To set up a UBI Lab for St Albans see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities St Albans has links with:

🇮🇹 Fano, Italy 🇫🇷 Nevers, France 🇩🇰 Odense, Denmark 🇩🇪 Worms, Germany
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

  • Arnold Dunbar Smith |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect Arnold Dunbar Smith is associated with St Albans. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British architects (FRIBA) in 1906.

  • Leonard Aloysius Scott Stokes |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect/Sculptor Leonard Aloysius Scott Stokes is associated with St Albans. Much of his work was for the Roman Catholic Church for whom he designed churches, schools and convents.

  • Edgar Ranger |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect Edgar Ranger is associated with St Albans. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1931.

Antipodal to St Albans is: 179.664,-51.755

Locations Near: St Albans -0.336,51.755

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 St. Albans -0.337,51.754 d: 0.2  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Watford -0.383,51.65 d: 12.1  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Hatfield -0.217,51.75 d: 8.2  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Borehamwood -0.267,51.65 d: 12.6  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Hemel Hempstead -0.469,51.753 d: 9.2  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Welwyn Garden City -0.206,51.801 d: 10.3  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Luton -0.416,51.882 d: 15.1  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harrow -0.345,51.583 d: 19.2  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rickmansworth -0.466,51.638 d: 15.8  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barnet -0.193,51.652 d: 15.1  

Antipodal to: St Albans 179.664,-51.755

🇳🇿 Christchurch 172.617,-43.517 d: 18958.9  

🇳🇿 Dunedin 170.474,-45.884 d: 19078.9  

🇳🇿 Masterton 175.664,-40.95 d: 18775.5  

🇳🇿 Canterbury 171.58,-43.543 d: 18920.9  

🇳🇿 Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18788.9  

🇳🇿 Lower Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18788.9  

🇳🇿 Wellington 174.767,-41.283 d: 18792.6  

🇳🇿 Upper Hutt 175.05,-41.133 d: 18782.9  

🇳🇿 Porirua 174.84,-41.131 d: 18778  

🇳🇿 Palmerston North 175.61,-40.357 d: 18710.2  

Bing Map

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