Saint Albans Cathedral

I’ve been to St Albans (the city) a lot. When I worked for British Telecom, they had a training centre there and I went there 3-4 times a year. Of course, the only bit of it I saw was on the walk from the station to the training centre and back.

St Albans is named after Alban, the first British martyr. When I was visiting the Cathedral, there was a class from a primary school who were acting out the his martyrdom. It was both cute and creepy.

The city started its life as a Celtic settlement that under the Romans became the largest settlement after London. The city has a number of claims to fame. It claims Ye Olde Fighting Cocks to be the oldest pub in Britain and 2 battles of the Wars of the Roses were fought just outside the city.

St Albans became a city in 1877 and the Abbey Church became the Cathedral. Today, it’s one of the many places around London that have become commuter towns with its fast and frequent trains. There’s still quite a lot of the Medieval / early Modern town surviving and visiting St Alans is a good day out.

St Albans Cathedral or The Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban to give it its full name, was probably founded in the 8th century and modernised by both the Normans and the Victorians. It was damaged in 1250 by an earth quake and partially rebuilt. It had to be partly rebuilt again in 1323 after part of the nave collapsed.

As it was an Abbey church, it fell into disuse and disrepair after the dissolution of the monasteries. There were various repairs to the building over the years but it wasn’t until the 19th century that a major restoration / modernisation was undertaken.

Here are a few photos of the cathedral.