Matthieu
December 29th, 2004, 09:55 PM
England's First Christian Martyr
Saint Alban was a pagan living in the Roman city of Verulamium, where St Albans is now, in Hertfordshire, England, about twenty miles from London along Watling Street. Prior to Christianity becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire, local Christians were being persecuted by the Romans. Alban sheltered their priest, Saint Amphibalus, in his home and was converted to the Christian faith by him. When the soldiers came to Alban's house looking for the priest, Alban exchanged cloaks with the priest and let himself be arrested in his stead. Alban was taken before the magistrate, where he avowed his new Christian faith and was condemned for it. He was beheaded on the spot where the cathedral named for him now stands.
The date of Alban's execution is a matter of some controversy, and is generally given as "circa 250" - scholars generally suggest dates of 209 (Morris), 254 or 304.
The Abbey & Cathedral
A shrine to Alban was probably established soon after his death, to contain his remains. Bede notes a beautiful church was there (c. 300?), and there is some scholarly disagreement as to when this building was lost.
Offa II of Mercia, who ruled in the 8th century, is said to have founded the abbey and monastery at St Albans. All later structures are dated from this building, believed to be 793. The abbey was constructed on Holmhurst hill, next to the hill of Verulamium and looking down on the River Ver. Nothing is known of the form of Offa's abbey. The abbey was probably sacked by the Danes in the 890s and from then until the revival under Dunstan reached St. Albans around 970 there was no abbot. Plans to rebuild or renovate the abbey were begun after 1005 when Abbot Ealdred was given leave to remove material from ruined Verulamium, he directed the gathering with great vigour. However the resumption of Viking raids after 1016 halted all work. Little or no material from the Saxon abbey survives in the current structure.
The existing church contains portions of that built by the first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen, the 14th abbot, appointed in 1077 by the new Norman archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc.
Work started on a new abbey the year Paul arrived and was completed in 1089. The design, by the Norman Robert the Mason, included many features developed in France - incorporating elements of Caen, Bernay, and Cluny as well as Roman building techniques.
The abbey construction made heavy use of brick, tiles, and flints taken from the Roman ruins, because there is no source of stone in the vicinity suitable for building. St. Albans rests on chalk and clay, so flints are the only substantial stone, parts of the abbey walls mix flints and lime mortar with the Roman bricks. Some stone was 'imported', there are areas of Lincolnshire Barnack stone, Bedfordshire Totternhoe stone, Purbeck marble, and later a wide variety of limestones (Chilmark, Ancaster, Clipsham, etc.). Verulamium continued to supply material for building projects well into the 18th century.
The Norman abbey was aligned south-east to take advantage of the site and position the single tower at the strongest point. The abbey was 106m long with four bays to the chancel and fifteen in all, the transept had seven apses. The long divided aisles and chancel were vaulted with the naves only partly vaulted. The foundations extended down from up to 3 metres with a continuous wall, and special large blocks under the tower.
The central tower was a particular triumph - it is the only major 11th century crossing tower still standing - with especially thick lower walls, four canted piers, a slight taper in the four stages, and tough mortar the 5,000 ton tower stands 144 feet high. Two bells were put in the tower by Paul, two more donated by an Englishman called Lyulf, and a fifth donated by the rector of Hoddesdon. The roof was flat timber.
In the current structure the Norman arches under the central tower and on the north side of the nave are the original ones, although the arches in the rest of the building are now Gothic.
The abbey was extended by John de Cella in the 1190s, and again between 1257 and 1320, but financial constraints limited the effectiveness of these later additions. A nunnery was founded nearby in 1140.
The Wallingford Screen - a reconstruction of the original, destroyed in the . Statues of Saint Alban and stand on either side of the .
Enlarge
The Wallingford Screen - a Victorian reconstruction of the original, destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Statues of Saint Alban and Saint Amphibalus stand on either side of the altar.
Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans from 1217, kept its chronicles; he died in about 1259. Eighteen of his manuscripts survive and are a rich source of contemporary information for historians. Nicholas Breakspeare was born in St Albans and applied to be admitted to the abbey as a novice, but he was turned down. He eventually managed to get accepted into an abbey in France. In 1154 he was elected Pope Adrian IV, the only English pope there has ever been. The head of the abbey was confirmed as the premier abbot in England also in 1154.
The Abbey Church was sold to the town of St Albans for £400 in 1553 by King Edward VI.
In 1877 the abbey church was made the cathedral for the diocese of St Albans, which comprises about 300 churches in the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The building was however rather delapidated, and in the 1880s Lord Grimthorpe financed a £130,000 renovation and rebuilding program. This is most apparent in the Victorian rebuild of the west front.
In 1982, the building of the 'Chapter House', an extension to the south side of the cathedral close to the site of the original chapter house of the abbey, was completed.
The current Bishop of St Albans is the Right Reverend Christopher Herbert (since 1995), and the current Archdeacon of St Albans is the Venerable Helen Cunliffe. On July 2, 2004, Canon Jeffrey John became the ninth Dean of the Cathedral.
Among the persons buried at St Albans are Thomas de la Mare, who died at the age of 87 in 1396, having been abbot for 47 years, and Sir Anthony (or Antony) Grey, who died in 1480 and was the brother-in-law of Elizabeth Woodville, the queen consort of Edward IV of England. The brasses are still on their tombs, all the others in the church having been destroyed at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The University of Hertfordshire holds graduation ceremonies in the cathedral.
* St Alban's Cathedral is built on the spot of where England's first christian Martyr died, killed by the Romans at around 250 A.D.
* A church existed on the site from about 300 A.D but was destroyed by the Saxons in 586.
* The abbey was founded in 793 and despite being sacked by various invaders remained standing. After the Norman invasion it was incorporated into what is today the cathedral.
* The work of the Normans started in 1077 and cruciform abbey was the largest built in England at that time, it had a chancel of four bays, a transept containing seven apses, and a nave of ten bays - fifteen bays long overall. The remains the only 11th century great crossing tower still standing in England.
* The Normans were originally heavily dependent on bricks from the Roman town which ca
* The Normans were originally heavily dependent on bricks from the Roman town which can be seen from the part of the church that includes the tower. They are original Roman bricks. The limestone which was later used is identical to that used in Lincoln Cathedral.
* The tower originally contained a spire of an unknown height which was then reduced in the 15th century. Today the roof of the tower is completely flat.
* The abbey suffered greatly following the reformation and by the end of the 18th century was in such bad condition it was threatened with demolition. The Great Storm of 1703 in particular had created havoc to the point that the north wall was eighteen inches from vertical, and that the roof timbers were decayed to the point of danger.
* The 19th century saw repair schemes lead by Sir George Gilbert Scott which gradually restored the building to a useable condition again.
* In 1877 the first Bishop of St Alban's was appointed and the Abbey became a cathedral.
* The Gothic styling visible today was actually added during Victorian 'restoration' when many cathedrals were transformed into what the Victorians believed they had originally looked like. In reality St Alban's was much starker, reflecting it's Anglo Saxon and early Norman design.
* A chapter house for the cathedral was built in 1977-82 following a public inquiry containig imitation half a million Roman bricks.
* The nave is the joint longest in the world today, a titled shared St Peters in Rome and held ever since its construction. It is 106m.
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images/buildings/431_pic1.jpg
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images/buildings/431_pic2.jpg
http://www.cla.sc.edu/RELG/grad/images/photos/nave.jpg
http://www.art-science.com/Alec/images/Grozny_5.jpg
http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/churches/images/herts/stalbans.jpg
Saint Alban was a pagan living in the Roman city of Verulamium, where St Albans is now, in Hertfordshire, England, about twenty miles from London along Watling Street. Prior to Christianity becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire, local Christians were being persecuted by the Romans. Alban sheltered their priest, Saint Amphibalus, in his home and was converted to the Christian faith by him. When the soldiers came to Alban's house looking for the priest, Alban exchanged cloaks with the priest and let himself be arrested in his stead. Alban was taken before the magistrate, where he avowed his new Christian faith and was condemned for it. He was beheaded on the spot where the cathedral named for him now stands.
The date of Alban's execution is a matter of some controversy, and is generally given as "circa 250" - scholars generally suggest dates of 209 (Morris), 254 or 304.
The Abbey & Cathedral
A shrine to Alban was probably established soon after his death, to contain his remains. Bede notes a beautiful church was there (c. 300?), and there is some scholarly disagreement as to when this building was lost.
Offa II of Mercia, who ruled in the 8th century, is said to have founded the abbey and monastery at St Albans. All later structures are dated from this building, believed to be 793. The abbey was constructed on Holmhurst hill, next to the hill of Verulamium and looking down on the River Ver. Nothing is known of the form of Offa's abbey. The abbey was probably sacked by the Danes in the 890s and from then until the revival under Dunstan reached St. Albans around 970 there was no abbot. Plans to rebuild or renovate the abbey were begun after 1005 when Abbot Ealdred was given leave to remove material from ruined Verulamium, he directed the gathering with great vigour. However the resumption of Viking raids after 1016 halted all work. Little or no material from the Saxon abbey survives in the current structure.
The existing church contains portions of that built by the first Norman abbot, Paul of Caen, the 14th abbot, appointed in 1077 by the new Norman archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc.
Work started on a new abbey the year Paul arrived and was completed in 1089. The design, by the Norman Robert the Mason, included many features developed in France - incorporating elements of Caen, Bernay, and Cluny as well as Roman building techniques.
The abbey construction made heavy use of brick, tiles, and flints taken from the Roman ruins, because there is no source of stone in the vicinity suitable for building. St. Albans rests on chalk and clay, so flints are the only substantial stone, parts of the abbey walls mix flints and lime mortar with the Roman bricks. Some stone was 'imported', there are areas of Lincolnshire Barnack stone, Bedfordshire Totternhoe stone, Purbeck marble, and later a wide variety of limestones (Chilmark, Ancaster, Clipsham, etc.). Verulamium continued to supply material for building projects well into the 18th century.
The Norman abbey was aligned south-east to take advantage of the site and position the single tower at the strongest point. The abbey was 106m long with four bays to the chancel and fifteen in all, the transept had seven apses. The long divided aisles and chancel were vaulted with the naves only partly vaulted. The foundations extended down from up to 3 metres with a continuous wall, and special large blocks under the tower.
The central tower was a particular triumph - it is the only major 11th century crossing tower still standing - with especially thick lower walls, four canted piers, a slight taper in the four stages, and tough mortar the 5,000 ton tower stands 144 feet high. Two bells were put in the tower by Paul, two more donated by an Englishman called Lyulf, and a fifth donated by the rector of Hoddesdon. The roof was flat timber.
In the current structure the Norman arches under the central tower and on the north side of the nave are the original ones, although the arches in the rest of the building are now Gothic.
The abbey was extended by John de Cella in the 1190s, and again between 1257 and 1320, but financial constraints limited the effectiveness of these later additions. A nunnery was founded nearby in 1140.
The Wallingford Screen - a reconstruction of the original, destroyed in the . Statues of Saint Alban and stand on either side of the .
Enlarge
The Wallingford Screen - a Victorian reconstruction of the original, destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Statues of Saint Alban and Saint Amphibalus stand on either side of the altar.
Matthew Paris, a monk at St Albans from 1217, kept its chronicles; he died in about 1259. Eighteen of his manuscripts survive and are a rich source of contemporary information for historians. Nicholas Breakspeare was born in St Albans and applied to be admitted to the abbey as a novice, but he was turned down. He eventually managed to get accepted into an abbey in France. In 1154 he was elected Pope Adrian IV, the only English pope there has ever been. The head of the abbey was confirmed as the premier abbot in England also in 1154.
The Abbey Church was sold to the town of St Albans for £400 in 1553 by King Edward VI.
In 1877 the abbey church was made the cathedral for the diocese of St Albans, which comprises about 300 churches in the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The building was however rather delapidated, and in the 1880s Lord Grimthorpe financed a £130,000 renovation and rebuilding program. This is most apparent in the Victorian rebuild of the west front.
In 1982, the building of the 'Chapter House', an extension to the south side of the cathedral close to the site of the original chapter house of the abbey, was completed.
The current Bishop of St Albans is the Right Reverend Christopher Herbert (since 1995), and the current Archdeacon of St Albans is the Venerable Helen Cunliffe. On July 2, 2004, Canon Jeffrey John became the ninth Dean of the Cathedral.
Among the persons buried at St Albans are Thomas de la Mare, who died at the age of 87 in 1396, having been abbot for 47 years, and Sir Anthony (or Antony) Grey, who died in 1480 and was the brother-in-law of Elizabeth Woodville, the queen consort of Edward IV of England. The brasses are still on their tombs, all the others in the church having been destroyed at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The University of Hertfordshire holds graduation ceremonies in the cathedral.
* St Alban's Cathedral is built on the spot of where England's first christian Martyr died, killed by the Romans at around 250 A.D.
* A church existed on the site from about 300 A.D but was destroyed by the Saxons in 586.
* The abbey was founded in 793 and despite being sacked by various invaders remained standing. After the Norman invasion it was incorporated into what is today the cathedral.
* The work of the Normans started in 1077 and cruciform abbey was the largest built in England at that time, it had a chancel of four bays, a transept containing seven apses, and a nave of ten bays - fifteen bays long overall. The remains the only 11th century great crossing tower still standing in England.
* The Normans were originally heavily dependent on bricks from the Roman town which ca
* The Normans were originally heavily dependent on bricks from the Roman town which can be seen from the part of the church that includes the tower. They are original Roman bricks. The limestone which was later used is identical to that used in Lincoln Cathedral.
* The tower originally contained a spire of an unknown height which was then reduced in the 15th century. Today the roof of the tower is completely flat.
* The abbey suffered greatly following the reformation and by the end of the 18th century was in such bad condition it was threatened with demolition. The Great Storm of 1703 in particular had created havoc to the point that the north wall was eighteen inches from vertical, and that the roof timbers were decayed to the point of danger.
* The 19th century saw repair schemes lead by Sir George Gilbert Scott which gradually restored the building to a useable condition again.
* In 1877 the first Bishop of St Alban's was appointed and the Abbey became a cathedral.
* The Gothic styling visible today was actually added during Victorian 'restoration' when many cathedrals were transformed into what the Victorians believed they had originally looked like. In reality St Alban's was much starker, reflecting it's Anglo Saxon and early Norman design.
* A chapter house for the cathedral was built in 1977-82 following a public inquiry containig imitation half a million Roman bricks.
* The nave is the joint longest in the world today, a titled shared St Peters in Rome and held ever since its construction. It is 106m.
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images/buildings/431_pic1.jpg
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images/buildings/431_pic2.jpg
http://www.cla.sc.edu/RELG/grad/images/photos/nave.jpg
http://www.art-science.com/Alec/images/Grozny_5.jpg
http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/churches/images/herts/stalbans.jpg