History of St Albans
St Albans is a city located in Hertfordshire, England.[1] It was originally founded as Verlamion a settlement belonging to the Catuvellauni (a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century). It was subsequently transformed into the Roman settlement of Verulamium from where it grew into a municipium around AD 50.
After the Anglo-Saxon settlement it was known as Verlamacaestir.[2] It later became known as St Albans because of its association with Saint Alban.
Roman
The Roman city of
Early Christianity
The city is named after
Bede referred to a Roman church dedicated to St Alban, built "when peaceable Christian times were restored" (possibly the
Some historians doubt the historicity of St Alban and argue that his cult was invented by Germanus.[17]
Later medieval period
The Abbots of St Albans diverted Watling Street away from the ruins of Verulamium into the medieval town.
Three main roads date from the medieval period—Holywell Hill, St Peter's Street, and Fishpool Street—each of which had a pilgrim church founded in the ninth century by Abbot Ulsinus at the entrance to the town: St Stephen's, St Peter's and St Michael's respectively. The foundation of the town's markets is also attributed to this time.[18]
Modern
Early Modern
As part of the
In 1555, during the reign of Queen Mary I, a Protestant baker from Yorkshire, George Tankerfield, was brought from London and burnt to death on Romeland for his refusal to accept the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.
During the English Civil War (1642–45) the town sided with parliament but was largely unaffected by the conflict.
Eighteenth century
The bridge over the River Ver in St Michael's Street, adjacent to Kingsbury Watermill and not far from St Michael's Church, dates from 1765 and is believed to be the oldest extant bridge in Hertfordshire. It is Grade II listed.[21] According to a contemporary account of the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, another bridge existed on this site previously (recorded in 1505 as Pons de la Maltemyll - Malt Mill Bridge). It is thought that the Romans had built a bridge here by the 3rd century AD. The ford alongside the current bridge, which is known to have existed for 2,000 years, is traditionally believed to be Alban's crossing point on his way to his execution.
Nineteenth century
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. It grew slowly, 8-9% per decade between 1801 and 1861, compared to the 31% per decade growth of London in the same period. The railway arrived relatively late. 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%.[22]
Population of St Albans in the Nineteenth Century[22]
1801 | 3,872 |
1831 | 6,582 |
1851 | 8,208 |
1861 | 9,090 |
1871 | 10,421 |
1881 | 10,659 |
1891 | 12,478 |
1901 | 16,181 |
The medieval road pattern was amended from the 18th century onwards. London Road was constructed in 1754, Hatfield Road in 1824 and Verulam Road in 1833.[22] Verulam Road was created (as part of Thomas Telford's large-scale improvement of sections of the London to Holyhead road) specifically to aid the movement of stage coaches, since St Albans was the first major stop on the coaching route north from London. Victoria Street was called Sweetbriar Lane until 1876.[22]
There were three railway stations in the town, two of which are still active: St Albans Abbey and St Albans City. The first, St Albans Abbey, was opened by the London and North Western Railway on 5 May 1858 as the terminus of the Abbey Line, a branch line from Watford Junction. This was followed by the Midland Railway Company's station, now known as St Albans City, which opened on 1 October 1868 on the main line from Bedford to London. There was also a third railway station in the city centre, St Albans (London Road), which was opened on 16 October 1865 by the Great Northern Railway on its Hatfield and St Albans branch. This branch line closed to passengers in 1951.[23][24]
In 1877, in response to a public petition, Queen
The original St Albans Football Club was founded in October 1881, if folded in 1904. The present day St Albans City Football Club was founded on 13 April 1908. The club's home ground is Clarence Park, which was donated to the city by Sir John Blundell and opened on 23 July 1894.
The aforementioned transport links attracted a seed merchant, Samuel Ryder, to locate his business in St Albans, which eventually moved to offices and a large purpose-built packing seed hall on Holywell Hill, which is now a Café Rouge restaurant. He served as Mayor of St Albans in 1905, and remained a councillor for several years after his term of office. In later life, Ryder began to suffer from poor health and was advised to take up golf as exercise. He joined the local Verulam Golf Club, making large donations to the club including the famous Ryder Cup and sponsorship of the tournament.
Ralph Chubb, the poet and printer, lived on College Street in St Albans from 1892 to 1913, and attended St Albans School. His work frequently references the Abbey of St Albans, and he ascribed mystical significance to the geography and history of the town.
Another St Albans writer, Charles Williams, lived as boy and young man in Victoria Street from 1894 to 1917. He also attended St Albans School.
Twentieth century
The pioneering filmmaker Arthur Melbourne-Cooper was born in St Albans in 1874 at 99 London Road. He became a noted figure in the history of film when he began to explore the new art of moving photography in the mid-1900s. By 1908, he had set up a production base, the Alpha Production Works in Bedford Park Road, later moving to larger premises at Alma Road. Among the pioneering films he shot in St Albans was the animated fantasy, Dreams of Toyland (1908).[25] He also established a film theatre on London Road to present his productions to the paying public, the Alpha Picture House, which opened on 27 July 1908, Hertfordshire's first permanent cinema. The cinema changed hands several times, variously known as the Poly, the Regent, the Capitol and the Odeon. It was replaced by a new Art Deco building in 1931, and the cinema continued in operation until 1995. In 2014 the building was restored and re-opened as the Odyssey Cinema.[26]
During
In the inter-war years St Albans, in common with much of the surrounding area, became a centre for emerging high-technology industries, most notably aerospace. Nearby
In 1936 St Albans was the last but one stop for the
The City expanded rapidly after World War II, as government policy promoted the creation of New Towns and the expansion of existing towns around London. The local authority built large housing estates at Cottonmill (to the south), Mile House (to the south-east) and New Greens (to the north). The Marshalswick area to the north-east was also expanded, completing a programme of mainly private house building begun before the war.
In 1974 St Albans City Council, St Albans Rural District Council and Harpenden Town Council were merged, as part of a major national re-organisation of local government in the UK, to form
Twenty-first century
In 2011 the population of the St Albans City and District was 140,664, up 9% on the 2001 population of 129,005.[27] [28] By 2021 the population had risen a further 5.4% to 148,700.[29]
References
- ^ "Saint Albans | England, United Kingdom | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
- ^ a b c Bede. Ecclesiastical History of England, p.18. Project Gutenberg.
- ^ "Exploring Verulamium, the Roman city of St Albans (UK)".
- ^ "BBC - History - Boudicca".
- ^ a b Rosalind Niblett, Verulamium, Stroud: Tempus, 2001
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1012.
- ^ Brown, Peter (1981). The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity.
- ^ St Albans Cathedral & Abbey, ed. A.Herbert et.al., Fraternity of the Friends of St Albans Abbey, 2015
- ^ Martin Biddle and Birthe Kølbye Biddle, "The Origins of St Albans Abbey: Excavations in the Cloister 1982-1983", Occasional Paper No. 2, The Fraternity of Saint Albans Abbey, 1984
- ^ Bede, Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum
- ^ Constantius of Lyon; Trans. Vermaat, Robert. "The text of the Vita sancti Germani". vortigernstudies.org.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- ^ Martin Biddle, "Alban and the Anglo-Saxon Church", in Robert Runcie (ed), Cathedral and City: St Albans Ancient and Modern, Martyn Associates, 1977
- ^ a b "Story of St Alban", Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban.
- ^ Kenneth. S. Painter, "Recent discoveries in Britain", Publications de l'École française de Rome, 1989, Vol.123, No.1, pp.2031-2071
- ^ John Morris, "The Date of St Alban", Hertfordshire Archaeology, Vol. 9, 1987
- ^ "Chapter House History - The Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban". Stalbanscathedral.org. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
- ^ Wood, Ian (2009). "Germanus, Alban and Auxerre". Bulletin du Centre d'Études Médiévales d'Auxerre (BUCEMA). 13. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- ^ Saunders, Chris (24 February 2003). "The Market Place". salbani.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021.
- ^ St Albans Mayor's Office (2013). "A Brief History of St Albans and the Mayoralty" (PDF). St Albans City & District Council.
- ^ "Translation of the Letters Patent of the seventh year of the reign of Edward VI". St Albans City & District Council. 2 February 2023. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
- ^ St Michael's Bridge, St Albans, Hertfordshire
- ^ a b c d e Asa Briggs, "The Victorian City", in ‘’Cathedral & City: St Albans Ancient and Modern’’, ed. Robert Runcie, Martyn Associates, 1977
- ^ British History Online
- ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7.
- ^ Ludwig, Robyn (30 October 2012). "Arthur Melbourne-Cooper: Matchstick Man of the Early Silent Era". Silent London. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
- ^ "Locally Listed Buildings: Area 5a: London Road" (PDF). St Albans City & District Council. p. 164. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
- ^ "Community Profile" (PDF). St Albans City & District Council. 6 January 2011.
- ^ "2011 Census - On The Day" (PDF). St Albans City & District Council. 23 November 2012.
- ^ "Census 2021 | St Albans City and District Council". www.stalbans.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
Bibliography
- Dunn, Alastair (2002). The Great Rising of 1381: the Peasants' Revolt and England's Failed Revolution. Stroud, UK: Tempus. ISBN 978-0-7524-2323-4.
External links
- St Albans History and Archaeology; Chris Saunders.
- British History Online - the city of St Albans
- Diocesan House, St Albans
- Verulam House, St Albans