St Albans

For other places named St Albans see St Albans (disambiguation)

St Albans (thus spelt, no apostrophe or dot) is the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans in southern Hertfordshire, England, around 22 miles (35.5km) north of London. It was the first major town on the A5 for travellers heading north and was previously the Roman city of Verulamium. After the Roman withdrawal, and prior to becoming known as St Albans, the town was called Verlamchester.

There are two train stations: the City Station is about 750 metres east of the city centre and is serviced by Thameslink, with trains to London, Luton, London Luton Airport, Bedford, London Gatwick Airport and Brighton. The Abbey Station is about one kilometre south of the city centre and is serviced by Silverlink: there is a single train running between St Albans and Watford Junction, starting a new round trip every 45 minutes during most of the day.

The centre of the city suffers significant road traffic congestion because it lacks a proper by-pass. The council estimates that 75% of traffic entering the city is through-traffic. During 2004 the problem was heavily exacerbated by a series of road works, prompting severe criticism of Hertfordshire County Council's Hertfordshire Highways agency.

Housing is expensive relative to England in general, possibly due to fast commuting to London by train, easy access to London Luton Airport or maybe the large number of pubs. CAMRA has its head office in Hatfield Road and the local branch holds an annual beer festival in St Albans. In recent years this has been a four day event starting on a Wednesday near the end of September.

A street market is held in Market Place and St Peters Street on Wednesday and Saturday.

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

See main article at History of St Albans

St Albans has a long history of settlement in the general vicinity. The Celtic Catuvellauni had a settlement at Prae Hill a mile or so to the west. The Roman town of Verulamium was built alongside this in the valley of the River Ver a little nearer to the present town centre. The mediaeval town grew up on the hill to the east of this around the venerated spot where the first British Christian martyr, St Alban was beheaded sometime before 324 CE.

Successive abbeys and a cathedral have occupied this spot and the town grew as a centre of pilgrimage and as a stopover for people travelling from and to London in the days of coaching. The city today shows evidence of building and excavation from all periods of its history and it is a major tourist attraction.

The growth of St Albans was generally slow, reflecting its status as a rural market town and a coaching stop of the route to and from London.

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 the post-War redistribution of population that also saw the creation of new towns.

Notable buildings include St Albans Cathedral and the Clock Tower (pictured). The Cathedral's formal name is The Cathedral & Abbey Church of St Alban and it is known locally as the Abbey. See also St Albans School, which occupies the former gateway to the Abbey.

St Albans is twinned with:

• Fano, Italy
• Nyíregyháza, Hungary
• Nevers, France
• Odense, Denmark
• Worms, Germany

In addition, there is a friendship link with:

• Sylhet, Bangladesh

• The Royal Navy has used six vessels with the name HMS St Albans.

• An experimental water tank was built alongside London Road, St Albans for the Vickers shipbuilding company in 1912 on a site measuring 680 by 100 feet. Three years later in 1915, the first private wind tunnel was also built here, but moved to their Weybridge works shortly after World War I. From December 1918 the test tank was used in developing fuselage profiles for amphibious aircraft, such as the Vickers Type 54 Viking, completed during 1919.

• St Albans is home for one of the country's finest indoor skateparks, at the Pioneer Youth Club, in Heathlands Drive, next to the fire station. Its ramps are available to all skateboarders and inliners. A new outside mini ramp was built in March.

• The football team is St Albans City F.C.: its 'stadium' is Clarence Park and they play in the Conference South. There is also the Old Albanian Rugby Club which has a large facility known as the Old Albanian sports complex or the Woolam Playing Fields, which is also the home of the Saracens A team and Zurich A League.

Rod Argent, musician and songwriter (b1945). The Zombies (Argent with Colin Blunstone, Paul Atkinson, and Hugh Grundy) was formed at St Albans School.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Philosopher and statesman

Nicholas Breakspear (c1100-1159), later became Pope Adrian IV

Ralph Chubb (1892-1960) Eccentric lithographer

William Cowper (1731-1800) Poet

Stephen Hawking (b. 1942) Theoretical physicist, educated at St Albans School

Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), film auteur, resided in Childwickbury Manor, to the north-west of the town, from 1978 until his death

Robert Runcie (1921-2000) Bishop of St Albans, later Archbishop of Canterbury

Samuel Ryder, founder of the Ryder Cup

• Photos of St Albans
• The Cathedral & Abbey Church of St Alban