England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
St Albans Abbey

The Parish

St Albans lies in southern Hertfordshire & the Abbey parish covers the heart of the city. St Albans was granted city status during Victorian times with the Abbey church being raised to cathedral status. Prior to this elevation St Albans was a large market town situated about 20 miles northwest of the city of London. St Albans sits where the A5183 heading northwards from the edge of Metropolitan London crosses the River Ver, several other main A roads also arrive at the city from Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead & Luton. St Albans has a long history being the site of the Roman settlement of Verulamium, situated just across the Ver from the Abbey church. The city was founded on its present site by King Offa to mark the martyrdom of its saint, Alban, allegedly in the 8th century. Over the centuries St Albans grew upon its market status attracting several industries such as candle wick manufacture, silk weaving and, in particular, straw plaiting for hat making. Modern St Albans sits in a web of modern communications, the M25 motorway runs about 3 miles to its south whilst the M1 lies a similar distance to the west. The city also has two rail routes into the centre of London. These communication networks have made St Albans a growth point for light industry & high-tech services leading to spectacular recent growth, these industries are added to by proximity of the capital making St Albans a notable commuter settlement, too. The Ver drains the parish soon joining the Colne and ultimately the Thames at Staines, from there it heads eastwards to reach the North Sea through the Thames Estuary. St Albans is sited (at the Abbey Church site) at around 100 metres above the sea with local heights reaching to 130 metres in gently undulating countryside. St Albans Abbey parish was tiny, covering just a few acres within the city, yet supported a population of around 3,000 parishioners. In Domesday times St Albans was also a substantial settlement large enough to place it amongst the top 20% by population, held by the Abbey its assets were substantial too, 18 ploughs were backed up by the usual meadows & woodlands and more wealthy assets included 3 mills and a fishery.

The Church

The Abbey church, now the cathedral, sits at the heart of St Albans just to the south of the city's High Street standing in its close. The site has ancient origins, a church was founded here by the end of the 4th century albeit nothing of that building or its Saxon successors remains. The present building dates from the Norman Romanesque period of the 11th century. The church has the cruciform style of buildings of that era with a central crossing tower and transepts augmenting the standard design of nave & chancel. The church would also have had monastery cloisters to its south albeit only fragments remain. The oldest remaining portions of the church are the crossing tower & transepts, there is documentary evidence dating these portions to a start in 1077. The nave, however, was extended to a length of almost 300 feet during the 13th & 14th centuries in the Early English Gothic style, in addition the Lady Chapel at the eastern end was added but in a Decorated style. There is little of the classic Perpendicular period so characteristic of churches in England and apart from later restorations little else has changed since the completion. The church stands in extensive grounds, the Close, which is crisscrossed by pathways. The church is somewhat hemmed in to the north by High Street properties & trees but is readily viewable from the south.