November 04, 2016

St Albans

St Alban was a Romano-British citizen living in the town of Verulamium during the third century. At that time Christianity came under threat from Rome and anyone practising the religion risked persecution. A priest called Amphibalus was to be arrested, but Alban offered himself in the priest's place and was sentenced to be beheaded.

At the place of execution, a hill near Verulamium, Alban prayed to god to provide him with a drink, and a fountain sprang from beneath his feet. The execution place later became the site of an abbey, later the cathedral of St Alban. The former Roman town was renamed after him.

And that's where we went last weekend. Here's five things we found in the cathedral.


The only surviving example in Britain of a medieval watching loft. It was here that priests, monks and townsfolk kept watch over the shrine of St Alban. It dates from around 1400 and is richly carved.

Victorian architect Lord Grimthorpe made various changes to the abbey church, including reinstating the original pitch of the nave roof and replacing the crumbling west front. He also replaced an original perpendicular window in the north transept with a rose window of his own design.
The window contains modern glass, and was unveiled in 1989 by Diana, Princess of Wales.

Replica of the Wallington Clock. The original was designed and built by Richard of Wallington who was Abbot from 1327 to 1336. In addition to striking the hours the clock showed the positions of the sun, moon and stars, and could even predict lunar eclipses.


The original parish poor box still stands in the cathedral. It dates from around 1650.

This wooden figure used to stand above the poor box, begging for alms.

This post was for Five on Friday, organised by Amy at Love Made My Home.

18 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed your five today, what a beautiful place to visit. I would love to hear more about yule I haven't come across that before. Take care.

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  2. I haven't been to St Albans for a very long time. We used to go to study all the wonderful Roman ruins . I think I loved the watching gallery best, you can just imagine all those robed figures peering over the top. Have a good weekend. B x

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  3. I loved this post, my old history teacher was married here and we were all invited. I drove my first long journey to St Albans, so it has many special memories for me, have not been back for years and years. Often went to the ruins of Verulamium

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  4. You have such rich history there - I envy a bit!

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  5. The only time I have been to St Albans is when taking school children, which was fascinating but stressful! I really must visit and explore properly. Thank you for giving me the incentive to do so.

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  6. I've never visited St Albans so it was interesting to read about its history and see inside the cathedral. The watching loft and the clock were both fascinating and I like the figure which used to stand over the poor box:)

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  7. St. Albans looks like a very interesting place to explore. The whole place is rich with stories of times past.

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  8. It's years since I visited the cathedral - though I did pop into the Roman museum not long ago, which was fab. You've got some great photos there!

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  9. I've enjoyed seeing these interesting things from the cathedral, one I haven't been to. We've visited a few different cathedrals this year, always a treat to see the marvels inside.

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  10. I applaud your efforts to be continually out and about, looking and learning. And thank you, as I am rewarded by those efforts through your photos and you information.

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  11. Thanks for sharing your Five on Friday. It sounds and looks like a beautiful place. I love the medieval watching loft - very interesting.

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  12. Your posts are always full of interesting things. I love the rose window and the replica clock. xx

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  13. As always an interesting post about a town I knew little about.

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  14. Fascinating post, as always. You've made me want to visit! x

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  15. So very interesting. I enjoyed your explanation of these five things in the cathedral.

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  16. Thank you for pointing out some places in the Cathedral that I didn't realise were there, especially the watching loft. I love Cathedrals and the little secrets they unveil. Have a great Sunday x

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  17. Thanks for the very interesting excurs.
    Have a nice new week

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  18. thanks for the lovely tour. such a beautiful setting and wonderful that things have held together for so long.

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