St Alban's Cathedral, built as a shrine to England's first Christian Martyr and Saint.
St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain. It stands over the place where Alban, the first martyr, was buried after giving his life for his faith over 1700 years ago – more than 200 years before St Augustine arrived in Canterbury.
At some time in the third century Alban was martyred for his christian faith and buried on a hill top over looking the city of Verulamium. Eventually a shrine or church was built over his grave and the historian Bede, writing c.730 implies that this was done in Roman times and states that miracles still took place there. The Gallic Bishop, St. Germanus of Auxerre visited the shrine in 429. The Abbeys own historians recorded that the Abbey was founded by the great King Offa of Mercia in 793, after the saints resting place had been revealed to him in a dream. However it is unlikely that this had been forgotten by the two generations since Bede's time and it seems likely that Offa reorganised an existing religious community and probably imposed the rule of St. Benedict. He also endowed the house with extensive lands.
Little is known about the Anglo-Saxon Abbey but it seems to have had two churches and was a mixed house with both monks and nuns.
Eleven years after the Norman Conquest, in 1077, Paul of Caen was appointed Abbot and set about rebuilding not only the Church but also the conventual buildings. The great church was finally completed and dedicated in the presence of king Henry I in 1115. Most of the building materials were quarried from the ruins of Roman city of Verulamium that lies just across the small river Ver to the south.
The great abbey was a victim of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and most of its buildings were demolished. However, the Abbey Church survived and was sold to the town for £400 in 1553 by King Edward VI to be the church of the parish.
The upkeep of this vast and already ancient building fell on the small town and it became increasingly derelict. In the 1770s the Abbey came close to demolition; the expense of repairs meant a scheme to destroy the Abbey and erect a smaller church almost succeeded. In the 19th century various repair schemes were put in place. George Gilbert Scott was working on the Abbey until his death. His plans were partially completed by his son, John Oldrid Scott, but the remaining work fell into the hands of Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, an extremely rich amateur, whose efforts have attracted much controversy — Nikolaus Pevsner calling him a "pompous, righteous bully." However, he donated much of the immense sum of £130,000 the work cost. His work however is often eye-poppingly inappropriate and some, like the great north transept window has to be seen to be believed.
The Abbey was designated as a Cathedral in 1877.
There's an colourful and eccentric description of the architectural vicissitudes of the abbey at; stainedglassattitudes.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/the-tragic...
St Alban's Cathedral, built as a shrine to England's first Christian Martyr and Saint.
St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain. It stands over the place where Alban, the first martyr, was buried after giving his life for his faith over 1700 years ago – more than 200 years before St Augustine arrived in Canterbury.
At some time in the third century Alban was martyred for his christian faith and buried on a hill top over looking the city of Verulamium. Eventually a shrine or church was built over his grave and the historian Bede, writing c.730 implies that this was done in Roman times and states that miracles still took place there. The Gallic Bishop, St. Germanus of Auxerre visited the shrine in 429. The Abbeys own historians recorded that the Abbey was founded by the great King Offa of Mercia in 793, after the saints resting place had been revealed to him in a dream. However it is unlikely that this had been forgotten by the two generations since Bede's time and it seems likely that Offa reorganised an existing religious community and probably imposed the rule of St. Benedict. He also endowed the house with extensive lands.
Little is known about the Anglo-Saxon Abbey but it seems to have had two churches and was a mixed house with both monks and nuns.
Eleven years after the Norman Conquest, in 1077, Paul of Caen was appointed Abbot and set about rebuilding not only the Church but also the conventual buildings. The great church was finally completed and dedicated in the presence of king Henry I in 1115. Most of the building materials were quarried from the ruins of Roman city of Verulamium that lies just across the small river Ver to the south.
The great abbey was a victim of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and most of its buildings were demolished. However, the Abbey Church survived and was sold to the town for £400 in 1553 by King Edward VI to be the church of the parish.
The upkeep of this vast and already ancient building fell on the small town and it became increasingly derelict. In the 1770s the Abbey came close to demolition; the expense of repairs meant a scheme to destroy the Abbey and erect a smaller church almost succeeded. In the 19th century various repair schemes were put in place. George Gilbert Scott was working on the Abbey until his death. His plans were partially completed by his son, John Oldrid Scott, but the remaining work fell into the hands of Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, an extremely rich amateur, whose efforts have attracted much controversy — Nikolaus Pevsner calling him a "pompous, righteous bully." However, he donated much of the immense sum of £130,000 the work cost. His work however is often eye-poppingly inappropriate and some, like the great north transept window has to be seen to be believed.
The Abbey was designated as a Cathedral in 1877.
There's an colourful and eccentric description of the architectural vicissitudes of the abbey at; stainedglassattitudes.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/the-tragic...