St Albans
St Albans is a small city with roots as a market town known to the Romans as Verulamium and its earlier, Iron Age inhabitants as Verlamion ("the settlement above the marsh", apparently, though I'm sure I was given a different interpretation at some other point in the recent past).
Situated in a charming part of town on the edge of rurality, the Verulamium Roman Museum is well set up with some good exhibits and with the ruinous foundational remains of various parts of the former Roman town spread over neighbouring open land. Being the post-Easter/pre-summer term for British schools, there were several school parties in the museum, but they were well-behaved and only a minor distraction.
The above photographs show two recovered mosaic floors, one featuring a large shell in a semi-circular formation, the other the head of a maritime god. To follow, two small devotional figurines of deities, one thought to be a representation of Venus, the other Mercury. The next two pictures show a selection of objects found in local Roman burials. Amongst much else, the museum also displays various tableaux of Roman life in the area, including some substantially corroded arms and armour, and reference to Boudicca's revolt against the Romans (and her vengeful destruction of Camulodunum [Colchester, the first significant Roman settlement], Londinium [London] and Verulamium [St Albans], whereby 70-80,000 Romans [and Britons] were killed by her followers. By gum, she must have been pretty narked).
I walked back to the centre of town via Verulamium Park, following the course of the river Ver, well populated with coots, moorhens, mallards, noisy Canada geese and a few mute swans. Taking an uphill, north-easterly turn towards the abbey/cathedral, I passed Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, a pub I've mentioned as a contender for the oldest in England, its octagonal structure apparently originally a 15th Century pigeon loft.
The abbey itself, as I must have said earlier, has the longest nave of any English church (although Winchester Cathedral surpasses it for overall length of entire structure... As if size matters). To be honest, St Albans Cathedral is not a favourite of mine. Other examples of large church far exceed it for elegance, stylistic integrity, and overall beauty – but that’s not to say that St Albans is without merit or notability. The oldest part of the church, around the crossing, is constructed from repurposed local Roman masonry, with the central tower being the only existing English example from the 11th Century, and the earliest part of the nave, displaying Romanesque, rounded arches, features some very impressive Medieval wall painting. Much of the rest of the building consists of later Medieval styles and, in no small part due to post-Dissolution neglect, there has also been a great deal of later restorative work, particularly in the 19th Century. The more sensitively implemented work was conducted under the auspices of the oft-mentioned Sir George Gilbert Scott, the less sensitive work (after Scott’s demise) under the bull-headed Edmund Beckett, the first Baron Grimthorpe, who was not against replacing architectural elements of merit with far cruder features, as well as using unsuitable materials that caused significant structural problems down the road.
Following are images demonstrating the length of the church's nave (the first of which unfortunately also features a school party and their minibus, as well as the 19th Century West Front of the building restored by the hapless Grimthorpe). To follow that, there are two or three showing the wall paintings, and – finally – the gatehouse.
The abbey was originally endowed by Saxon King Offa in 793AD for the Benedictine Order. The later, Medieval, abbey was, of course, largely ruined by the Dissolution, though its gatehouse now forms part of St Albans School (a British "Public" school). The structure had been used as the town jail some time before that.
Incidentally, St Albans was the location for The Avengers episode The Morning After, which might leave the impression that the town is composed mainly of rather dreary terraced streets from which St Albans Cathedral is visible no matter which way you turn. However, there's a great deal of architectural diversity in St Albans, providing some very interesting buildings from many ages. Amongst the examples below, note the jettied upper stories of some old buildings, half-timbered structures, as well as blind windows (presumably relic from the days of fenestration taxes in the 19th Century), as well as tile roofs and the characteristic lapped woodwork, especially on gable ends.
The white house above is also called St Germain's, and is a Grade II Listed Building from C 1800 (though there are some signs of an earlier structure incorporated).