St Albans

St Albans
St Albans (Hertfordshire)
St Albans

St Albans shown within Hertfordshire
Population 64,038 [1]
OS grid reference TL148073
District St Albans
Shire county Hertfordshire
Region East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town ST ALBANS
Postcode district AL1, AL2, AL3, AL4
Dialling code 01727
Police Hertfordshire
Fire Hertfordshire
Ambulance East of England
European Parliament East of England
UK Parliament St Albans
List of places: UK • England • Hertfordshire

St Albans is the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans in southern Hertfordshire, England, around 22 miles (35 km) north of central London. It was a settlement of pre Roman origin named Verlamion by the Ancient British, Catuvellauni tribe. It became the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north and became the Roman city of Verulamium. St Alban, the first British Christian martyr, was beheaded sometime before AD 324 and gave it its modern name. It is an historic cathedral and market town, and is now a sought after dormitory town within the London commuter belt.

Contents

The locality

A map of St Albans from 1944

Apart from its historic core, St Albans is highly suburban in character, with much of its housing stock built in the inter-war years and during post-war expansion. Now entirely surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt, it is seeing significant 'infill' development and pressure to relax the Green Belt restrictions.

St Albans District (which also includes Harpenden) has house prices considerably above the national average. The most recent figures give an average house price of £328,820[2] against a national average of £199,184. St Albans city, according to figures from Nationwide Building Society, is currently considered to be the most expensive place to live in the UK outside Central London.[3][2] This is largely due to fast commuting to London, especially the City, by train. The local road transport network is another factor: St Albans is at the meeting point of the A5183 (the old A5 or Watling Street) and the A1081 (the old A6); the M25 runs east-west just south of the city; and both the M1, only a few miles to the west, and the A1(M), five miles (8 km) to the east, can provide fast connections to London and the north.

The council estimates that 20% of the working population travel to London to work, while local business provides 46,000 jobs of which around 46% are filled by inward commuters. The local economy is made up mainly of offices, small enterprises, retailing and tourism-based enterprises, 80% of which employ fewer than 10 staff. In the working population, 33% are employed in professional and managerial occupations. Self-employment in Hertfordshire runs at 15% of the workforce, compared with a UK average of 12%.

There are two railway stations in St Albans. The City Station is about 820 yards (750 m)[4] east of the city centre and is served by the Thameslink railway line, with trains (operated since April 2006 by First Capital Connect) to Bedford, Luton, London Luton Airport, London, Sutton, Wimbledon, London Gatwick Airport, and Brighton. The Abbey Station is about half a mile (1 km)[4] south of the city centre and is served by the "Abbey Flyer", operated by London Midland. A single train runs between St Albans and Watford Junction, starting a new round trip every 45 minutes during most of the day. This line is a historical accident, the result of the Earl of Verulam refusing to sell land to the railway company then driving North from Watford. Until 1964, there was a third station, St Albans (London Road), which served a former branch line to Hatfield. East Midlands Mainline 'intercity' services run through at speed from places such as Leicester, Nottingham, Lincoln, Sheffield and Leeds. They do not stop so connections have to be made at Luton or St Pancras International. Uno buses route S4 and Green Line route 724 are the city's major bus services.

There is easy access to London Luton Airport by both rail and road. London Heathrow Airport is around a 30 to 45 minute road journey.

GCSE results for District schools show 63% of pupils achieving 5 A* - C grades, against a national average of around 46%. Schools include St Albans School, Francis Bacon School, St Albans High School for Girls, St Albans Girls' School (generally referred to as STAGS), Sandringham School, Beaumont School, Loreto College, Verulam School, Nicholas Breakspear School, St Columba's College and Townsend School.

The Norman Cathedral & Abbey Church tower

The centre of the city suffers significant road traffic congestion because of the city's many small surrounding streets, high car use, inadequate roads, poor take-up and provision of local public transport, to persuade motorists to drive around rather than through the centre. The council estimates that 75% of traffic entering the city is through-traffic. From 2004 the problem was heavily exacerbated by a bungled series of road works, prompting severe criticism of Hertfordshire County Council's Hertfordshire Highways agency. In 2006 the Agency received further criticism for their incompetence and lack of accountability in the multi-million pound overspend and late delivery of works to the St Peter's Street area.

A street market is held in Market Place and St Peter's Street on Wednesdays and Saturdays, as it has been for many hundreds of years. There is also a monthly farmers' market, normally on the second Sunday, and a French market every four months.

St Albans is one of several places that, by repute, has the most pubs per square mile in the country (Edinburgh, Norwich, Nottingham, Otley and Rochdale are other claimants). It also claims to have the oldest pub in England (in which Sir Walter Raleigh is said to have stayed), named Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (Nottingham again providing a counter-claimant in Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem).

The main free local weekly newspapers are The Herts Advertiser, and the St Albans and Harpenden Review. The sister title of the Review is the paid-for St Albans Observer, which also has an edition for Harpenden. The Herts Advertiser celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2005.

History

Main article: History of St Albans
The 15th century Clock Tower
The west end of the Cathedral & Abbey Church
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks public house
The Old Town Hall and Market Place, viewed from St Peter's Street
Kingsbury watermill

The St Albans area has a long history of settlement. The Celtic Catuvellauni tribe had a settlement at Prae Hill a mile or so to the west. The Roman town of Verulamium, second-largest town in Roman Britain after Londinium, was built alongside this in the valley of the River Ver a little nearer to the present town centre.

After the Roman withdrawal, and prior to becoming known as St Albans, the town was called Verlamchester or Wæclingacaester by the Mercian Angles.

The mediaeval town grew up on the hill to the east of this around the Benedictine foundation of St Albans Abbey. This is the spot where tradition has it that St Alban, the first British Christian martyr, was beheaded sometime before AD 324. It was, at one time, the principal abbey in England and the first draft of Magna Carta was drawn up there, reflecting its political importance. The Abbey Church, now St Albans Cathedral (formally the Cathedral & Abbey Church of St Alban but still known locally as The Abbey) became the parish church when it was bought by the local people in 1553, soon after the priory was dissolved in 1539. It was made a cathedral in 1877 when the City Charter was granted. There is evidence that the original site was somewhat higher up the hill than the present building and there had certainly been successive abbeys before the current building was started in 1077.

St Albans School, a public school which occupies a site to the west of the Abbey and which includes the 14th century Abbey Gateway, was founded in AD 948 and is the only school in the English-speaking world to have educated a Pope (Adrian IV). It numbered amongst its buildings until comparatively recently a converted former hat factory, a link with the town's industrial past. Nearby Luton was also a notable centre for the hat making industry.

The road between the Abbey and the school, running down to the River Ver and Verulamium Park (on part of the site of Roman Verulamium), is called Abbey Mill Lane. On this road are the palaces of the Bishops of St Albans and Hertford. The Fighting Cocks public house is at the Verulamium Park end of this road. Also on the River Ver, at the St Michael's Village end of the park, is Kingsbury watermill, which is now maintained as a museum with a waffle house attached.

The growth of St Albans was generally slow before the 20th century, reflecting its status as a rural market town, a pilgrimage site, and the first overnight coaching stop of the route to and from London - a fact which also accounts for its many inns, many dating from Tudor times. In the inter-war years it became a popular centre for the electronics industry. In the post-World War II years it was expanded significantly as part of the post-War redistribution of population out of Greater London that also saw the creation of new towns.

The city today shows evidence of building and excavation from all periods of its history and it is a tourist destination. Notable buildings include the Abbey and the early 15th century Clock Tower (pictured). The clock tower is one of only two similar towers in England; it is also the site of an Eleanor cross, which was pulled down in 1703 due to neglect, replaced by the town pump. A fountain was erected in its place in 1874, now relocated to Victoria Place. The popular singer Donovan is rumoured to have learnt to play the guitar outside the Clock Tower.

Running into St Albans from the south is Holywell Hill (generally pronounced "holly-well hill"), its name taken from the story of St Alban: legend has it that his severed head rolled down the hill from the execution site and into a well at the bottom (some versions have a well springing from the site at which the head stopped).

The mixed character of St Albans and proximity to London has made it a popular filming location. The Abbey and Fishpool Street areas were used for the pilot episode of the 1960s' ecclesiastical TV comedy All Gas and Gaiters. The area of Romeland, directly north of the Abbey Gateway and the walls of the Abbey and school grounds, can be seen masquerading as part of an Oxford college in some episodes of Inspector Morse (and several local pubs also appear). Fishpool Street, running from Romeland to St Michael's village, stood in for Hastings in some episodes of Foyle's War. Life Begins was filmed largely in and around St Albans. The Lady Chapel in the Abbey itself was used as a location for at least one scene in Sean Connery's 1995 film First Knight, whilst the nave of the Abbey was used during a coronation scene as a substitute for Westminster Abbey in Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson. The 19th century gatehouse of the former prison near the mainline station appeared in the title sequence of the TV series Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker. The 2001 film Birthday Girl starring Ben Chaplin and Nicole Kidman was also partly filmed in St Albans.

More recently, several scenes from the upcoming film Incendiary, starring Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor and Matthew Macfadyen, were filmed in St Albans, focusing in particular on the Abbey and the Abbey Gateway.

Twinning

St Albans is twinned with:

In addition, there are friendship links with:

Culture

St Albans has a thriving cultural life, with regular concerts and theatre productions held at venues including St Albans Abbey, The Maltings Arts Theatre,[5] the Alban Arena, the Abbey Theatre[6] and St Saviour's Church, given by numerous organisations including St Albans Bach Choir,[7] St Albans Symphony Orchestra,[8] St Albans Chamber Choir,[9] St Albans Chamber Opera,[10] The Company of Ten,[11] and St Albans Choral Society.[12] There is also STARTS,[13] a registered charity dedicated to raising the profile of all the arts in St Albans and enriching the city’s cultural environment.

Sport

In December 2006, Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of St Albans were the 9th most active in England in sports and other fitness activities. 26.8% of the population participate at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes.[14]

St Albans is home to one of the country's oldest and finest 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.

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.[15]

St Albans Centurions rugby league club play at Cotlandswick, St Albans. They play in the Rugby League Conference Premier South division. There is also the Old Albanian Rugby Football Club, a rugby union club which has a large facility known as the Old Albanian sports complex or the Woollam Playing Fields to the north of the city centre and which is also the home of the Saracens A team and Zurich A League and OA Saints Women's Rugby Club (formally St Albans Women's RFC). St Albans RFC play at Boggymead Spring in Smallford, and Verulam Rugby Club (formerly Old Verulamians)] play in London Colney.

St Albans is also home to St Albans Hockey Club,[16] based in Clarence Park. 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.

Clarence Park also plays host to St Albans Cricket Club.[17] 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.

St Albans is additionally home to a community of traceurs from around Hertfordshire.[18]

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.

Schools

The secondary schools in the area are:

Independent

St Albans is the location of two campuses of Oaklands College and of a campus of the University of Hertfordshire.

Trivia

Notable people

See also

Nearby towns & villages

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Office for National Statistics, 2001 Census, Key Statistics for HCC Settlements #. Crown copyright. Table KS01 Usual resident population (numbers)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 BBC News—UK House Prices—3 December 2007
  3. ↑ Nationwide—2006 City Movers and Shakers—1 January 2007
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The imperial figure was calculated from an original value given in metric.
  5. ↑ The Maltings Arts Theatre, St Albans
  6. ↑ Abbey Theatre, St Albans
  7. ↑ St Albans Bach Choir
  8. ↑ St Albans Symphony Orchestra
  9. ↑ St Albans Chamber Choir
  10. ↑ St Albans Chamber Opera
  11. ↑ The Company of Ten, St Albans
  12. ↑ St Albans Choral Society
  13. ↑ STARTS - St Albans Arts
  14. ↑ Sport England—Active People Survey
  15. ↑ Football Conference—Blue Square Premier Table
  16. ↑ St Albans Hockey Club
  17. ↑ St Albans Cricket Club
  18. ↑ Hertfordshire Parkour

External links