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ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
SAINT ALBANS

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE FABRIC
& A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ABBEY

BY THE

REV. THOMAS PERKINS, M.A.

RECTOR OF TURNWORTH, DORSET
AUTHOR OF “ROUEN,” “AMIENS,” “WIMBORNE AND
CHRISTCHURCH,” ETC., ETC.

WITH FIFTY ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 1903

PREFACE

The Rev. W.D. Sweeting, who had originally undertaken to write this
monograph on St. Albans, having been obliged, on account of ill-health, to
abandon the work, the Publishers asked me to write it in his stead. My
task was rendered much easier by Mr. Sweeting kindly sending me much
material that he had collected, and many valuable notes that he had made,
especially on the history of the Abbey.

My best thanks are due to the Dean for kindly allowing me permission to
examine every part of the Cathedral church, and to take the photographs
with which this book is illustrated. A few illustrations only are from
other sources, among them those on pages 9 and 11, for permission to use
which I have to thank Mr. John Murray. I have also to acknowledge the
courtesy of the vergers, Mr. Newell and Miss Davis from both of whom I
obtained much information; Miss Davis’s long connection with the church,
and the interest she takes in every detail connected with it, rendered her
help most valuable. I have consulted many books on the Abbey, among them
Lord Grimthorpe’s and Mr. Page’s Guides, Mr. James Neale’s “Architectural
Notes on St. Albans Abbey,” and papers read before the St. Albans
Archaeological Society by the Rev. Henry Fowler.

THOMAS PERKINS.

TURNWORTH.
July, 1903.

LIST OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST BEFORE RESTORATION.

---

ST. ALBANS ABBEY, BEFORE 1874.

ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL

CHAPTER I.
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.

Long before any church stood on the site of the present cathedral, long
before the time of Albanus, who is universally allowed to have been the
first Christian martyr whose blood was shed in this island, events that
have found a place in the early history of Britain occurred in the
immediate neighbourhood of the city we call St. Albans. Here in all
probability stood the oppidum or stockaded stronghold of
Cassivellaunus, who was chosen to lead the tribes of South-Eastern Britain
when Julius Caesar in the year 54 B.C. made his second descent on the
island. We all know the story, how the Britons gave Caesar so much
trouble that, when at last Roman discipline had secured the victory, he,
demanding tribute and receiving hostages as guarantees for its payment,
left Britain and never cared to venture upon any fresh invasion. We know
that the Trinobantes were the first to sue for peace, and, abandoning
Cassivellaunus, left him to bear the brunt of Caesar’s attack upon his
stronghold, how this was destroyed by Caesar, and how Cassivellaunus also
was obliged to make submission to the Romans.

[Pg 4][Pg 4]Nearly a century passed before any Roman legionary again set
foot on the British shores; but when at last, in the days of Claudius,
A.D. 42, the Romans invaded the island, they came to conquer and occupy
all except the northern part of Britain. In the early days of their
occupation a walled town, which was soon raised to the rank of a
municipium, was built on the south-western side of the Ver, and
from the name of the river was called Verulamium or Verlamium. It soon
became a populous place, for when in A.D. 61 Boadicea, the Queen of the
Iceni, stung by the insults and injuries she and her daughters had
received at the hands of the Romans, raised her own and the neighbouring
tribes to take vengeance on their oppressors and

It is recorded that no less than seventy thousand fell in these three
places and the villages around them.

But her vengeance, sharp and sudden, was not allowed to pass unpunished by
the Romans, and Suetonius Paulinus, hurrying from North Wales, though too
late to save the three towns, utterly routed the forces of Boadicea
somewhere between London and Colchester.

After this Verulamium became once more a prosperous town, inhabited partly
by Romans, partly by Britons, who under Roman influence embraced the
civilization and adopted the customs of their conquerors. By whom
Christianity was first introduced into Britain we do not know; probably it
was brought from Gaul. In the reign of Diocletian a great persecution of
the Christians arose throughout the Roman empire. The edict enjoining this
persecution was promulgated in February, 303 A.D., and the persecution
lasted until the Emperor abdicated in May, 305 A.D. It was carried out in
Britain by Maximianus Herculius and Asclepiodotus, and it was during this
persecution that St. Alban won the martyr’s crown. Though the story is
embellished with certain miraculous incidents which most of us will reject
as accretions of later ages, yet there seems no reason to doubt the main
facts.

Albanus, or Alban, as we generally call him, was a young soldier and a
heathen, but being a man of a pitiful heart, he gave [Pg 5]shelter
to a certain deacon named Amphibalus, who was in danger of
death. Amphibalus returned his kindness by teaching him the outlines of
the Christian religion, which Alban accepted. When at last the
persecutors had discovered the hiding-place of Amphibalus, Alban, in order
to aid his escape, changed garments with the deacon, and allowed himself
to be taken in his stead, while Amphibalus made his way into Wales, where,
however, he was ultimately captured and was brought back by the
persecutors, who possibly intended to put him to death at Verulamium, but
for some reason which we do not understand he was executed about four
miles from the city at a spot where the village of Redbourn now stands,
the parish church of which is dedicated to him. Meanwhile Alban was
charged with aiding and abetting the escape of a blasphemer of the Roman
gods, and then and there declared that he too was a Christian. He was
ordered to offer incense on the altar of one of the Roman gods, but
refused, and as a consequence was condemned to be beheaded. The place
chosen for his execution was a grassy hill on the further side of the
river Ver. Great was the excitement among the inhabitants of Verulamium,
for as yet they had seen no Christian put to death, and Alban was,
moreover, a man of some mark in the place. So great was the crowd that it
blocked the only bridge across the stream; but Alban did not desire to
delay his death, so walked down to the river-bank. At once the waters
opened before him, and he, the executioner, and the guards passed dry-shod
to the opposite bank. This wonder so struck the executioner, that he,
throwing down his sword, declared he would not behead Alban and also
professed himself a Christian. When the band reached the hill Alban craved
water to quench his thirst, for it was a hot summer day, June 22,1 and
at once a spring burst forth at his feet. One of the soldiers struck off
the martyr’s head, but his own eyes fell on the ground together with it;
the executioner who had refused to do his duty was beheaded at the same
time. These miracles are said to have so much impressed the judge that he
ordered the persecution to cease. The traditional site of the martyrdom is
covered by the north arm of the transept of the present church, and this
site is [Pg 6]in accordance with Beda’s account, which states that
St. Alban was martyred about five hundred paces from the summit of the
hill. When persecution had entirely ceased, a few years after Alban’s
death, a church was built over the spot hallowed by his blood. Beda,
writing at the beginning of the eighth century, speaks of the original
church as existing, and describes it as being a church of wonderful
workmanship and worthy of the martrydom it commemorated. But in all
probability the church standing in Beda’s time was not the original one;
this no doubt had been swept away during the time of the English invasion
of Britain, when, as Matthew Paris tells us, the body of Alban was moved
for safety from within the church to some other spot, whence it was
afterwards brought back and replaced in the original grave.

That the spot was held in some reverence as early as the fifth century is
proved by the conduct of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre. A synod was held at
Verulamium in the year 429 A.D. to condemn the “Pelagian heresy” which
had budded forth anew in the island, having had its origin in the teaching
of the British monk Pelagius towards the end of the fourth century.
Germanus and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, attended this Council and refuted
the followers of Pelagius. It is said that Germanus opened the coffin of
the martyr and deposited in it some precious relics, receiving in return
for them some relics from the coffin, and a piece of turf cut from the
site of the martyrdom.

From this time we hear nothing for several centuries of the church or the
neighbouring town of Verulamium, save that after the Teutonic conquest the
town was known by the name of Werlamceaster, Watlingceaster, or
Waetlingaceaster, the two latter names being derived from that of the
Roman road, the Watling Street that runs through it. The site of the
martyrdom also received a new name—Holmehurst or Derswold.

The next event recorded in connection with our subject is the founding of
a Benedictine monastery by Offa II., King of the Mercians, about the year
793 A.D. He searched for and found the coffin that contained the martyr’s
bones. This, as already stated, had been removed from the original church
dedicated to his memory, in order to save it from destruction at the hands
of the Teutonic invaders, and had remained concealed, its very position
forgotten, until it was miraculously revealed. The coffin was then opened;
the martyr’s body and the relics given by Germanus were found therein, and
thus the identity of the remains [Pg 7]with those of Alban was
established beyond doubt. Round the martyr’s head Offa placed a golden
circlet whereon were written the words: “Hoc est caput Sancti Albani.” A
reliquary richly decorated with precious stones was made to receive the
body, and this was then deposited in the then existing church, which Offa
repaired so that it might serve as a temporary resting-place until a
grander church could be built. Offa had made a journey to Rome to get the
Pope’s consent to the foundation and endowment of the monastery.2 At
this time also Alban was canonized, so that henceforth he may be rightly
spoken of as Saint Alban.

All that Offa seems to have been able to do besides repairing the church
was to erect domestic buildings for his monks, who in course of time
numbered a hundred. We have no record of any partial rebuilding, or
enlargement even, of the church of Offa’s day. From the fact that certain
remains of it were incorporated in the present building, and that these
were of the character generally called “Saxon,” there is little doubt that
the church of the monastery was not the little church erected in the
fourth century over the martyr’s grave, but one of later date, probably
the one described by Beda as standing in his day, built in the latter part
of the sixth or in the seventh century. We have no further record of this
church, but we know that the ninth Abbot, Eadmer, began to collect
materials for rebuilding the church; but the work was not begun until the
time of the fourteenth Abbot, Paul of Caen, who was appointed by William
I. So enthusiastically did he work, that in the short space of eleven
years (1077-88) the church was rebuilt. The rapidity of the building was
no doubt chiefly due to the fact that there was no need of hewing and
squaring stone, for the Roman bricks from the ruins of the old city of
Verulam were ready at hand, and the timber collected by Paul’s five
predecessors was well seasoned. It is said that the new church was not
dedicated until the year 1115, but it is hard to believe that so long a
space of time as [Pg 8]twenty-seven years would be allowed to
elapse between the completion of the building and the dedication. It is
possible there may be some error in this date.

We can form a good idea of this Norman church. It was like several of the
other cathedral and abbey churches built at the same time, of vast size,
far grander than their prototype in Normandy, St. Stephen’s at Caen. The
following table gives approximately the dimensions of some of these
churches:

The church consisted of a nave with aisles; the arches of the main arcade
were semicircular, the piers massive and rectangular; there were no
mouldings, the orders of the arches, like the piers, having rectangular
corners. There were possibly two western towers, which stood, like those
of Rouen and Wells, outside the aisles on the north and south
respectively, not at the western ends of the aisles (a far more common
position), thus giving a much greater width and imposing appearance to the
west front.

The existence of western towers of Norman date has been doubted by some
antiquaries; some indeed imagine that John de Cella’s thirteenth-century
west front was built several bays further to the west than the Norman
façade, and that the foundations of the unfinished towers were laid of old
material by him. It is impossible to be absolutely certain on this point,
but the argument sometimes brought forward that the nave was inordinately
long for one of Norman date may be answered by mention of the fact that
the Norman naves at Bury and Winchester were even longer, and that
generally the Norman builders delighted in long structural naves, the
eastern bays of which, however, were, together with the space beneath the
towers, used for the choir or seats for the monks, the eastern part of the
church beyond the crossing being generally occupied by the presbytery and
the sanctuary where the high altar stood. In after times, however,
considerable eastward extensions were made, as at Canterbury, and the
monks’ seats were then in many cases [Pg 9]moved eastward into the
part of the church beyond the tower, the rood-screen being stretched
across the church between the eastern piers that supported the tower.3

PLAN OF THE NORMAN CHURCH. From Sir Gilbert Scott’s Lectures. (By permission of Mr. John Murray.

The transept had no aisles either on its eastern or western side; the
eastern termination differed much from anything in existence now.

Mr. Prior in his “History of Gothic Art in England” tells us that two
types of east end were to be found in the Anglo-Norman churches, both
brought from the Continent, one the chevet prevalent in Northern France,
the other derived originally from fourth and fifth century churches of the
East, passing to Lombardy in the ninth century, and then along the Rhine
and even reaching Normandy. Such was the original eastern termination of
St. Stephen’s, Caen; such may still be seen in St. Nicholas’, Caen. This
east end consisted of a number of parallel aisles, each with its own apse
at its eastern end. “Norman use had squared the aisle endings of the choir
two bays beyond the cross, the apse projecting its half circle beyond
this, as at St. Etienne’s, Caen, and in this form Lanfranc’s Canterbury
had been built.”4

[Pg 10]In St. Albans this plan was further developed; from each arm
of the transept two apses projected eastward, the outer ones consisting
only of a semicircular projection from the transept, the inner ones of a
rectangular bay from which the semicircular part ran eastward. The choir
aisles, as we should now call them, consisted of four bays, beyond which
they ended in a projection semicircular within, but rectangular when seen
from the outside, the walls being thickened at the corners. These aisles
were divided from the presbytery not by open arcading but by solid
walls. The presbytery itself terminated in a semicircle projecting beyond
the ends of the aisles. This extended as far as the centre of the present
retro-choir.

Above the crossing rose the central tower, much as we see it to-day, save
that it was probably crowned with a pyramidal cap rising from its outside
walls. Probably also the tower as well as the rest of the church was
covered with whitewashed plaster, thus hiding the material of which it was
built—the Roman bricks of which mention has been already made. These
bricks surpass in hardness and durability those of modern days, and are of
different size and shape from those we are acquainted with. Those used in
St. Albans are of two sizes, 17 × 8 × 2 and 11 × 5½ × 2. The joints are
wide, the mortar between the courses being almost as thick as the
bricks. The window jambs and the piers were built or faced with brick;
even the staircases were of brick. What stone was used is clunch, from
Tottenhoe in Bedfordshire, which, according to Lord Grimthorpe, is
admirably suited for interior work, but absolutely worthless for exterior,
as it decays very soon, and if it gets damp is shivered into powder by
frost.

[Pg 11]

THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORTAL, BEFORE THE REBUILDING OF THE WEST
FRONT.
From a drawing by W.S. Weatherley, in Sir G. Scott’s “Lectures
on Mediaeval Architecture.” (By permission of Mr. John Murray.)

The Norman church, finished as we have seen in 1088, stood without change
for rather more than a century. Then changes began. Abbot John de Cella
(1195-1214) pulled down the west front and began to build a new one in its
place. He laid the foundation of the whole front, but then went on with
the north side first. The north porch was nearly finished in his time; the
central porch was carried up as far as the spring of the arch; the
southern porch was carried hardly any way up from the foundations.5 The
porches are described by those who saw them[Pg 12]
before Lord Grimthorpe swept away the whole west front as
some of the choicest specimens of thirteenth-century work in England. The
mouldings were of great delicacy, and were enriched with dog-tooth
ornament. It is said that Abbot John was not a good man of business, and
that he was sorely robbed and cheated by his builders, and so had not
money enough to finish the work that he had planned. To his successor,
William of Trumpington, it therefore fell to carry on the work. He was a
man of a more practical character, though not equal to his predecessor in
matters of taste. He finished the main part of the western front. Oddly
enough no dog-tooth ornament was used in the central and southern porches,
and the character of the carved foliage differs also from that of the
north porch. In Abbot John’s undoubted work the curling leaves overlap,
and have strongly defined stems resembling the foliage of Lincoln choir,
while that of Abbot William’s time had the ordinary character of the Early
English style. There is evidence to show that he intended to vault the
church with a stone roof; this may be seen from the marble vaulting shafts
on the north side of the nave between the arches of the main arcade,
which, however, are not carried higher than the string-course below the
triforium. The idea of a stone vault was, however, abandoned before the
two eastern Early English bays on the south side were built, for no
preparation for vaulting shafts exists there.

Abbot John de Cella had begun to build afresh the western towers, or,
according to some authorities, to build the first western towers that the
church ever had; we have no record of their completion, and it is said
that Abbot William abandoned the idea. We have only the foundations by
which we can determine their size. William of Trumpington transformed the
windows of the aisles into Early English ones. He also added a wooden
lantern to the tower, somewhat in the style of the wooden octagon on the
central tower of Ely.

At some time, but we do not know exactly when, the Church or Chapel of
St. Andrew adjoining the north nave aisle of the monks’ church, extending
as far east as the sixth bay, was built for the use of the parishioners,
who had no right to enter the monastic church. This Church of St. Andrew
opened into the north aisle of the Abbey Church, being separated from it
by an arcade of four arches. It had a nave with aisle and chancel. Its
total length was about 140 feet, its width about 61 feet. It[Pg 13]
is conjectured that the north-western tower was converted into a kind
of antechapel or entrance porch for the Church of St. Andrew. There was a
door leading from the aisle of the Abbey Church into the chancel of
St. Andrew’s; this door, walled up, may still be seen in the fifth bay
from the west end. In order to avoid the necessity of returning again to
the history of this church, it may here be stated that it was rebuilt by
John Wheathampstead after he had been re-elected to the office of Abbot in
1451; and that it was destroyed after the dissolution of the monastery,
when there was no longer any need for it, as the parishioners bought the
Abbey Church for parochial use. The place of the old arcading was then
taken by a blank wall without any windows; this was pulled down and the
present wall built by Lord Grimthorpe.

In the latter half of the thirteenth century the reconstruction of the
eastern end was begun by Abbot John of Hertford. Here, as in many other
churches, the Norman choir was too short for thirteenth-century
requirements. The walls of the presbytery were raised and its high-pitched
roof converted into a flat one. The church was gradually extended eastward
by Abbots Roger of Norton and John of Berkhampstead; first the Saint’s
Chapel was built, then the retro-choir, and finally the Lady Chapel, which
was finished by Abbot Hugh of Eversden in 1326.

Another change was necessitated by an event which took place on
St. Paulinus’ Day, October 10th, of the year 1323. For on that day a
calamity such as had never before happened befell the church. The
celebration of Mass at an altar of the Blessed Virgin was just over, a
great multitude of people, men and women, still being in the church, when
two of the Norman piers of the main arcade on the south side fell outwards
one after the other with a great crash, and about the space of an hour
afterwards the wooden roof of the nave which had been supported by these
columns also fell; the piers themselves had crushed the south wall of the
aisle and the cloisters, so that a complete wreck was made of the
south-eastern part of the church westward of the tower. But this disaster
was accompanied by a great marvel, for though many persons were standing
close by, not one was injured; and a still more wonderful thing is
recorded: the monk whose duty it was to guard the shrine of
St. Amphibalus, which at that time stood in the nave, had been celebrating
[Pg 14]at the altar—he had finished even to the washing of the
sacred vessels—when he saw the columns fall; he withdrew a little from
the altar and received no harm. Some of the wreckage fell on the shrine of
St. Amphibalus, and though the marble pillars supporting the canopy were
broken, yet the chest which contained his relics suffered no harm. This
wonderful preservation of life and limb and shrine was naturally
attributed to the intervention of the blessed martyr St. Amphibalus.

Abbot Hugh of Eversden began to rebuild this ruined part of the church,
and this accounts for the five bays of the nave arcading westward of the
rood-screen being in fourteenth-century style. He did not live to finish
all this work, but it was carried on by his successor, Richard of
Wallingford (1326-1335), and finished by the next Abbot, Michael of
Mentmore, about 1345. The present rood-screen, which probably took the
place of a previously existing one of Norman date, was built in 1360 by
Thomas de la Mare. No further change of importance was made until the time
of John of Wheathampstead, who was Abbot from 1420 to 1440, and again from
1451 to 1464. He left his marks in various parts of the Abbey, and for the
most part his work was bad: he did almost as much to injure the Abbey as
the nineteenth-century restorers who swept away much of his work have
done. He rebuilt all the upper part of the west front, and inserted
Perpendicular windows at each end of the transept; he turned the
high-pitched roofs of nave and transepts into flat ones, and lowered the
slope of the roofs of the aisles. His object in doing this was to be able
to use the old beams again whose ends were decayed, and which were
shortened by cutting off the unsound parts. The result of this was that
the Norman triforium arches on the north side were thrown open to the sky;
these he filled with Perpendicular tracery, converting them into windows.
The tracery still remains, although the new roof has the same slope as the
original one, and the triforium is now again inclosed beneath it. He also
pulled down the wooden octagon on the central tower. His chantry on the
south side of the high altar was probably erected soon after his death.

Abbot William of Wallingford (1476-1484) built the high altar screen,
carrying out a plan which John of Wheathampstead had not been able to
accomplish. The only addition made after this to the Abbey is the chantry
of Thomas Ramryge, who became Abbot in 1492. The exact date of its
construction is not known, [Pg 15]all records of the Abbey during
Ramryge’s rule having perished; but from its style it is generally
supposed to have been built about the year 1520. During the reign of Henry
VIII. all the monasteries were dissolved; first the smaller, then the more
important ones, among them that of St. Albans. The fortieth and last Abbot
of St. Albans, Richard Boreman of Stevenage, surrendered the Abbey on
December 5th, 1539, he and the monks receiving pensions as compensation.

EXTERIOR OF LADY CHAPEL WHEN USED AS THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
BEFORE 1874.

In February of the following year the King granted to Sir Richard Lee all
the monastic buildings, but not the Abbey Church or the adjoining Chapel
of St. Andrew, with all the land lying round the Abbey Church. Lee
promptly proceeded to destroy all the domestic buildings. The church
remained in the possession of the Crown till 1553, when the town obtained
a charter from Edward VI. This, among other provisions, empowered[Pg 16]
it to erect a grammar school within the church or in some other
convenient place. The town authorities thereupon converted the Lady Chapel
and the retro-choir into the grammar school. A passage was cut through the
retro-choir, bounded by brick walls on either side; this was used as a
public pathway until 1874, when it was closed, and again became part of
the church. The part to the east of the passage served as the grammar
school until 1870. The mayor and burgesses by the same charter received
the Abbey Church, in return for £400, to be used as their parish church;
and in May, 1553, the first rector, George Wetherall, took charge of the
building.

INTERIOR OF THE LADY CHAPEL BEFORE 1874.
(From the Official Guide to the Great Northern Railway.)

The parishioners thus found themselves in possession of an enormous
building which they had not sufficient money to keep in proper repair. In
1612, and again in 1681, briefs or letters patent were issued by royal
authority, ordering collections to be made in all churches in England for
the repair of St. Albans Church. In 1689 a grant was made by William and
Mary. These sums were spent on various repairs, such as altering the
belfry windows, “filling up” with earth “the hollow in the wing,” that is,
raising the level of the floor of the south arm of the transept. In 1695
similar work was done in the north aisle; in 1704 a new window, a wooden
one, was inserted in the south end of the transept, in place of
Wheathampstead’s, which had [Pg 17]been blown in by a gale during
the previous year. There are records of £100 being spent in recasting some
of the bells between 1705 and 1707.

Money was again collected in 1721 by letters patent, and this was spent on
repairing the ceilings. About the same time a legacy was spent in repaving
the nave, and the west ends of the aisles were blocked by brick
walls. Some slight repairs were done about 1764, when a fresh collection
was made.

More extensive repairs were made in 1832: the roof was releaded, such of
the clerestory windows as had been closed were reglazed, and the south
window of the transept was rebuilt in stone. The choir, after the repairs,
was opened for service in 1833. The nave to the west of the rood-screen
was more or less in a dilapidated condition, protected by the releaded
roof, but not used. The presbytery had been fitted up in Georgian style as
a chancel, the organ stood in the north arm of the transept, and high pews
filled the choir westward as far as the rood-screen. This was the
condition of the part of the church which was used up to 1870.

In 1856 a scheme was started for getting the Abbey Church raised to
cathedral rank, and also for restoring the fabric. Mr. (afterwards Sir)
Gilbert Scott was appointed architect, and was empowered to do what he
thought most pressing as far as funds would allow; the flat roof of the
north aisle was renewed, drainage attended to, and foundations
strengthened; the floor at the south end of the transept was lowered—it
will be remembered that it had been raised in 1692—the vaults were filled
with concrete, and the floor repaved. The presbytery was repaved with
tiles copied from some old ones. The Georgian fittings were removed to the
nave; fragments of the tabernacles, which we now see over the doors
leading from the aisles into the presbytery, having been discovered, the
tabernacles were reconstructed of the old with some new material. But more
important work had to be undertaken in 1870. On Sunday, July 31st, the
sound of cracking was heard in the tower, and Mr. J. Chapple, the clerk of
the works, went up the next day to London to see Scott and asked him to
come down at once to examine the tower; plaster was put over the crack to
see if it was increasing or not. There were soon signs that the mischief
was getting worse, and Scott ordered the tower to be shored up with
timber, and temporary brick walls to be built below it. It seemed that the
[Pg 18]rubble of the eastern piers had been made of mortar which
had turned into dust, and that a big hole had been cut in the
south-eastern pier. This, according to Lord Grimthorpe, had apparently
been done with the intention of demolishing the tower, probably soon after
the time of the dissolution of the monastery, for the hole contained
timber shores which were sufficient to support the tower while the workmen
were enlarging the hole, but which were probably intended to be set on
fire and burnt away, thus allowing the workmen to escape before the tower
fell. This wood was found partially decayed, and probably to its state
the settlement of the tower was partially due. The hole was, by Scott’s
direction, filled with bricks laid in cement, and cement was poured in to
fill up all the interstices; some of the decayed rubble was cut out of the
piers and brickwork put in to take its place: the walls were tied with
Yorkshire flagstone and iron rods, and were grouted with liquid cement
wherever possible. It was an anxious time for those in charge of the work;
it was only after many days and nights of incessant labour, that they felt
sure that the sinking of the tower was arrested and that the new work was
holding up the weight.

In 1875 it was discovered that the south-west clerestory was beginning to
crumble away. Lord Grimthorpe had this shored up at his own expense. A new
committee was soon after this appointed, and in March, 1877, a faculty was
granted to this committee “to repair the church and fit it for cathedral
and parochial services.” The first Bishop, Dr. Claughton, who up to this
time had been Bishop of Rochester, choosing the northern of the two parts
into which his diocese was divided, was enthroned as Bishop of St. Albans
on June 12th, 1877, and on the following day the restoration of the nave
was begun. The church was in a very bad state: the weight of the roof and
injudicious repairs had thrust the clerestory walls about forty inches out
of the vertical plane. There was much controversy at the time as to what
should be done, and in the middle of it Sir Gilbert Scott died, in March,
1878. In May, however, the roof having been lifted, the leaning walls were
forced up into a vertical position by hydraulic pressure. Some of the
restorers were in favour of retaining a flat roof; others advocated
putting on a high-pitched one again, raising its ridge to the height of
the original Norman roof, as indicated by the weather marks on the tower.
Fortunately the latter course was adopted; fortunately because[Pg 19]
the church, seen from the outside, lacks height in proportion to its
length, and the ridge of the roof now visible above the parapets has given
it some of the extra height it so much needed. The subsequent raising of
the transept and presbytery roofs on the other three sides of the tower
was necessitated by the raising of the roof of the nave.

Lord Grimthorpe drew up a list of “symptoms of ruin,” twenty-two in
number, which it would take too much space to reproduce here; but unless
his account is exaggerated, it would seem that scarcely any part of the
building save the tower could be looked on as secure. He applied for a new
faculty which would give him unlimited power to “restore, repair, and
refit the church.” This faculty was granted, and he exercised his powers
to the full; and as a result, though the church has been made sound and
secure, probably for many centuries to come, yet many of its most
interesting features have been destroyed, the most terrible damage having
been done in the transept.

The west front which he rebuilt, though not altogether satisfactory, yet
is greatly superior in design to his subsequent work at the south and
north ends of the transept. These originally had corner turrets, octagonal
in plan; these turrets were pulled down and square ones, finished by
pyramidal caps, put in their place. The entire south front of the
transept was pulled down and rebuilt, and a new window consisting of five
lancets occupying its whole width inserted. The central light rises high
into the gable and above the level of the inner ceiling. The lancets on
either side are intermediate in height between the central and side ones
when they are seen from without, but when seen from within the tops of all
are of the same height, as they could not be raised above the level of the
ceiling. The parts of the three middle lancets seen from without above
this level are backed up with black felt across the ceiling, and their
upper parts light the space between the ceiling and the high roof. This
window is a feeble imitation of the “Five Sisters” of York, and is utterly
out of place in the narrow transept at St. Albans; but bad as this south
window is, the one at the north end of the transept is worse. Here Lord
Grimthorpe inserted a circular window, the design being such as a child
might make who was given a sheet of cardboard with a large circle drawn on
it, which he was requested to cover symmetrically with a number of
half-crowns, shillings, and sixpences. Another piece of unnecessary
alteration [Pg 20]was the destruction of the slype at the south end
and the re-erection of its disjointed members as curiosities in the new
work, its western doorway, with an added order, having been let into the
centre of the south wall of the transept, and the arcading placed in two
different positions.

THE ARCADE IN THE SLYPE BEFORE ITS REMOVAL.

More satisfactory is the work in the Lady Chapel and the space sometimes
called the antechapel; here the old carving had been terribly mutilated by
many generations of schoolboys, and the new work which has been put in is
good of its kind, and distinctive in its treatment. Lord Grimthorpe
vaulted the Lady Chapel in stone. Much other work was done by him in
various parts of the building. He rebuilt the clerestory windows of the
[Pg 21]presbytery and some of those in the nave; introduced windows
into the blank walls at the western part of the nave, both on the north
and south, for which he deserves commendation, as the original reason for
no windows having existed here was only that the monastic buildings, now
destroyed, abutted against the south aisle of the nave, and the Church of
St. Andrew stood on the north side; when this church was pulled down a
plain wall was built, and the thrust of the roof had forced this and the
original wall on the south side outwards, after the buildings which had
acted as buttresses had been removed.

One piece of modern restoration was not done by Lord Grimthorpe, namely
that of the Wallingford screen behind the high altar. The statues on this
having been destroyed and the screen itself damaged, Mr. H.H. Gibbs, now
Lord Aldenham, offered to restore it, working under Lord Grimthorpe’s
faculty. After a time a dispute arose between them, chiefly over the
introduction of a statue of Christ on the Cross in the centre of the
screen, and the erection of an altar with a stone top below it. This led
to a lawsuit, the final result of which was that Mr. Gibbs was allowed to
finish the screen in his own way, but not to do anything to any other part
of the church, a thing he wished to do. The altar is not yet in position;
when this is placed where it is intended to stand, the work of restoration
will be complete, and nave, choir and presbytery, and Lady Chapel will
then alike be capable of being used for service, forming in reality three
distinct and fully fitted churches under one roof, the retro-choir being
intended for use as a chapter-house whenever a chapter shall be created.

[Pg 22]

ANGLE BETWEEN NAVE AND TRANSEPT.

[Pg 23]

THE NEW WEST FRONT.

CHAPTER II.
THE EXTERIOR.

The visitor who wishes to obtain, at first sight, the most impressive view
of the Cathedral Church of St. Alban, should alight at the London and
North-Western Station, at which all the trains from Euston and many of
those from King’s Cross arrive. This station is about half a mile south of
the city, and from it a road runs up Holywell Hill, which, passing
eastwards of the church, leads to the centre of the city. But a road
running off to the left before reaching the top of the hill leads past the
south side to the entrance at the west front of the Cathedral. Seen from
the south the church, though it does not actually stand quite on the
summit, seems to crown with its enormous length the ridge of hill to the
north. Most of those who visit St. Albans for the first time feel a sense
of disappointment. The church has no far-projecting buttresses to give
light and shade, no flying buttresses or pinnacles like those that lend
such a charm to most French and many English churches. All is severely
plain, partly on [Pg 24]account of the very early time at which the
greater part of the existing church was built, partly on account of the
material used for its walls. Abbot Paul of Caen, who designed it, trusted
entirely to mass and proportion for the effect he wished to produce. But
we do not see it as he designed it, and possibly built it. When we
remember that he came from Caen, and seems to have used St. Stephen’s
Church, at that time recently built by Duke William, as a model, though he
planned his own church on a grander scale, he must have contemplated two
western towers even if he did not erect them—though, as previously
stated, there is a division of opinion on the part of authorities on this
subject. These western towers, if they were built, as well as the central
one, would be crowned by pyramidal caps; and such towers, finely
proportioned, would give the church the height which it so much needs, and
the lack of which we feel so acutely to-day. The raising of the roofs at
the time of the restoration to their original pitch was an undoubted gain,
for without it the building looked lower and longer even than it does
now. The church as we see it has been sadly injured by Lord Grimthorpe’s
work at both ends of the transepts, and whatever may be said about the
western front in itself, yet no one can deny that, had the church been
flanked by two towers standing, as at Wells and Rouen, outside the line of
the aisles, even though the front itself were as plain as that of
St. Stephen’s at Caen, it would have been far more impressive.

There is another point in which the church as it exists differs from the
church as it might have been seen soon after Abbot Paul had built it. Then
its walls were covered without as well as within with plaster, within
richly decorated with colour, and without whitewashed. How different it
must have looked with its vast mass seen from a distance rising above the
wooded slopes, white as a solid block of Carara marble gleaming in the
sun, and the lead-covered roofs of nave, transept, choir, and towers
shining with a silvery lustre. Many modern restoring architects strongly
object to plaster, and many a rough wall both external and internal, which
the builder never intended to be seen, has been scraped and pointed under
the idea that plaster is a sham, which it is not, unless indented lines
are drawn on it to make it appear like blocks of ashlar. The rich red of
the Roman brick in St. Albans walls and towers is so delightful, that
perhaps we may think Scott did well in abandoning his idea of replastering
them; yet nothing could have so entirely altered the general[Pg 25]
appearance of the building as this scraping away of the plaster.
Besides the general view from Holywell Hill, there are two other distant
points of view which should not be missed: one from Verulam woods, to the
south-west; and one from the fields in which the ruins of Sopwell Nunnery
stand. From this latter point it looks best after sunset on a cloudless
evening, when the tower stands up in majestic grandeur against the saffron
sky, and looking at it one can well imagine how much grander it must have
looked when the tower bore some fitting termination, either the Norman
pyramid or the later octagon, or even possibly the wooden spire of the
Hertfordshire spike order which succeeded it.

The West Front. We will begin our examination of the existing
exterior with the west front, and then proceed in order round the building
along the south side, east end and north side, although in reality iron
railings will prevent us from making a complete circuit, and necessitate
our retracing our steps and making a fresh start at the west of the
railings. Still there is no part of the exterior to which we cannot gain
easy access.

Lord Grimthorpe’s west front is built of stone; the illustration, p. 23,
will enable the reader to form a good idea of its appearance. It took the
place of one of patchwork character: the porches and lower parts were of
thirteenth-century date; the upper part above the central porch contained
Abbot John of Wheathampstead’s large Perpendicular window, repaired and
patched at various times; and brick walls closed the west end of the
aisles. Lord Grimthorpe’s idea was to design a front in the style
prevalent in the second half of the thirteenth century. The design has
been much criticized, but its general appearance will not be distasteful
to the ordinary visitor, and is as good as is most nineteenth-century
work. In certain respects it is more pleasing than the rival design of
Mr. John Scott, with its mixture of Perpendicular features with those of
earlier styles, its battlemented octagonal turrets, two of which were to
be surmounted by spikes. There are two features of the existing front, one
not shown, the other easily overlooked in the photograph, which should be
noted. First, the arched cill of the central window, and second, the
manner in which the back of the gable over the central door has been
chamfered off so that it should not come up close to the glass and make a
dark triangle against the lower part of the window when seen from the
inside. The [Pg 26]doors are all new; the side doors had vanished,
and the central ones were too short for the restored doorways. The western
porches, which Sir Gilbert Scott spoke of as some of the most exquisite
thirteenth-century work in existence, were almost entirely rebuilt by Lord
Grimthorpe. Fortunately some drawings were made for Sir Gilbert Scott, one
of which, by the courtesy of Mr. Murray, we have been able to reproduce,
p. 11.

The South Side. The south clerestory has no less than twenty-three
windows. The ten westernmost, partially restored by Scott, are connected
by an arcading; the next ten, as well as the wall that contains them, are
new—built by Lord Grimthorpe; the parapet, fortunately quite plain, was
rebuilt at the time when the roof was raised; the three easternmost
windows of the clerestory are formed of Roman brick in brick walls much
restored, and are separated by brick buttresses.

The south aisle roof is partly lead (Scott) and partly, at the eastern
end, of red tiles (Lord Grimthorpe). Lord Grimthorpe cut four windows in
the western bays of the aisle, in which no windows had originally existed,
as domestic buildings abutted against the church here. The three eastern
windows of Abbot William of Trumpington’s time were rebuilt in the old
style; the five bays to the west of these were refaced with brick and
flint, as the original clunch stone had perished, owing to exposure to the
weather. The arcading of the north walk of the cloister may still be
seen. It will be noticed that this arcading did not follow the division
into bays of the aisle walls above. The cloister walk acted as a kind of
continuous buttress to the south aisle wall, and owing to its removal this
part of the wall was gradually pushed outward. To strengthen it Lord
Grimthorpe built buttresses, naturally following the division of the upper
part of the walls, but thereby cutting across the arcading of the cloister
walk in a most ugly fashion. By building flying buttresses instead, he
might have preserved the whole of the arcading of the cloister walk
unbroken, but he considered that this plan would have been ugly, and that
the buttresses he did build were constructively better; possibly they may
be, but most of us will be of the opinion that, as far as appearance goes,
the plan adopted was the less satisfactory. The porch over the Abbot’s
door in the corner is entirely new. It probably is useful as a support for
the wall, but that is all that can be said in its favour. Lord Grimthorpe
thought that this would be used as [Pg 27]an entrance to the church
on this side, but it has not been so used. It is worthy of notice that
this church is destitute of porches, either on the southern or northern
side; probably because they were not needed in a purely monastic church.

THE SOUTH TRANSEPT AS REBUILT.

The South Transept. The south arm of the transept was most
ruthlessly dealt with by Lord Grimthorpe; no doubt it was in an unsafe
condition, but his alterations here have been criticized severely, though
not more severely than they deserve. The south front with the five
enormous lancet windows—the lower parts of them lighting the church, the
upper parts of the three central ones the space between the ceiling and
the outer roof—was entirely rebuilt, together with the corner
turrets. The slype or passage between the transept and the chapter-house,
leading from the cloister to the cemetery of the monks, has been
practically destroyed, some of the arcading having been removed and
rebuilt into the interior face of the new south wall, some rebuilt into
the south wall of the slype; the stones of the west doorway of the slype
with modern additions were used up in [Pg 28]making a doorway in
the centre of the south transept wall into the slype, and a new doorway
was built at the east end of the slype, thus forming a way into the
transept which seems now chiefly used as a passage for carrying in coke
for the stoves in the transept.

THE LADY CHAPEL, CHOIR AND TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

The architectural choir, containing the presbytery and the Saint’s Chapel,
consists of five bays. The clerestory windows are Decorated ones of three
lights each, the tracery being different in the different windows. They
are set in a brick wall which, in the latter part of the thirteenth
century, had been raised so as to allow of higher windows being set in
it. The tracery is all new, Lord Grimthorpe keeping only the old outlines
and leading lines of the mullions. The ridge of the roof of this part of
the church was raised by Lord Grimthorpe to its original height, the same
as that of the other three roofs that abut against the tower. As the side
walls from which this roof springs are higher than those of the nave and
transept the pitch is lower, and the window in the gable designed by Lord
Grimthorpe is triangular; below this, [Pg 29]in the east wall, is a
geometrical window with a small, one-light window on either side of it;
all of these are rebuilt. The south aisle of the presbytery contains two
small, round-headed windows, and further to the east two three-light, and
then one two-light window; beneath two of these are doors. All this part
of the church has been extensively restored, as has also been the
retro-choir or antechapel, as it is sometimes called. Through this, after
the dissolution, a public footway was cut, which was closed in 1870, and a
great deal of reconstruction was needful. This part of the church has two
bays, each bay with a window on each side, and one facing east on each
side of the Lady Chapel.

The Lady Chapel has three bays; the tracery seen on the outside is
new, though it is old inside, for Scott cut the mullions down the middle
so as to retain the statuettes that they bore on the inside. There is a
low vestry built against the south-eastern bay of the Lady Chapel; the
window above this is triangular; the windows of the vestry itself are
shown in the illustration, p. 28, as also is the five-light window in the
east wall of the Lady Chapel. The north side of the Lady Chapel resembles
the southern.

The North Transept. The character of the north presbytery aisle and
the north arm of the transept may be seen by examination of the
illustration, p. 30. It will be observed that the north front of this
contains a large circular window measuring twenty-nine feet across the
glass, filled by a number of circular apertures. This is Lord Grimthorpe’s
design, upon which much not undeserved ridicule has been showered. He
informs us that this arm of the transept was in a somewhat better
condition than the southern one, but that all the upper part and the
turrets needed rebuilding. In the rebuilt walls of the transept he used
the original material as far as it would go, supplementing it by some
modern bricks made in imitation of the Roman ones.

The illustration, p. 30, shows the iron railings which, unless a door in
them be unlocked, prevent further progress westward, and necessitate a
retracing of our steps right round the church till we again reach the
north arm of the transept. In the north front of this may be seen a Norman
door near the north-west corner, through which pilgrims passed who wished
to visit the shrine of the martyr; they entered the precincts by the
Waxhouse gate, buying their candles there, and went down the path which is
now called “the Cloisters,” from which the photograph on p. 30
was taken. In the west wall there is an upper row of three round-headed
brick windows once recessed, and a lower one of two twice recessed.

[Pg 30]

THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST.

[Pg 31]The North Side. The north clerestory of the nave has eight
round-headed brick windows at the eastern part, followed by lancets
similar to those on the south side. Flat buttresses of brick are built
against the clerestory wall between the round-headed windows. The aisle
windows, most of them rebuilt, are in Decorated style. A length of eighty
feet of the wall towards the western end of the aisle, which had been
built about 1553, when the Chapel of St. Andrew had been destroyed, was
rebuilt and buttresses built against it to counteract the thrust of the
clerestory, which leans outward. In this wall, as on the opposite side of
the church, Lord Grimthorpe inserted windows; and placed a new sloping
roof over the north aisle, covering the triforium arches which had been
glazed as windows in the fifteenth century; this roof is covered with
dark-coloured tiles. We may notice in the north aisle wall a brick door in
the fourth bay from the east; this was cut by Lord Grimthorpe and leads
into the vestry; also a walled-up door in the sixth bay, which led from
the church into the graveyard, and another in the sixth bay, which
formerly led from the north aisle into the chancel of St. Andrew’s Church;
this Lord Grimthorpe converted into a cupboard in the thickness of the
wall. The only other thing noteworthy at this part of the exterior is a
small piece of the north aisle wall of St. Andrew’s Church near the
footpath.

The Tower. There yet remains the magnificent tower. It is 144 feet
high and is not quite square in plan, measuring 47 feet from east to west,
and two feet less from north to south. The walls are about seven feet
thick; in the thickness, however, passages are cut. It has three stages
above the ridges of the roof. The lower stage has plain windows in each
face, lighting the church below; the next stage, or ringing room, has two
pairs of double windows; and the upper or belfry stage, two double windows
of large size, furnished with louvre boards. The parapet is battlemented,
and of course of later work than the tower itself. The tower is flanked
by pilaster buttresses, which merge into cylindrical turrets in the upper
story. For simple dignity the tower stands unrivalled in this country. It
must have been splendidly built to have stood as it has done so many
centuries [Pg 32]without accident. Winchester tower fell not long
after its building, Peterborough tower has been rebuilt in modern days;
but Paul of Caen did not scamp his work as the monks of Peterborough did,
and no evil-living king was buried below the tower, as was the case at
Winchester, thus, according to the beliefs of the time, leading to its
downfall. Tewkesbury tower alone can vie with that of St. Albans, and the
seventeenth-century pinnacles on that tower spoil the general effect, so
that the foremost place among central Norman towers as we see them to-day
may safely be claimed for that at St. Albans. Few more beautiful
architectural objects can be seen than this tower of Roman brick,
especially when the warmth of its colour is accentuated by the ruddy flush
thrown over it by the rays of a setting sun.

The view from the tower when the air is clear is magnificent, but
unfortunately the privilege of ascending the tower once accorded to
visitors has, on account of unseemly behaviour, been necessarily
withdrawn, and only by a special relaxation of this rule, through the
kindness of the Dean, was the writer enabled to inspect the upper parts of
the church.

[Pg 34]

THE NAVE FROM THE WEST END.

[Pg 35]

CHAPTER III.
THE INTERIOR.

The floor levels.—The Church of St. Alban is built so that its
axis points considerably to the south of east, a thing that would hardly
have been expected, seeing that the sun rises as far to the north of east
as it ever does on St. Alban’s Day, June 22nd. The orientation of the
church may have been due to the fact that no great attention was paid to
it by the builders, or it may have been due to the natural slope of the
ground, which would have made the building of the church difficult had the
east end been swung round further to the north where the ground is higher,
and the west end to the south-west where it is lower; even as the church
was built the slope of the ground has had its effect on the floor
levels. These have been modified from time to time; to describe all the
changes would take too much space, but it may be interesting to state the
differences of level that exist at the present day.

On entering by the west door a peculiarity will at once be noticed. About
fifteen feet from the inner side of the west wall there is a rise of five
steps which stretch right across the church from north to south. The floor
to the east of these steps slopes imperceptibly upwards for eight bays,
when a rise of three more steps is met with. On this higher level stands
the altar, which is backed up by the rood screen. There is another step to
be ascended to the level of the choir, and another to reach the space
below the tower. Five steps lead from this into the presbytery; there is
another step at the high altar rails, and four more lead up to the
platform on which the high altar will stand. From the space below the
tower one step leads up into the north aisle and two more into the north
arm of the transept. From the level of the south choir aisle and south
transept two steps lead up into the south aisle of the presbytery; from
this aisle there is a rise [Pg 36]of four steps into the aisle
south of the Saint’s Chapel, and from this into the chapel itself a rise
of four more. So that the floor of this chapel is, with the exception of
the high altar platform, which is one step higher, the highest in the
whole church, or nineteen steps above the floor just inside the west
door. From the aisle of the Saint’s Chapel one step leads into the
retro-choir, and two more into the Lady Chapel; hence the floor of the
Lady Chapel is one step lower than that of the Saint’s Chapel. If we take
seven inches as the average height of a step, it would appear that the
floor of the Lady Chapel is about ten feet higher than the floor at the
west end of the nave.

As we stand just inside the west door of the church we are struck by the
length of ritual nave, about 200 feet, the flatness of the roofs, and the
massiveness of the arcading dividing the nave from the aisles; for, though
the four western bays on the north side and five on the south are Early
English in date, there is none of that lightness and grace that we are
accustomed to associate with work of this period, no detached shafts of
Purbeck marble such as we see at Salisbury, no exquisitely carved capitals
such as we meet with at Wells. William of Trumpington seems to have aimed
at making his work harmonize with the Norman work that he left untouched;
and when the rest of the main arcade on the south side was rebuilt in the
next century, it was made to differ but little in general appearance and
dimensions from Abbot William’s.

The vertical proportions of the nave elevation are very fine. If the
whole be divided into nine equal parts, four of these are occupied by the
main arcade, two by the triforium, and three by the clerestory. The view
eastward is often closed by a dark red curtain that hangs behind the
organ, which stands in a gallery behind the rood screen. The screen
divides the congregational nave from the three eastern bays of the
architectural nave, which form the western part of the ritual choir. When
the curtain is drawn aside we get a view of the tower arches and more of
the length of the church is seen. It is to be hoped that no attempt to
move the organ will now be made, as some, no doubt, would suggest, in
order to get a more open vista; for the organ stands just where it can be
used equally well for a service either in the nave or choir, and its sound
can be heard with more effect than if it were stowed away on either side
of the church. The longest view of the church which can be obtained is to
be seen by [Pg 37]standing at the extreme west end of the south
aisle, from which, when a draught-excluding curtain that hangs across the
aisle just to the east of the transept is drawn aside, the view extends as
far as the east window of the retro-choir, distant about 440 feet from the
western wall, that is, about one-twelfth of a mile. A better idea of the
enormous length of the whole building is given by saying that it is about
a tenth of a mile long, rather than by giving its length in feet.

At the extreme west of the nave, on the north side, will be seen the base
of what was intended for an Early English pillar, probably John de Cella’s
work, for provision is made for the slender detached columns of Purbeck
marble, the intended use of which his successor abandoned. An inscription
beneath the west window records the fact that when pestilence prevailed in
London in the reign of Henry VIII., and again in that of Elizabeth, the
courts of justice were held in the nave. This took place in the years
1543, 1589, and 1593.

On the second pier on the north side is an inscription to the memory of
Sir John Mandeville, who was born at St. Albans early in the fourteenth
century, and educated at the monastery school. He studied medicine and set
out in 1322 for his famous travels, professing, in the account which he
published in French in 1357 in Paris, to have visited not only every part
of the south of Europe, but many parts of Asia, even China. It is not
known where he was buried, whether in England or abroad, and the statement
of the Latin inscription on this pillar that he was buried in this church
cannot be regarded as more trustworthy than most of the statements in the
book of travels.

ARCADE ON NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.

EASTERN PART OF NORTH SIDE OF NAVE.

The first four bays on this side are thirteenth-century work.
The junction of this with the earlier Norman work is of the most
curious character: the Norman pier was cut off level, a short distance
below the impost, and on the top of this three courses of the Early
English pier were laid. Why the Early English pier was not carried down to
the ground, in a way similar to that, in which the easternmost Early
English pier on the south side is carried, we cannot tell. It has been
conjectured that some special sanctity attached to the
statue which stood on the bracket, which may still be seen on the western
face of this pier. It will be noticed how plain is the plan of the Norman
piers (see illustration, p. 37). They have no capital, only a projecting
course of brickwork from [Pg 40]which the arch springs. The two
easternmost piers, however, were altered at some time (see illustration,
p. 39), and a rough kind of capital formed by cutting away the pier
below. The Norman piers were first covered with plaster, and then painted
both on their western and southern faces, and when the white-wash with
which they had been covered in post-Reformation days was removed in 1862,
the frescoes were discovered in a more or less perfect condition. All
those on the western faces with one exception, represent the same subject,
the Crucifixion, with a second subject below. No doubt against these piers
altars used to stand, and these frescoes served, as we should say, as
painted reredoses or altarpieces.

The subjects are as follows, beginning at the west of the Norman arcade:

First pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, crowned; the Virgin
on the north side, St. John on the south, holding a book.
Beneath, Virgin (crowned and holding a sceptre) and Child;
on each side an angel censing. Late twelfth or early thirteenth
century.

South face. St. Christopher. Fourteenth century.

Second pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin with
clasped hands on south side, St. John on north. Beneath,
Virgin and Child under a canopy. Early thirteenth century.

South face. Archbishop Becket. Fourteenth century.

Third pier, west face. Christ on the Cross; the Virgin on the
south side, St. John on north, resting his head on his hand.
Beneath, under a pointed arch, the Annunciation. This is in outline only. Fourteenth century.

South face. A woman in a blue gown holding a rosary
in her left hand, possibly St. Citha (Osyth). Fourteenth
century.

Fourth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross. Beneath, the Annunciation.
A rude painting of the thirteenth or fourteenth
century.

South face. A pilgrim and slight traces of another figure.
The subject is supposed to be either Edward the Confessor
relieving St. John disguised as a pilgrim, or St. John giving
a ring to a pilgrim. Fourteenth century.

Fifth pier, west face. Christ on the Cross, much draped; the
Virgin and St. John with red background. Beneath, the
Coronation of the Virgin. Fourteenth century.

South face. This was once painted, but not enough remains
to allow the subject to be made out.

Sixth pier, west face. Christ in his Glory; very slight traces
only.

[Pg 41]

NORTH NAVE ARCADE: WESTERN END.

Besides these figure subjects painted on the piers, the soffits of the
arches were decorated with colour, some of which still remains.

Although in the four western bays of the main arcade the Early English
work is very plain, yet the triforium is ornate. The[Pg 42]
arcading consists of two pointed arches in each bay, each comprising
two sub-arches; the supporting columns are slender and enriched with
dog-tooth mouldings, with which also the string-course below the triforium
is decorated. The shafts, which probably were intended to support a stone
vault over the nave, should be noticed.

This illustration also shows the character of the clerestory. The
triforium over the Norman main arcade consists of large, wide-splayed,
round-headed openings, in which the tracery and glazing introduced in the
fifteenth century, when the aisle roof was lowered in pitch so as to
expose the north side of the triforium to the sky, still remains. One of
the triforium arches, namely, the third from the tower, was simply walled
up at this time, and so retains its original form. The clerestory in this
part of the church consists of plain, round-headed openings. Between each
bay the outer southern face of each Norman pier is continued in the form
of a flat pilaster buttress up to the roof.

[Pg 43]

SOUTH NAVE ARCADE, SHOWING THE JUNCTION OF THIRTEENTH AND
FOURTEENTH-CENTURY WORK.

The rood screen behind the altar, which is sometimes erroneously called
St. Cuthbert’s screen, is of fourteenth-century work, but much restored,
and is pierced by two6 doorways, which were used when processions passed
from the nave into the choir. The doors themselves are fourteenth-century
work. Against this screen once stood three altars. The northern one was
dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Oswyn, King of Northumbria;
the central one to the Holy Apostles, the confessors, and St. Benedict;
and that on the south to St. Mary. These once stood against the western
faces of the Norman piers of the south arcade of the nave, which fell in
the fourteenth century. These piers doubtless corresponded with those we
still see on the north side, and were probably similarly decorated with
frescoes. The south arcade at its eastern end differs entirely from that
on the north. This part of the church was rebuilt after the fall of part
of the Norman arcade. The five Early English bays to the west are divided
from the Decorated ones to the east by a massive pier, generally supposed
to be Norman, but probably rebuilt. The northern face of this runs up as
a pilaster buttress to the roof; the string round it in continuation of
that below the triforium is carved with tooth ornament. West of this we
have tooth ornament, to the east the characteristic ball flower. The
junction of the two styles is shown in the illustration
below, from which it will be noticed that, though there is a general
resemblance in the bays on either side of the dividing pilaster, yet the
details are different. To the east we see shields below the triforium
string, and heads at the termination of the hood[Pg 44]
moulding. The head shown in this photograph is possibly that of
Master Geoffrey, master mason to Abbot Hugh of Eversden; the others
passing on to the east are probably those of Edward II., Queen Isabella,
and Abbot Hugh. The shields, also counting from the west, are those of
England, France, Mercia, England, Edward the Confessor, and England. The
hood mouldings of the triforium and clerestory also terminate in heads,
some of them grotesque. The Decorated piers were found by Lord Grimthorpe
in a very unsound condition, not on account of any defect in the
foundation, but on account of the bad mortar in which their rubble cores
had been set. This had become dust, and tended to burst out the ashlar
casing: this shell was indeed doing all the work of supporting the weight
resting on the piers. Lord Grimthorpe shored up the arches, and in large
measure rebuilt the piers of larger stones. He says: “It took no small
trouble and scolding to get these worked as roughly as the old ones, so as
to make the work homogeneous and bewilder antiquaries.” This sentence
shows the false principles on which Lord Grimthorpe sometimes worked;
necessary repairs should never be executed with a view to make the work
appear as old as that the place of which it takes.

The pulpit against the fourth pier on the north side, counting from the
rood screen, is new, decorated with pentagonal diaper work—pentagons
being apparently particularly attractive to Lord Grimthorpe.

The Organ.—The present organ when first built in 1862 was placed
in the north arm of the transept, where the previously used organ had
stood; in 1877 it was moved to the north-east corner of the nave; and was
again moved in 1882, being then placed where it now is. In 1885 it was
enlarged by Lord Grimthorpe, and the key-board was placed at the south
end, so that the organist might command a view of the choristers, whether
they were singing in the nave or in the choir. It is considered a fine and
powerful instrument, and no better position in the church could be found
for it.[Pg 45]

SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE FROM EAST.

The South Aisle.—At the western end of the south wall of this
aisle may be seen the remains of an arch which was intended to lead into
the south-west tower. Above it, high up, is a single-light window. The
next three windows, of two lights each, with Decorated tracery, were
inserted by Lord Grimthorpe in the blank wall; the next window probably
dates from the seventeenth century. The windows in the next
five bays come down on the inside to a much lower level than those to the
west (see illustration, p. 43), but the bottom of the glass was kept high
so as to be above the roof of the north walk of the cloister, which rested
against the wall of these bays. Two of these windows contain modern glass,
one being inserted to the memory of the present Dean’s father. There was
once a door in the second bay from the west, which probably was used for
processions, and in the seventh bay was a small door opening into the
cloister, from which a passage in the thickness of the wall[Pg 46]
led up by a flight of steps into the Abbot’s chapel. This opening has
been converted into a muniment room, and is closed by an iron door leading
from the aisle. The vaulting of the western part is of stone, and was
erected by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1878. The vaulting of the eastern part is
fourteenth-century work erected at the time of the reconstruction of this
part of the church in Decorated style, and is only plaster.

Against the south face of the large pier, at the junction of the Early
English and Decorated bays, once stood an altar dedicated to our Lady of
the Pillar, with a painting of the Adoration of the Magi above it. Iron
railings inclosing the space between this pier and the next to the west
formed a chapel set apart for the use of the Guild of St Alban. This
guild was founded in the reign of Edward III., but dissolved at the time
of Wat Tyler’s rebellion. It was the duty of the brethren of this guild to
follow the shrine containing the relics of St. Alban whenever it was
carried outside the church.

North Aisle.—At the west end of this aisle the beautiful though
much restored holy water stoup should be noticed. A semicircular arch
crosses this aisle, springing from the pier where the Early English and
Norman work join (see illustration, p. 47). The roof is of timber with
only a slight slope, built in 1860. The first four windows from the west
are new, inserted by Lord Grimthorpe in the new wall which he built
here. The other windows have new tracery, but the internal parts remain as
William of Trumpington left them. Some old glass (fifteenth century) is to
be seen in the eighth, ninth, and tenth windows of the aisle. The font, a
modern one, stands at the east end of this aisle. It took the place in
1853 of a marble one, now in the workhouse chapel. There was once a brazen
one brought as spoil from Dunkeld in Scotland, together with the lectern
now in St. Stephen’s Church; but this font disappeared during the civil
wars. The continuation of the screen across the north aisle is due to Lord
Grimthorpe. His object [Pg 47]was to form a vestry out of that part
of the north aisle that lies along the north side of the choir as far as
the transept. On the south side he merely erected a glazed wooden screen
with a door, through which visitors pass to enter the eastern part of the
church.

NORTH AISLE OF NAVE.

It may be asked, of what use could the vast nave be to a monastery like
that at St. Albans, which does not seem to have contemplated the admission
of the laity to its services? The [Pg 48]monks’ services were
chaunted in the choir: the people had the parish church of St. Andrew for
their use, in which, however, the priests of the Abbey officiated. But we
must remember that in mediaeval times, on Sundays and on other great
festivals, grand processions formed part of the ritual. The monks, leaving
the choir, perambulated the church. The general order of the procession
was probably as follows: the north arm of the transept, the north aisle of
the presbytery into the Saint’s Chapel, thence back into the aisle round
the ambulatory or retro-choir, through the south presbytery aisle into the
south arm of the transept, through the Abbot’s door into the cloister,
along the east, south, and west alleys back into the church by the
blocked-up door in the south wall, up the nave, and through the two doors
of the rood screen into the choir.

On special occasions it was customary for the shrines or feretories
containing the relics of the saints—in this Abbey those of St. Alban and
St. Amphibalus—to be removed from the pedestals on which they stood, and
carried in solemn procession round the church and sometimes even outside
it. For such ceremonials the naves were needed. It was also to allow for
these processions passing round the church that the ambulatory was built
leading round the back of the high altar. The idea of holding
ordinary services for the laity in the nave is an entirely new
idea, and however desirable they may be, yet they have led in modern days
to the introduction into the building in some places of benches or seats
like those of parish churches, and in others to the introduction of
chairs, either of which additions considerably detracts from the
architectural effect of the building. But though in early times the laity
had not in all churches regular access to the building, yet it appears
that they were some times admitted even in those churches that as a rule
excluded them. For we find it recorded that a great number both of men and
women were in the nave of St. Albans for the purpose of hearing Mass and
praying at the time when the Norman piers on the south side of the nave
fell in 1323.

South Choir Aisle—Passing through the door mentioned above, we
enter the aisle which, since it runs alongside of the ritual choir west of
the crossing, is known as the south choir aisle. In this part of the
church the Norman work of Abbot Paul remains. The aisle, however, was
vaulted in stone by Lord Grimthorpe. In the south wall is a recessed tomb,
where two [Pg 49]celebrated hermits, Roger and Sigar, were buried,
and which was at one time a popular place of pilgrimage. In the recess now
stands a stone coffin, but who originally occupied it there is nothing to
show. Many of these would be found if the monks’ cemetery were excavated,
as after the twentieth Abbot, Warin (1183-1195), had issued his new orders
regulating burial, all the monks were buried in coffins of stone. Roger
the Hermit was a monk of St. Albans, a deacon; but though as monk he
rendered obedience to the Abbot, he did not live within the precincts, for
on one occasion as he was returning from Jerusalem three holy angels met
him, and led him to a spot between St. Albans and Dunstable, called
Markyate, when it was intimated to him that he should live the life of a
hermit. Many were the trials and temptations he endured, many the combats
he fought with the arch enemy of mankind. Once the prince of darkness even
set the hermit’s hood on fire, but the holy man was not disturbed, nor did
he cease his prayers. In course of time a holy virgin of Huntingdon,
Christina, came and occupied a cell in the immediate neighbourhood, and
received religious instruction from Roger; here she endured many
privations and mortified her body, bearing patiently the diseases brought
on by her austerities. In time Roger, at the summons of God, quitted the
world and went the way of all flesh, and his body was buried in the arched
recess made for its reception. Christina still lived on. One day the Lord
Jesus Christ appeared to her in the form of an infant, and abode with her
for the space of a whole day; from that time forward no more temptations
assailed her, and she was filled with the spirit of prophecy and wrought
many notable miracles. She took the Abbot Geoffrey under her special care,
advising him in matters of difficulty and reproving him when he did
amiss. She was the first Prioress of the Benedictine Cell of Markyate,
1145.[Pg 50]

SAXON BALUSTER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.

Sigar lived about the same time in the wood of Northaw, south of
Hatfield. He also was famous for mortifying his flesh and for his
victories over evil spirits. It was his habit at times to come to matins
at St. Albans, and then to return to his hermit’s cell and pass the time
in prayer and self-scourgings. Strange to say, though the devils could
not disturb the holy man at his prayers, the nightingales of Northaw woods
did distract him, and he therefore prayed that God would keep these little
birds away, lest he should take too much delight in their
sweet songs; whereupon no more nightingales sang in those woods, and it is
recorded that long after his time no nightingale dared venture within a
mile of the spot where the hermit had dwelt. All which things are written
in the chronicles of the Abbey, of which the reader may believe as little
or as much as he will. Sigar was buried by the side of Roger. The arch
above their grave may be seen in the illustration (p. 80), which also
shows the Abbot’s door which led into the cloister. It was built by Abbot
de la Mare in the latter half of the fourteenth century. [Pg 51]

The Transept.—From this aisle we pass into the transept. Its
southern arm, notwithstanding the havoc wrought by Lord Grimthorpe, still
retains many points of interest. On its eastern side the triforium,
consisting of three bays, contains some baluster shafts of Saxon date; it
is supposed that they were taken from the church which Abbot Paul
demolished. It will be seen from the illustration that they are marked
with rings, and close examination has shown that they were turned in a
lathe, but not being quite long enough for their new position, extra bases
and capitals were added; these were cut with an axe, as were also the
cylindrical shafts of Norman date, which are set alternately
with the older ones. From the excellent state of preservation of the Saxon
balusters, it is evident that they did not come from the exterior of the
early church. Similar shafts may be noticed in the east wall of the
northern arm of the transept There are two arches in the eastern wall
which once led into chapels, the southern dedicated to St. Stephen, the
northern first to our Lady, afterwards to St. John; they were pulled down
in the fourteenth century to make room for a [Pg 52]treasury. One
of the arches is now used as a cupboard, the other as a kind of museum of
fragments of carved stonework. The south wall is entirely new. Lord
Grimthorpe pulled down the front containing a Perpendicular window,
originally fifteenth-century work, but rebuilt in 1832. Thus inserted his
five tall lancets, beneath which built into the wall are ten of the arches
with restored shafts of the arcade taken from the slype at the time of its
destruction; the other six are to be seen in the south wall of the rebuilt
slype, if slype it can now be called. Under this arcading in the transept
is a doorway, built by Lord Grimthorpe, partly from fragments of the west
doorway of the old slype, and partly from his own design. The rebuilt
slype is no longer a passage as it formerly was, leading between the south
end of the transept and the north wall of the rectangular chapter-house,
but is closed at the west end by a wall with a window in it, and at the
east end has a door. Fortunately, a photograph taken before the
destruction was available for reproduction, so that the reader may see the
original condition of the south wall of the slype (see p. 20). The west
wall of the transept has entirely different shafts in its triforium from
those on the opposite side. A little double-light window or grating may
be seen in the west wall near the aisle; it once opened into a small
watching chamber, which was walled up at the time of the restoration for
the sake of giving additional strength to the walls at the angle. It will
be noticed that the pilasters projecting from the west wall do not come
down to the ground. Lord Grimthorpe considers that these were not cut
away, as might be imagined but were originally built as we see them to
give strength to the walls where they were thinner on account of the
passages in their thickness. There is a recess in this wall which was once
a doorway into the cloister; it now contains some old oak chests, in which
are placed every week the loaves provided for the poor by Robert Skelton’s
charity, 1628. The wooden ceiling is due to Lord Grimthorpe.

DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.

The North Arm of the Transept.—The upper part of the north wall,
with its high circular window, was rebuilt by Lord Grimthorpe. Above the
triforium on the east and west walls are three Norman windows and below
these on the west side again two other Norman ones. The Norman doorway by
which pilgrims to St. Albans shrine entered the church, and two Norman
windows, with glass representing the four Latin doctors, inserted to the
memory of Archdeacon Grant, who died [Pg 53]1883, may be seen below
the wheel window; in the east wall are two pairs of lancets due to Lord
Grimthorpe. Here, as in the corresponding wall on the south side, there
are two arches which once led into two chapels. After their destruction,
altars dedicated to the Holy Trinity (north) and to St. Osyth (south) were
placed in the recesses. Here may be seen two modern monuments: one the
cenotaph of Dr. Claughton, first Bishop of St. Albans, 1877-1892;7 this
stands at equal distances from the east and west walls: the other, an
altar tomb, was erected in memory of Alfred Blomfield, Suffragan Bishop of
Colchester, who died 1884. The ceiling is by Lord Grimthorpe. A panel from
the old ceiling, representing the death of St. Alban, may be seen in the
south aisle of the presbytery.

If we stand under the central tower we get, looking westward, a view into
the choir with its modern fittings, the stalls given by various donors,
and the Bishop’s throne which was brought hither from Rochester. From the
way in which the piers are cut away on their faces looking into the choir,
it is concluded that the backs of the original stalls reached to a
considerable height. The piers, like those in the nave, were at one time
painted, and on the west face of the second pier from the east of the
north arcade are remains of a painting of the Holy Trinity. In 1875
Mr. Chappie discovered wall-paintings between the clerestory windows,
three on the north and one on the south; the soffits of the arches are
also coloured.

The painted ceiling of the choir was accidentally discovered during the
restoration. A workman was cleaning one of the panels, which was coarsely
painted, and happened to rub off the surface paint, disclosing other work
below. The upper paint was then cleared away from all the other
panels. Two, in the centre, bore a Scripture subject. The others bore,
alternately, coats of arms and the monogram IHS, with wreaths of
vine-leaves. The arms belong almost entirely to those who were by blood or
marriage connected with Edward III.

The ceiling of the lantern, 102 feet from the pavement, is painted with
the red and white roses of the houses of Lancaster and York, together with
various coats of arms. The lofty arches beneath the tower (55 feet high)
are of great grandeur, as will be seen from the illustration The four
inside faces of the lantern [Pg 54]are alike, each containing
windows above the three arches of the arcade, each of which comprises two
subarches springing from a quadrilateral shaft.

THE CROSSING, LOOKING WESTWARD

[Pg 55]

THE CHOIR.

To the east is the presbytery, closed by the Wallingford or
[Pg 56][Pg 57]high
altar screen. This screen was sorely dilapidated, and all its
niches were stripped of their statues, no record remaining of whose
statues originally filled them. Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs (now Lord Aldenham)
undertook to restore this screen, making good the canopies and filling
them again with statues. The screen is of clunch, a hard stone from the
lower chalk formation quarried at Tottenhoe near Dunstable, a stone much
used for interior work in the church, though it will not stand exposure to
weather in exterior walls. The new statues are by Mr. Harry Hems of
Exeter; the larger ones of magnesian limestone from Mansfield Woodhouse,
Nottinghamshire, and the smaller of alabaster. They are excellent
examples of modern carved work. The general idea was to represent “the
Passion of our Lord and of the testimony of the faith in that Passion
given in the lives and deeds of men”8 of English race. A careful
comparison of the screen (see illustration, p. 58), with the key given
(p. 59) will enable the reader to identify the persons represented.

The coloured altarpiece in high relief is by Mr. Alfred Gilbert, R.A., and
is a work quite unique in character. It represents the resurrection. In
the centre is the upper half of our Lord’s figure; on one side is an angel
holding a cross, emblem of faith; on the other, one holding a crystal
globe, emblem of dominion; the wings of these angels are formed of
mother-of-pearl, and before them are grills of brass scrollwork, intended
to give an air of mystery to their appearance. The work does not appear to
be fully finished, the grills being only roughly attached to the wall. The
space before the altar is paved with slabs of marble.[Pg 58]

THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN.

[Pg 59]

KEY TO THE SCULPTURE ON THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN

In an arch south of the altar is Abbot John of Wheathampstead’s chantry,
containing a splendid brass of Flemish workmanship, which once covered the
grave before the high altar in which Abbot Thomas de la Mare was
buried. He is represented in full vestments carrying a pastoral staff and
wearing a mitre, according to the Pope’s grant, although he was not a
bishop but only a mitred abbot, and therefore could not perform the rite
of ordination, which could be administered only by the Bishop of Lincoln;
the Abbey Church, though independent of him in all other matters, was for
this purpose in his diocese. The rebus of Abbot John was three ears of
wheat, and his motto “Valles habundabunt,” an allusion to
the fertile lowland of Wheathampstead, whence he came. This rebus may be
found in various places where the work was due to him. Opposite to this
chantry is the far more magnificent one of Abbot Thomas
[Pg 60]
Ramryge. His rebus is a ram wearing a collar with the
letters R.Y.G.E. inscribed on it. This chantry was at one time, after the
dissolution, appropriated as a burial-place for the Ffaringdons, a
Lancashire family, but the original slab with Abbot Thomas’s figure and
inscription has been restored to its place. Within the
altar rails are four memorial stone tablets covering the graves of four
fourteenth-century Abbots—Thomas de la Mare, Hugh of Eversden, Richard of
Wallingford, and Michael of Mentmore. Four other Abbots are known to have
been buried beneath the presbytery floor outside the altar rails—John de
Marinis, John of Berkhampstead, Roger of Norton, and John Stokes—as well
as other monks and laymen. It will be noticed that the presbytery is
divided from the aisles by solid walls, pierced only for the two chantries
above described, and for two doorways, one on each side, further
west. Over each of these doorways is a tabernacle; that on the south was
put together of fragments by Sir Gilbert Scott, and that on the north made
to match it. The clerestory windows are Lord Grimthorpe’s; the painted
wooden vaulting which extends beyond the screen and over the Saints’
Chapel is John of Wheathampstead’s. It will be noticed that this springs
from vaulting shafts, and it is by some considered that a stone roof was
contemplated. The triforium here is an arcade without any passage. The
pulpit, which stands close by the north pier of the eastern tower arch,
was designed by Mr. J.O. Scott and given by the Freemasons of England, who
regard St. Alban as their patron saint.[Pg 61]

RAMRYGE CHANTRY.

We will now turn to the south and pass eastward under the curtain which
hangs beneath the western arch of the south aisle of the presbytery. On
the south side we see, as we enter, a fourteenth-century holy water stoup,
and further on, under a window, a wide round-headed archway which formerly
led into a chapel now demolished, which once was dedicated to our Lady,
before the larger chapel at the east end was built. In the next bay is a
blocked Norman window from which the plaster has been scraped to show the
character of the wall, built of Roman tiles; the quadripartite vaulting is
of plaster with lines painted red to make it appear like stone. Opposite
is a large oak money-chest, and above it on the wall is the figure of a
mendicant (see p. 63), carved in wood by a verger in the eighteenth
century, hat in hand, as if asking the passer-by to put a coin in the
poor-box below. In the south wall is a doorway which led into the
treasury. The next bay is largely rebuilt; on the south side is a door
and opposite is the back of John of Wheathampstead’s chantry. From this we
pass into the south aisle of the Saint’s Chapel.[Pg 62]

SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY.

First we see the doorway on the north side, under which are steps leading
up into the chapel, and further on we come to a trellis-work
of iron through which we can look across the space once occupied by the
monument of “Good” Duke Humphrey of Gloucester into the Saint’s
Chapel. This grill is older (about 1275) than the rich canopy over the
duke’s grave, and was doubtless erected to allow of a view being obtained
from [Pg 63]this aisle of the martyr’s shrine. There are a number
of figures of kings in the canopied niches over the grave, but it is not
possible to identify them. Opposite are some remains of a stone screen of
the Perpendicular period; it probably divided the aisle from some external
chapel. After the chapel perished the wall was built up; but during the
restoration this arcading was discovered. Through an oak screen, Lord
Grimthorpe’s work, we pass into the retro-choir. This, as we have
before seen, was sadly mutilated after the Reformation, when the public
path was made through this part of the building and the Lady Chapel turned
into a grammar school; hence we shall find more modern work here than in
any other equal area of the church. The part east of the passage was for
long used as a covered playground for the boys and suffered much in
consequence. It was originally built at the end of the thirteenth
century. The arcading round these walls is new, much of it carved under
the direction of Lord Grimthorpe by Mr. John Baker. The carving is of a
naturalistic character, the vegetable forms being copied direct from the
plants and trees of the neighbourhood. The oak ceiling of the south side
and the flat ceiling of the centre are by Lord Grimthorpe; that on the
north side by Sir Gilbert Scott. The shrine of St. Amphibalus once stood
in the centre, but the reconstructed shrine, or rather pedestal of the
shrine, was removed to the north aisle of the Saint’s Chapel by Lord
Grimthorpe, so as to be out of the way; for his idea was to fit this part
of the church for use as a chapter-house, should a chapter ever be
created, and as a consistory court. He built the low wall between it and
the Saint’s Chapel with seats under the arcading to be occupied by members
of the chapter, and paved the floor with polished marble (see
illustration, p. 64).

RETRO-CHOIR

There were once several altars in this retro-choir; under the[Pg 64]
east window on the south side one to our Lady of the Four Tapers,
with an aumbry and triple-arched piscina in the south wall. This has been
restored; the upper part is entirely new. On the north side in a
corresponding position was an altar dedicated to St. Michael; while altars
dedicated to St. Edmund, King and Martyr, and to St. Peter stood to the
west of the two pillars, respectively on the north and south sides; and
another altar to St. Amphibalus stood to the west of his shrine in the
[Pg 65]centre. It may here be noted that the east
wall of the original Norman apse extended as far as the centre of the
retro-choir.

BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS.

[Pg 66]

BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT.

[Pg 67]

RAMRYGE’S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE.

The north aisle of the Saint’s Chapel is divided from the retro-choir by a
glazed oak screen with a door in it, frequently kept locked. Just to the
west of this is the pedestal of the shrine of
St. Amphibalus. This, like that of St. Alban’s shrine, was broken up
into many fragments after the dissolution of the monastery. The fragments
were built into sundry walls, but many of them were discovered when the
walls blocking up the arches at [Pg 68]the east end of the Saint’s
Chapel were removed; they were put together as far as possible, but as the
east and north sides are missing, the position the pedestal now occupies
is not an unfitting one, as these sides are hidden (see illustration,
p. 65). The letters R.W. may be seen on it. These are the initials of
Ralph Whitechurch, sacrist, at whose cost the pedestal was built in the
second half of the fourteenth century. Opposite this we see the back of
the watching loft (see illustration, p. 66) erected for the monk who kept
watch and ward over the martyr’s shrine; further to the west is a doorway
into the Saint’s Chapel, and still further west the back of Ramryge’s
chantry. Beyond this is the north entrance into the presbytery, over which
is a painting of the Lord’s Supper, generally attributed to Sir James
Thornhill and given to the church about two centuries ago; at one time it
hung over the high altar. There is also a painting of Offa, probably
fifteenth-century work, to be seen in this aisle. The two doors removed by
Lord Grimthorpe from the central doorway of the west front have been set
up against the west end of the walls of this aisle (see illustration).

ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS.

The Lady Chapel.—This chapel in its original condition must have
been exceedingly beautiful; and although we have had occasion to find much
fault with the work of restoration [Pg 69]or rather destruction and
needless alteration, in other parts of the church, yet here little but
praise can be bestowed. Some may regret that the old wooden vaulting was
not retained and repaired, but the new stone vaulting is beautiful in
itself and more durable. A better material than cast iron might, however,
have been found for the altar rails. The new carving is excellent in
quality and right in principle. It has been done, not as most modern work
is, by imitating the carved work of some particular period of architecture
as set out for the carver in the architect’s drawings, but by returning to
the old system of [Pg 70]going to nature and carving from life
models, so to say. It has been done in the same spirit as actuated the
early work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is said that the carvers
had sprays of leaves and clusters of fruit and flowers before them as they
carved, and imitated them as closely as the material on which they worked
allowed them to do. Work done in this manner, provided the carver has
skill and taste, is sure to show character and life, and to differ
entirely from the mechanical conventionalisms we generally see in modern
stone-carving.

LADY CHAPEL.

The chapel dates from the latter part of the thirteenth and early part of
the fourteenth centuries. The work was probably begun in the time of Abbot
Roger Norton, whose body was buried before the high altar in the
presbytery, but whose heart was laid in a small box, which was discovered
during the restoration, before the altar of St. Mary of the Four
Tapers. Possibly his successor, John of Berkhampstead, carried on the
work; but at Abbot Hugh’s accession in 1308 the walls of the Lady Chapel
had only been carried up as high as the string-course below the
windows. The work of building was not continuous, as change in style
shows; moreover we read in the Chronicles that Abbot Hugh of Eversden
“brought to a praiseworthy completion the Chapel of the Virgin in the
eastern part of the church which had been begun many-years before.” He is
also recorded to have roofed the space to the west, that is, the
retro-choir. It seems, then, that at the time when the alterations in the
eastern part of the Norman church were begun, not only was the presbytery
with its aisles laid out, but also the retro-choir as a group of chapels,
and possibly the Lady Chapel as well; and that when Hugh was chosen Abbot
he found the presbytery and Saint’s Chapel finished, the walls of the
retro-choir raised to their full height, and those of the Lady Chapel
partly built. These he proceeded to finish. The side windows of the Lady
Chapel are beautiful examples of the fully developed Decorated style; the
jambs and mullions are ornamented with statuettes which, strange to say,
escaped destruction. “The eastern window of five lights is a singular
combination of tracery with tabernacle work, while the easternmost bay on
the south side, which is partly obscured by the vestry, has an exquisite
window above, consisting of a richly traceried arch placed within a
curvilinear triangle, beneath which is a splendid range of niches, and,
beneath [Pg 71]them again, a gorgeous range of sedilia and
piscinae.”9 The original wall arcading had cinque-foiled heads on the
south side, and trefoiled heads on the north; but all these had been cut
away before the restoration began, probably at the time when the walls
were covered with panels to make the chapel more suitable for a
schoolroom.

In this chapel, after its dedication, mass was sung daily, and an organ
was provided to accompany the musical part of the service. The western end
of the Lady Chapel was separated from the retro-choir by a screen, which
of course perished after the dissolution. No modern screen has been put in
its place, though one would be a great improvement. Projecting from the
easternmost bay of the south side stands the Chapel of the
Transfiguration, which was dedicated in 1430. This, rebuilt, is now used
as a vestry. Beneath the floor of the Lady Chapel was buried the hated
Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grand-son of John of Gaunt; Henry
Percy, Earl of Northumberland, son of the famous Hotspur; and Thomas, Lord
Clifford: whose bodies were found lying dead in the streets of St. Albans,
after the first battle in 1455, in which they fell fighting for the Red
Rose party. They were buried by Abbot John of Wheathampstead, who at this
time was an adherent of that party, though he became a Yorkist after Queen
Margaret had allowed her troops to plunder the Abbey when, in the second
battle of St. Albans, she was victorious over the Earl of Warwick.

A considerable amount of work was necessary to refit this chapel for
use. The restoration was begun by Scott and finished by Lord Grimthorpe.

Scott cut the mullions of the windows down the middle, retaining all the
part inside the glass so as to preserve the statues, but renewing the part
outside for the sake of strength. All the painted glass is modern, the
gift of various donors. Lord Grimthorpe, in place of the wooden vaulting
which was, he says, in a very unsound state, threw a stone vault over the
chapel, raising its ridge three feet higher than that of the previous
roof. All the arches of the arcade had been cut away, with the exception
of two at the east end, one on each side of the altar, differing from each
other as already mentioned. Lord Grimthorpe took as a model the one with
the cinque-foiled head, [Pg 72]considering that the better of the
two, and constructed the existing arcading all round the chapel. He
rebuilt the Chapel of the Transfiguration, making its walls lower than
before, so as not to obstruct the view of the window over it. The carving,
chiefly the work of Mr. Baker, as already mentioned, represents various
vegetable forms in a naturalistic manner, the plants chosen being for the
most part such as grow in the neighbourhood—convolvulus, primrose,
buttercup, poppy, gooseberry, blackberry, rose, maple, ivy, sycamore,
pansy, polypody, and others.

Lord Grimthorpe also repaved the floor with marble slabs of three
colours—black, red, and white. During the time the chapel was used for a
schoolroom the floor had been a common wooden one. Practically, then, it
will be seen that this Lady Chapel, with the exception of its walls and
the windows with the statuettes on them, is a modern church, surpassing,
indeed, most nineteenth-century work in beauty, and much the same may be
said of the retro-choir or chapter-house.

The Saint’s Chapel.—We must now return westward, through the south
aisle of the ambulatory, past the back of Duke Humphrey’s grave, and enter
the Chapel of the Martyr by the door which opens into it from the
aisle. The centre of the chapel is occupied by the reconstructed pedestal
of the martyr’s shrine. The ugly wooden railing that surrounds it is a
great blot on the appearance of the chapel; no doubt it is necessary that
the pedestal should be protected by some kind of barrier, but a light and
elegant railing of brass would answer every purpose without marring the
general effect, as the present cumbersome erection shown in all the
accompanying illustrations of objects in this chapel does. It is to be
hoped that either out of the general fabric fund, or by the generosity of
some individual donor, this one blot on this fine chapel may be removed.

PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBAN’S SHRINE.

The bones of St. Alban were of course counted as the chief treasure of the
Abbey, in some respects the most valuable relics in the kingdom, since
they were the bones of the first Christian martyr in the island. It was
meet and fitting, then, that the most splendid resting-place should be
chosen for them. The bones themselves were inclosed in an outer and an
inner case; the inner was the work of the sixteenth Abbot, Geoffrey of
Gorham (1119-1149), and the outer of the nineteenth Abbot, Symeon
(1167-1183). These coffers were of special metal encrusted with[Pg 73]
rich gems. It is recorded that the reliquary was so heavy that it
required four men to carry it, which they probably did by two poles, each
passing through two rings on either side of the coffer. It is said to
have been placed in a lofty position by Abbot Symeon; but the pedestal of
which we see the reconstruction today was erected during the early part of
the fourteenth century, in the time of the twenty-sixth Abbot, John de
Marinis (1302-1308). This was built of Purbeck marble and consists of a
basement 2 ft. 6 in. high, 8 ft. 6 in. long, and 3 ft. 2 in. wide, above
which were four canopied niches at each side and one at each end; these
were richly painted and probably contained other relics; in the spandrels
were carved figures, at the corners angels censing. At the west end was a
representation of St. Alban’s martyrdom; on the south side in the centre
was, and still is, a figure of King Offa holding the model of a church; in
the next spandrel to the east the figure of another king; on the east side
a representation of the scourging of St. Alban, and on the north other
figures, of which the only one remaining is that of a bishop or mitred
abbot. In the pediments or gables were carvings of foliage, and round the
top of the pedestal ran a richly [Pg 74]carved cornice; round the
base stood fourteen detached shafts, on which perhaps the movable canopy
rested, and outside three other shafts of twisted pattern on each side,
which carried six huge candles, probably kept burning day and night,
certainly during the night, to light the chamber holding the shrine. On
this lofty pedestal, 8 ft. 3 in. high, the glorious shrine rested. It was
rendered still more ornate than it was in Abbot Symeon’s time by the
addition of a silver-gilt turret, on the lower part of which was a
representation of the Resurrection with two angels and four knights
(suggested by the guard of Roman soldiers) keeping the tomb. A silver-gilt
eagle of cunning craftsmanship stood on the shrine. All these additions
were given by Abbot Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396). A certain monk also
gave two representations of the sun in solid gold, surrounded by rays of
silver tipped with precious stones. Over all was a canopy which, like many
modern font-covers, was probably suspended by a rope running over a pulley
in the roof, by which it might be raised. There is a mark in the roof
remaining, possibly caused by the fastening of the pulley. An altar,
dedicated to St. Alban, stood at the west end of the pedestal.

There are two quarry-shaped openings to be noticed on the north side of
the pedestal near the floor level, one of which extends right through to
the south side. Into these diseased arms or legs might be thrust for cure
by virtue of the saint. At the time of the dissolution the shrine
disappeared, and the marble pedestal was broken up into small
fragments. In 1847 the rector, Dr. Nicholson, found a few of these, when
opening the two northern of the blocked-up arches to the east of the
chapel; and in 1872, when the wall that closed the end of the south aisle
was removed and excavations were made to find the level of the aisle
floor, many more fragments, numbering in all about two thousand, were
found. These were carefully put together by Mr. Chapple, clerk of the
works, some plain stone being used to take the part of missing portions,
with the result that we see to-day, from which we can form some idea of
the appearance of the shrine in the days of its glory, even to the colour
decoration, for some of the fragments bear the original paint and gold.

WATCHING LOFT.

Such a precious thing as this jewelled shrine and the still more precious
bones within it could not be left for a moment unguarded and unwatched,
for stealing relics, when a favourable [Pg 75]opportunity arose, was
a temptation too great to be resisted by any monks, however holy. So on
the south side of the shrine was erected a watching loft; the one that
remains was constructed probably during the reign of Richard II., as his
badge appears on it, but, no doubt, from the first there was some such
place provided for the purpose of keeping guard. A similar loft may be
seen in the cathedral church of St. Frideswide at Oxford, and a watching
loft of a different construction in the south triforium at Malmesbury. The
chamber had two stories; the lower [Pg 76]contained cupboards, in
which vestments and relics were kept, these are now filled with various
antiquarian curiosities, Roman pottery from Verulamium, architectural
fragments, etc. An oaken staircase leads up into the chamber where the
“custos feretri” sat watching the shrine day and night, guard of course
being changed at intervals. It must have been trying work watching there
during the night-time in frosty weather, but monks were accustomed to bear
cold. The watching chamber (see illustrations, pp. 66, 75) was built of
oak and was richly carved. On the south side of the cornice are angels,
the hart—badge of Richard II., the martyrdom of St. Alban, Time the
reaper, and the seasons; on the north the months of the year are
represented.

The west side of this chapel is closed by the back of Wallingford’s
screen, on which may be seen five statues representing St. Peter,
St. John, St. Mary, St. Stephen, and St. Michael. The eastern side is
closed by a low wall, erected by Lord Grimthorpe in place of the wall by
which these arches were completely blocked up after the dissolution. It
was here that some of the fragments of the pedestal were found. Into his
new wall Lord Grimthorpe has built some old fragments of carved work found
in different places of the church.

The south side of this chapel is formed of the monument over the grave of
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, surnamed “good” by an admiring people,
though some modern historians hold that he had little real claim to this
title. He was the son of Henry IV., and therefore brother of Henry V., and
was uncle of Henry VI. and guardian to the young King in the early part of
his reign. He who likes may read in any history of the part he played in
the affairs of the country: how he incurred the hatred of the unscrupulous
and vindictive Queen of Henry VI., Margaret of Anjou, “she-wolf of
France”; how he was murdered by Suffolk, with, it is said, the connivance
of the Queen and Cardinal Beaufort. It was at one time supposed that he
was buried in London, but there is little doubt that he found a
resting-place in a grave prepared for him in St. Alban’s Abbey, on March
4, 1447. This would be during the time that John Stokes was Abbot, between
the two abbacies of John of Wheathampstead. The body was discovered in
its leaden coffin during the reign of Queen Anne, when another grave was
being dug. The coffin was opened, and the duke’s body was discovered to be
in a good state of preservation in the coffin, which is described as being
[Pg 77]“full of pickle.” It is said that at one time the vergers
would, for a due consideration, allow visitors to carry away the smaller
bones when, owing to the body having been removed from the preserving
fluid, nothing but a skeleton was left.

MONUMENT OF HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.

The monument is a handsome one. It was probably erected [Pg 78]by
Wheathampstead, who had been on terms of intimacy with the duke, when he
for the second time became Abbot. The canopy over the grave is richly
carved; the antelopes we see on it were the badge of the duke. His epitaph
speaks of him, among other things, as

This refers to the story told of him by Sir Thomas More, how he convicted
an impostor who claimed to have been born blind, but to have received
sight at St. Alban’s shrine, by asking him the colour of the garments that
the duke himself and others were wearing; all these questions were
correctly answered by the beggar, who forgot for the moment that one born
blind who had only just received his sight, would not have known the
names of the various colours, though he might distinguish one
colour from another. The beggar was punished for his imposture by being
set in the stocks.

This story is introduced into the first scene of the second act; of the
second part of “Henry VI.,” a reproduction of a St. Albans legend in which
some students of the play will find an argument for attributing the play
to Francis Bacon, who lived close by and would be likely to know the
stories current in the town.

The Tower and Bells.—The ringing loft is reached by a staircase
starting from the door near the north-west corner of the north arm of the
transept. The steps were originally built of Roman bricks, but at the time
of the restoration had fresh treads of stone laid on them, so that the
ascent is an easy one; from this staircase one passes along the triforium
gallery of the western side of the transept, and then up a staircase in
the turret at the north-west angle of the tower to a room whose floor is
above the flat ceiling of the lantern visible from the floor of the
church. The bells are in the next story, and at no great height above the
floor of the ringing loft. In the ringing loft may be seen boards on which
are inscribed records of several memorable sets of changes that have been
rung, with the dates, the number of changes, the time occupied, which was
generally between three and four hours, and the names of the ringers and
the number of the bell that each one pulled. The peal consists of eight
bells; the tenor is in the key of E flat, and measures 4 ft. 6 in. in
diameter, and is calculated to weigh about 28 cwt. The whole peal was
originally cast in London by Philip Wightman in the [Pg 79]year
1699; but the second, fifth, and sixth bells were recast in the middle of
the eighteenth century, and the treble in 1845. On the tenor may be read
the following legend: “Vivos ad coelum, moritu[r]os ad solum pulsata
voco.” The clock was in great measure reconstructed under Lord
Grimthorpe’s direction and fitted with his gravity escapement; it strikes
the quarter chimes on the second, third, fourth, and seventh bells, and
the hours on the tenor. The mechanism of the chimes, which play at three,
six, nine, and twelve o’clock, was remade by Mr. Godman, of St. Stephen’s
parish; this mechanism may be described as a kind of gigantic musical
box. A huge cylinder revolves, on which are projecting pegs of brass,
which as the cylinder goes round catch against wooden levers which raise
clappers that in their fall strike the bells. The same tune is played all
through each day, but a different tune is played each day of the week; at
the end of the week the barrel is automatically set so as to begin the
series of tunes again. There is, moreover, another tune—the Trinity
hymn—which can be set by hand, and this is used on the greater festivals.

Besides the peal of eight the sacring bell which once hung near the high
altar is now hung in the tower.

It may be well to finish the description of the church with a few notes
about the material used and the method of building, abbreviated from a
paper by Mr. James Neale. He says that during the restoration many
examples were found of lead dowels in the joints of detached
shafts. Sinkings were cut in the upper surface of the lower stone and in
the lower surface of the upper, so that when in place these sinkings would
be opposite to each other; a small hole one-eighth inch in diameter was
then bored in the upper stone, through which lead was poured into the
sinkings. The mortar used between the outer stones of the
fourteenth-century bays of the nave was mixed with oyster-shells,
contained a large amount of lime, and was very hard. There is much clunch
stone used in the interior and this is in a good state of preservation,
but any that has been used externally has decayed. The abaci of the Early
English capitals in the main arcade are of Barnack stone, which is harder
than clunch and so more suitable for bearing a weight. The Norman
stonework was cut with an axe, the Transition with a chisel. The Early
English is bolster-tooled; the Decorated ashlar (including the bays on the
south side of the nave) is claw-tooled, the mouldings being scraped; the
Perpendicular is finely scraped. [Pg 80]

SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.

[Pg 81]

CHAPTER IV.
THE HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY AND SEE.

Although, as stated in Chapter I., Albanus suffered martyrdom in 303 A.D.,
and a small church was soon afterwards built over his grave, and another
of larger size subsequently erected, it was not until the eighth century
that the monastery was founded.

The foundation was an act of atonement on the part of Offa II., King of
the Mercians, in the year 793. In the previous year he had been at the
court of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and was a suitor for the hand of
his daughter. But he treacherously murdered his host and took possession
of his kingdom. Either as a politic effort to remove the evil reputation
of such deeds, or as a conscientious offering to regain the favour of
Heaven by means of a great work for the Church, Offa resolved to found a
monastery, in honour of the protomartyr of Britain, upon the site of the
martyrdom. The first thing to do was to discover the actual remains of
St. Alban. The story of the discovery would not be complete without a
vision and a miracle. Accordingly a vision is said to have appeared to the
King at Bath, and a miraculous light to have guided him to the spot where
the coffin was found. This had been purposely removed from its first
resting-place within the walls of the church, for fear of its being
desecrated by the Saxons, who certainly did reduce the building almost to
a ruin. The coffin was found to contain the body of the martyr, as well as
the precious relics which had been placed within it by the Bishop of
Auxerre. Their presence establishes the identity of the remains. The
church was then repaired so as to be able to preserve safely the reliquary
which contained the precious relics “until a more worthy edifice should be
built.” Permission to build and endow the monastery was obtained from
Pope Adrian I., the King making a special journey to Rome in order to
procure it. The martyr was canonized at the same time. At some later time
a valuable concession was granted to [Pg 82]the new monastery: the
tribute known as Peter’s Pence being assigned to it, while the lands
belonging to the Abbey were exempted from the payment. This grant applied
to the whole of Offa’s kingdom. The payment of Peter’s Pence had only been
instituted sixty-six years previously, the object being to maintain a
Saxon college at Rome. Offa lived to see the monastery established and
partially endowed. He himself gave one of the royal manors to the
endowment, but he did not live long enough even to make a beginning of the
grand church he appears to have had in contemplation, for he died not long
after his return from Rome, some authorities giving the year 794 as the
date of his death, others 796.

The monastery was of the Benedictine order. Though it became important,
and at last the chief of the Benedictine houses in England, it was not one
of the earliest. The Benedictine order had been introduced into England in
596, and forty-five monasteries had been founded before that of
St. Alban’s. Many of these were little more than cells, and many were
afterwards absorbed into the larger establishments. Yet several very
famous abbeys were founded at least a century before Offa founded
St. Alban’s.

Many of the early Abbots of St. Albans were men of mark and of influence
in the national councils, and some of them were closely related to the
royal family. The Chronicles, however, tell us but little of them, except
when the Abbey itself is concerned. Some notes on the Abbots will now be
given.

1. Willegod (793-796). His rule, we are told, was short but
prudent. His death is attributed to vexation at not being able to obtain
the body of Offa for burial in the Abbey. He died two months after the
King. The chronicler charitably hopes that Offa’s name is written in the
book of life, although his mortal remains are not honourably
preserved. Offa’s son and successor, Ecgfrid, confirmed his father’s
charter and gave another manor to the Abbey.

2. Eadric. He was elected in 796, according to the express wishes
of the founder, from among the inmates of the monastery. He was of royal
blood and had the King’s support in some critical difficulties, and ruled
with discretion.

3. Wulsig. This Abbot, like his predecessor, a monk and akin to the
King, scandalized the house by hunting in lay attire; and by entertaining
noble ladies within the precincts. He wasted [Pg 83]the substance
of the Abbey by bestowing it upon his relations. Most of the property
that he had alienated was recovered after his death, and those whom he had
fattened died miserably in poverty. It is said that he was much hated by
the monks and died of poison.

4. Wulnoth. He began well, but after a few years gave himself up to
sport habited as a layman. He is said to have ruled eleven years, and to
have repented when affected by paralysis, and to have made a happy
end. The chronicler adds with sly humour that his change to holiness was
brought about “faciendo de necessitate virtutem.” In his time the
Danes plundered the Abbey of its treasures, vestments and sacred vessels,
and carried off the bones of St. Alban to Owense (probably Odense in
Funen). The sacrist Egwin was much distressed at the loss of this his
greatest treasure, and prayed that he might see the body brought
back. St. Alban appeared to him in a vision, and bade him go to Owense and
there await instructions. After a year’s stay at the monastery he was
admitted into the brotherhood and became sacrist, never revealing the fact
that he had come from St. Albans. Long did he wait for an opportunity of
carrying away the sacred bones, until one winter’s night he found means of
removing them from the shrine wherein they were kept, and packing them in
a chest, which he gave to an English merchant whom he knew, bidding him
take it to St. Albans. He said that it contained books which the Abbot
had lent him, and which he was now returning; he added that he would
shortly bring the key himself, or, if he could not come himself, would
send it by a messenger. Together with the chest, which in due course was
delivered, a letter was sent detailing the circumstances of his pious
fraud; this was read by the Abbot in chapter, to the great joy of the
brethren. Egwin shortly after this obtained leave to make a journey to
England, and when safely in the Abbey he wrote to the monks at Owense,
telling them what he had done. Some of them denounced him as guilty of
sacrilege, others justified his action. When he opened the chest in the
chapter-house at St. Albans miraculous cures were wrought on many who were
infirm, both in the Abbey and in the town.

5. Eadfrith. This Abbot was handsome in person, but despicable in
his deeds. He never attended the services in the choir. During his time
Wulfa, the prior, built an oratory in honour of Germanus on the spot where
the rude dwelling he had occupied [Pg 84]when visiting St. Albans
lay in ruins. After Wulfa’s death Eadfrith saw the error of his ways,
resigned his office, became a hermit, and died a holy man.

No new Abbot was appointed for a year, as the monks were divided into two
parties in favour of rival candidates.

6. Wulsin. The bishop after a time intervened and put an end to the
dissension, and the monks unanimously elected Wulsin, or Ulsinus. He
helped the inhabitants of the town to build the three churches of
St. Michael, St. Stephen, and St. Peter (see Appendix). He died holy and
full of days.

7. Ælfric. This Abbot purchased of King Eadgar a large fishpond
which was too near the Abbey to be pleasant; he drained it, leaving only a
small pool of water and a bed of reeds, converting the rest of it into
gardens. He translated into Saxon some of the historical books of the Old
Testament. His doctrine on the Lord’s Supper, as expounded in a letter to
Wulfstan, Bishop of Sherborne, which is preserved at Exeter, was identical
with that of the twenty-eighth Article of Religion. He died “full of days,
eminent for sanctity, after having achieved many praiseworthy actions.”

8. Ealdred. He ruled but for a short time, but was a benefactor to
the town. He cleared away much of the ruins of Verulamium, especially
those caverns which had become the abode of robbers and outlaws. He also
collected materials (chiefly from the Roman ruins)—tiles, stone, and
timber—with a view to the rebuilding of the abbey church.

9. Eadmer. He was pious, courteous, learned, but he left the
monastery much in debt, so that some possessions had to be sold and some
timber to be cut down.

10. Ælfric is described as of singular and conspicuous merit. He
wrote a history of St. Alban, and arranged it for musical
recitation. Being afraid of a Danish invasion, and thinking that the
relics of the protomartyr, which had already been once carried away to
Denmark, would not be safe in the shrine as it stood, he hid them under
the altar of St. Nicholas, and at the same time pretended to send them to
Ely for safe custody, giving the authorities at Ely to understand that the
true relics were being committed to their charge; this, it is said, he did
being a prudent and circumspect man, and fearing that the men at Ely would
be blinded by covetousness, and refuse to return the true relics if they
once got them into their possession. The Danish [Pg 85]invasion was
soon over, the King being drowned, and then Ælfric demanded from the monks
of Ely the relics he had intrusted to their care. The caution he had
exercised was justified by the conduct of the Ely monks; for they,
thinking that the bones they had were really those of St. Alban, at first
refused to return them, but at last consented to do so. The bones,
however, that they sent back were not those they had received. It is plain
that these old monks were not always to be trusted to behave in an
honourable manner when precious relics were concerned. The chronicler,
however, who tells the story, considers the conduct of the monks of
St. Albans in sending spurious relics was “pious,” while the behaviour of
the monks of Ely was “detestable and disgraceful”—but then the chronicler
was a monk of St. Albans. Ælfric bought the royal palace of Kingsbury and
its land near the Abbey, demolishing the whole of the palace except one
tower. Ælfric in 995 was promoted to the office of Archbishop of
Canterbury.

11. Leofric.10 This Abbot was half brother to Ælfric. During a
great famine he spent large sums in the relief of the poor, devoting to
this purpose even some of the treasures that had been got together for the
rebuilding of the church, and many gold and silver vessels assigned to his
own use in the Abbey. The monks, however, objected to this conversion of
the property of the Abbey to uses for which it was not originally
intended.

12. Leofstan. This Abbot was confessor to King Edward (the
Confessor) and his Queen Edith. He acquired much land for the Abbey, and
cleared away the woods between London and St. Albans, to make the roads
safer for travellers. To secure the good services of a knight as protector
of the Abbey he assigned him a certain manor; the service was faithfully
performed. The Normans, when they came, dispossessed the holder, and
conferred the manor upon Roger, a Norman knight, who, strange to say,
fulfilled the conditions on which his predecessor had held the land. At
Leofstan’s death the Abbey was in a state of the greatest prosperity.

13. Frithric. This Abbot was chosen in the reign of Harold[Pg 86]
as leader of the southerners against the Normans, just as Aldred,
Archbishop of York, was chosen as the leader of the northcountrymen.
William accordingly ravaged the possessions of the monastery. After the
Conquest, when William was accepted as King, Frithric administered to him
the oath that he would keep inviolate all the laws of the realm, which
former kings, especially Edward, had established. Needless to say, William
soon began to disregard this oath, and despoiled the Abbey of St. Alban’s
more and more, till Frithric in despair resigned his office as Abbot and
retired to Ely, where he soon died. The monks of Ely pretended that he
took with him to their monastery the precious relics of St. Alban the
Martyr.

14. Paul of Caen (1077-1093). A great change now comes over the
history of the monastery. The new Abbot was a Norman and a kinsman of
Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. Like Lanfranc, who
had been Abbot of Caen, he resolved to rebuild his church, and, like
Lanfranc, adopted in England the style he had been accustomed to at Caen;
but his ideas on the matter of size were far grander than that of his
former Abbot, for St. Alban’s Abbey Church far surpassed in its dimensions
the cathedral church which the new archbishop built at Canterbury. As we
have already seen (Chap. I.), he used the Roman bricks from the ruined
city of Verulamium as building material. Important as this work was, the
account of it occupies but a few lines in the Chronicles. In these it is
mentioned that Lanfranc contributed 1,000 marks towards the cost. Paul
was an energetic man, as may be seen by the short time occupied in
building this large church; but it was not only in providing a new church
that he was active, for it is recorded that he reformed the lives and
manners of the monks, secured the restoration of land that had been
alienated, founded cells as occasion demanded, and persuaded lay donors to
give largely to the Abbey—tithes, bells, plate, and books. Robert
Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, gave the Priory of Tynemouth, which he
had founded, to the Abbey of St. Albans. Abbot Paul died on his way home
from a visit to this new priory, and was buried magnificently in his own
Abbey.

The “Gesta Abbatum” begins at this point to sum up the good and evil deeds
of the abbots. Among Paul’s shortcomings the following are mentioned: he
lost property through negligence; he destroyed the tombs of his English
predecessors in the Abbey; [Pg 87]he did not secure as he should
have done the bones of Offa for his new church; he alienated the woods of
Northame; he bestowed some of the property of the Abbey upon his
illiterate kinsfolk. Yet, on the whole, his good deeds outweighed his evil
ones. William II., after Paul’s death, kept the Abbey in his own hands for
four years, using, as was his wont, the revenues for his own
advantage. His death in the New Forest was considered by the monks of the
Abbey as a special punishment for the extortion he had practised on them.

15. Richard d’Aubeny or d’Albini (1097-1119). This Abbot, a
Norman, was a man of much influence, and during his rule the Abbey was
very prosperous. He presented many and valuable ornaments to the church: a
shrine wrought in gold for the relics of the apostles, which Germanus had
placed in St. Alban’s coffin in the fifth century; another shrine of
ivory and gilt, for the relics of martyrs and saints; a great number of
vestments and many valuable books. During his time, 1104, the relics of
St. Cuthbert were translated from the temporary shrine which Bishop
Carileph had erected over them to the new Cathedral Church at Durham, and
Abbot Richard, as head of Tynemouth Priory, was present on that occasion,
and a miracle was worked upon him, for his withered arm was cured by being
brought into contact with St. Cuthbert’s body. In gratitude for this
benefit, he built a chapel in honour of St. Cuthbert in his own Abbey.
For some reason the Abbey, though no doubt used, had not hitherto been
consecrated. This omission was made good on the festival of the Holy
Innocents, 1115, by Geoffrey, Archbishop of Rouen, the Bishops of Lincoln,
London, Durham and Salisbury assisting. Henry III., his Queen Matilda, the
chief nobles and prelates of the kingdom, were present and stayed at the
Abbey from December 27th until the Feast of the Epiphany (January
6th). Wymondham Priory in Norfolk was founded by William, Count of
Arundel, and conferred on St. Albans during Abbot Richard’s rule. Like his
predecessor, he enriched his relations at the expense of the Abbey, and is
further blamed by the chronicler for having promised that the Abbey should
be subject for the future not to the Archbishop but to the Bishop of
Lincoln.11 This change seems to have led to a stricter rule[Pg 88]
and so was displeasing to the monks, though it is admitted that the
Archbishop had not treated the Abbey well.

16. Geoffrey of Gorham (1119-1146). This Abbot came from Maine,
where he had been born. He had been invited to take charge of the
monastery school, but did not arrive in time, so he opened a school at
Dunstable. On one occasion, when a miracle play was being performed by his
scholars, he borrowed some vestments of the Abbey; these were
unfortunately destroyed in a fire; unable to pay for them, he offered
himself as a sacrifice and became a monk. He was unanimously elected Abbot
on the death of his predecessor, but at first was reluctant to accept the
office, though finally his reluctance was overcome. He made a most
energetic ruler. He increased the allowances to the kitchen, cellars, and
almonry. He ordered that the revenues of certain rectories should be used
for providing ornaments, for a fabric fund, and for the infirmary. He
founded and endowed the leper hospital of St. Julian on the London Road,
and established the nunnery of Sopwell (see Appendix) for thirteen
sisters. He built the guest hall, the infirmary, and its chapel. He also
began to construct a new shrine for the relics of the saint, but after
spending £60 on it discontinued the work to give himself breathing time,
and never went on with it again. He felt himself constrained to sell some
of the materials he had collected for this purpose, to obtain money for
the relief of the poor during a famine. A long description is preserved of
the decoration of the shrine. Among other precious things worked into it
was an eagle with outstretched wings, the gift of King Ethelred. Although
it was not quite finished, it was sufficiently so as to be ready to
receive the bones of the martyr. The remains were examined in the presence
of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, and sundry Abbots in 1129. The
genuineness of the relics, so it is said, was established by appearances
of the saint to divers persons as well as by miracles. One shoulder blade
was missing; but this, as it afterwards appeared, had been given by a
former Abbot, at the request of King Canute, to the reigning duke of some
foreign land, who had founded a cathedral church on purpose to receive so
precious a relic. A long list is given of the valuable gifts this Abbot
made to the monastery and church. During his time lived the hermits Roger
and Sigur, and the recluse Christina, whose story has been told in Chapter
III.

[Pg 89]At this time also Henry I. granted to the Abbots the Liberty
of St. Albans, which gave them the power of trying minor offences, which
had hitherto been tried in the civil courts of the hundred and the shire.

There are only two faults that are recorded of this Abbot: first, he gave
some of the Abbey tithe to the support of the church that he had rebuilt;
and, secondly, he was too easy in business dealings and allowed himself to
be imposed upon.

17. Randulf of Gobion (1146-1151). This Abbot had previously been
chaplain and treasurer to the Bishop of Lincoln. He erected the Abbot’s
chamber and other useful buildings, and freed the Abbey from debt. He
deposed the Prior because he suspected that a seal he found not yet
engraved had been prepared for a new Abbot, and that this indicated a
desire on the part of the Prior and monks to depose him. He is said to
have burnt a rich chasuble in order to obtain the gold with which it was
embroidered, and to have removed the gold plates from the shrine to
procure money to make a purchase of land—the rent of which, however, went
to the Abbey, not himself—while keeping the gold plate used at his own
table. He was allowed to nominate a successor, and then resigned, dying
shortly afterwards.

18. Robert of Gorham (1151-1166). He was a nephew of Geoffrey of
Gorham, sixteenth Abbot. He had been a monk abroad, but coming on a visit
to his uncle he obtained permission to “migrate” to St. Albans. In time he
became Prior. As Abbot he managed the affairs of the Abbey with
prudence. He repaired and releaded the church, whitened it within and
without, that is to say, renewed the plaster with which from the first it
had probably been covered. Matthew Paris tells us that one Nicholas
Breakspear, a clerk from Langley, applied to him for admission to the
Abbey, but was refused, as he failed to pass his entrance
examination. “Wait, my son,” said the Abbot, “and go on with your
schooling so as to become more fit.” Nicholas is spoken of as a youth,
but he must have been about fifty years of age when Robert became Abbot,
and was certainly Bishop of Albano within a year or two of that date, and
became Pope, under the name of Adrian IV., in 1154, the only Englishman
that has ever sat in St. Peter’s chair. If there is any truth in the story
of his rejection at St. Albans, it must have happened earlier than the
abbacy of Robert. King [Pg 90]Stephen visited the Abbey, and Robert
obtained his authority to level the remains of the camp, that is, the
tower that Ælfric, the tenth Abbot, had allowed to remain standing at
Kingsbury, which had become a den of robbers.

Soon after Breakspear had become Pope, Robert and three bishops from the
foreign dominions of Henry II. went as envoys to him from the King; the
Abbot hoped that the Pope’s connection with St. Albans, for his father had
become late in life a monk there, would induce him to enlarge its
privileges. Knowing that the dignitaries at Rome and the members of the
Pope’s household were wellnigh insatiable, he distributed valuable gifts
among them to secure their good offices with the Pope. Robert complained
of the intolerable oppression of the Bishop of Lincoln, and the insolence
of his agents, and obtained from Adrian complete exemption from episcopal
supervision. The Abbey henceforth was to be subject to Rome alone. When
the Pope’s letter granting this exemption was exhibited at a council in
London, the greatest indignation was expressed. An agreement was,
however, at last signed between the Bishop of Lincoln and the Abbot, three
bishops intervening in the interest of peace. Abbot Robert then sent two
of his nephews, monks, to Rome with still more presents, and as a result
of their mission further privileges and liberties were granted to the
Abbot; he was, among other things, allowed to wear pontifical robes. The
Bishop of Lincoln was exasperated, but did not dare to defy the Pope’s
authority. Adrian IV. was poisoned in 1158, and the next Pope granted a
new and important privilege to St. Albans; what it was is not stated. The
Bishop of Lincoln now thought it was time to assert himself. He declared
his intention of visiting the Abbey as its Bishop, and ordered that
suitable preparations should be made for his reception. The Abbot refused
to receive him. He was, on a complaint made by the Bishop, cited before
the King’s Court and called on to justify his action. After a protracted
investigation lasting for three or four years, the King assented to the
Abbot’s wearing a mitre, and recommended him to buy off further opposition
on the part of the Bishop by a grant of certain lands, which were worth
£10 a year. At Easter, 1163, Abbot Robert celebrated Mass wearing for the
first time mitre, ring, gloves, and sandals. He also at the Council of
Tours in the same year took the first seat among the English Abbots, the
Abbot of [Pg 91]St. Edmondsbury vainly attempting to take it from
him. He gave costly gifts to the church, built the chapter-house and the
Locutorium, the Chapel of St. Nicholas, part of the cloister, the long
stable, granary, larder, and two solars. He was buried in the new
chapter-house, leaving the monastery in debt, caused no doubt by his
lavish expenditure in bribery at Rome. On his death in October, 1166, the
King kept the abbacy vacant for several months, for at this time the great
conflict between the King and the Archbishop, Becket, was raging, and the
King wished visibly to assert his authority.

19. Symeon (1167-1183). Symeon had been Prior, and therefore had
been acting head of the monastery since Robert’s death. He was a literary
man and an encourager of learning. Being an intimate friend of Thomas
Becket, he went to Prince Henry, the King’s son, to intercede for the
Archbishop and bring about a reconciliation, if possible, with the King;
but he was driven from the court with contumely. Symeon finished the
shrine. The feretory made by Abbot Geoffrey still contained the bones of
the martyr; this was now covered by the work of Abbot Symeon, which was
made of large size so as to contain the other. The relics of Amphibalus
were discovered about this time at Redbourn, where he had been put to
death. The Bishop of Durham dedicated the Chapel of St. Cuthbert which had
been built by Richard (fifteenth Abbot). Like several of the other Abbots,
Symeon enriched his relations and left the Abbey in debt.

20. Warren, or Warin, of Cambridge (1183-1195). This Abbot
was of low birth, but had risen to the position of Prior. The sacrist
alone opposed his election on account of his birth and also because he
squinted, and predicted all manner of evils to the monastery if he were
elected Abbot. Henry II., soon after the new Abbot had been appointed, and
the Bishop of Lincoln happening to be at St. Albans at the same time, the
Bishop brought up the old grievance about the Abbey having been made
independent of him, but the King silenced him with angry words. Warren
founded a leper hospital for women as Geoffrey had founded one for
men. This hospital was dissolved by Wolsey in 1526, its revenues going
towards the endowment of Christ Church, Oxford. The bones of Amphibalus
were removed from the locker in which they were kept, and placed in a new
shrine adorned with gold and silver. This Abbot made numerous regulations
concerning the domestic affairs of the monastery; one [Pg 92]dealt
with the dress, another made better provision for sick monks, another
shortened the services, another allowed meat in the infirmary, yet another
ordered that all dead monks should be buried in stone coffins, not merely
laid in earth graves. This Abbot, in lieu of delivering up the chalice
which Richard I. had demanded from all English abbeys wherewith to pay his
ransom, sent 200 marks of silver. Shortly before his death he set aside
100 marks to be given to his successor for renewing the west front of the
church. Among his faults it is noted that he was self-willed, that he
banished to distant cells any of the brethren that offended him, and that
he felled timber belonging to the Abbey and sent the proceeds as presents
to the King and Queen.

21. John de Cella (1195-1214). This Abbot derived his name from the
Cell of Wallingford, of which he had been Prior. He was learned, pious,
and a good disciplinarian. He left the secular affairs of the Abbey to be
managed by the Prior and Cellarer, and devoted himself to his religious
duties, and to the fabric. He pulled down the Norman west front with the
intention of rebuilding it; he dug foundations, but after he had spent
Warren’s legacy of 100 marks his walls had not risen above the ground
level. His master of the works led him into needless expense, and as
progress was so slow the Abbot became dispirited. He, however, got another
master of the works and started afresh, assigning to the building fund one
sheaf of wheat from every acre. This arrangement lasted during the whole
of his rule and for many years afterwards, but progress was still
slow. Gifts of gold and silver, considerable sums of money collected by a
wandering preacher, who pretended to be Amphibalus, restored to life, were
all consumed. At last in weariness of heart the Abbot gave himself to
other work; he began to build a new refectory and dormitory, persuading
the monks to give up wine for fifteen years, and contribute the money so
saved to the cost of the new building. He had a great reputation for
sanctity. At times, when he was saying mass, responses were sung, so it is
said, by voices not of this world. He limited the number of monks to a
hundred. King John ordered him to say mass during the interdict, but he
refused, whereupon John seized the monastery and ejected the monks, and
only on payment of 600 marks, and afterwards of 500 more, would he restore
the Abbey to its rightful owners.

[Pg 93]22. William of Trumpington (1214-1235). This Abbot
was an entirely different style of man from his predecessor. He was much
addicted to social enjoyment, was a good man of business, and looked into
matters thoroughly for himself; he visited all the cells belonging to the
Abbey, and carried on the work of building in an energetic manner. The
dormitory was finished, the aisles were roofed with oak, an octagon built
on the tower, and, chief of all, the long-delayed work at the west end was
resumed and finished. The sacrist, Walter of Colchester, was an excellent
carver and carved a handsome pulpit with a great cross thereon, and
statues of St. John and the Virgin. The shrine of St. Amphibalus, which
had stood to the south of that of St. Alban, was moved to the middle of
the nave and inclosed within iron screenwork; much other carving was done
in the church and many new altars dedicated. A fine bell was given for
services in honour of our Lady; the Chapel of St. Cuthbert with a
dormitory over it for seven monks was rebuilt; most of the walls were
replastered; cloister walks were built, fitted with oak beams, ceiled and
covered with oak shingles. This Abbot acquired much property for the
Abbey, but during the civil wars large sums were extorted by either
party. In 1235 the church was struck by lightning and set on fire, but
fortunately a tank of rainwater was close at hand, and the fire was soon
extinguished. As the Abbot died eight days afterwards, the accident was
looked upon as a presage of his coming death.

23. John of Hertford (1235-1260). He had been sacristan and
afterwards prior of the cell at Hertford. The Pope’s bull confirming his
election required him to present himself at Rome every three years. The
church was again struck by lightning, notwithstanding the fact that the
impression of the Pope’s seal, bearing an image of the Lamb of God, had
been duly placed on the top of the tower as a protection against
lightning. Abbot John built the guest-house, and devoted the revenues of
three rectories to the improvement of the quality of the ale, and for the
providing of better entertainment for guests. He repaired many of the
buildings belonging to the Abbey, the granary, water mills, houses in
London, etc. At the coronation of Henry III. the Abbot of St. Albans took
precedence of all the mitred abbots; and though afterwards the Abbot of
Westminster obtained precedence, yet in 1536 the signature of Abbot Catton
of St. Albans stands first, that of Abbot Benson of Westminster[Pg 94]
following, in the list of names attached to the “Articles of Faith”
drawn up by Convocation. So it would appear that the Abbots of St. Albans
had by this time recovered their rights of precedence. When the see of
Lincoln was vacant, the Archbishop proposed to hold an ordination in
St. Albans Abbey, but was refused permission. During this Abbot’s rule the
Pope demanded more than once large sums of money; the Abbot refused to
pay, and in consequence of his refusal the church was put under an
interdict. At this time lived the celebrated monk Matthew of Paris, to
whom we owe much of the knowledge we possess of the history of the Abbey
up to his own days. The Chronicles carry us nearly up to the end of Abbot
John’s rule, Matthew himself dying only a year before the Abbot. For the
subsequent history, up to the abbacy of Thomas de la Mare, thirtieth
Abbot, we are indebted to Thomas of Walsingham. Matthew was born about
1200, and though of English descent derived his surname from the French
capital, either because it was his birthplace, or because he was a student
at its university. He became a monk of St. Albans on January 21st,
1217. He went with Abbot John of Hertford to London to be present at the
marriage of Henry III. to Eleanor of Provence, 1236; and again he went to
Westminster Abbey for the celebration of the feast of the founder, on
which occasion he was asked by the King to write an account of the
proceedings. He was sent on a mission to the Benedictine monastery at
Trondhjem in 1248, attended the royal court at Winchester in 1251, and was
present at the marriage of Henry’s daughter to the Scottish King,
Alexander II. When Henry III. spent a week at St. Albans in 1257, he
admitted Matthew to his table and treated him with great confidence,
communicating many facts and details of his life to him. Matthew
afterwards exerted his influence with the King in behalf of the University
of Oxford, when its privileges were in danger from the encroachments of
the Bishop of Lincoln. His great work was the “Historia Major.” This
professes to give the outlines of human history from the Creation up to
1259. The work up to 1189 seems to have been compiled by John de Cella,
from 1189 to 1235 by Roger of Wendover. Matthew of Paris transcribed and
edited the work of his two predecessors, and continued the history from
1235 to 1259. He shows himself in it a warm advocate of English rights and
liberties, and an opponent of papal and regal tyranny. It is the[Pg 95]
best early history we have of our own country up to the beginning of
the Barons’ War, and is also an authority on Continental affairs. He wrote
too an abridgement of this work, leaving out the parts dealing with
foreign history; this he called “Historia Anglorum.” He also wrote “The
Lives of the two Offas” and the “Lives of Twenty-three Abbots of
St. Albans,” whence most of the details of the history of the Abbey given
here have been derived. Thomas of Walsingham, who continued the history,
lived in the reigns of Henry IV. and Henry V.

Against Abbot John it is alleged that he had his commons sent to his
private room, instead of taking his meals with the brethren in the
refectory. When he died he was buried with great honour, “as became so
great a father.”

24. Roger of Norton (1260-1290). The new Abbot had been one of the
monks; his appointment was confirmed by Pope Urban in 1263. During his
rule the monastery flourished, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the
country in the early years of it. He acquired many new possessions; the
infirmary was rebuilt; the Abbot’s lodgings were repaired; many ornaments,
vestments, books, a silver thurible, and three new bells were procured.
He made regulations for the preservation of the Abbey property, the
management of the servants and tenants, and for the careful custody of the
Abbey swans. Much litigation took place during his abbacy. Queen Eleanor
claimed one of the manors, but was not able to make good her claim. A
controversy about the appointment of the Prior of the cell at Wymondham
arose between the Abbot and the Countess of Arundel, which was finally
settled by an agreement that the Countess should nominate three persons,
of whom the Abbot was to select one. Another dispute arose between the
Abbot and the townspeople, about grinding corn and fulling cloth. The
people claimed the right of having handmills in their houses, the Abbot
insisted on his mills being used; the matter was referred to the law
courts and decided in the Abbot’s favour. Although through negligence some
property was lost, yet this Abbot’s character was highly commended:

He was strict in government, of good life and conversation, eminently
religious, distinguished for his learning. He was paralyzed for three
years before his death, and when he died his [Pg 96]body was buried
before the high altar, but his heart was placed in a small box of Eastern
workmanship before one of the altars in the retro-choir.

25. John of Berkhamstead (1290-1301). This Abbot was installed on
St. Alban’s Day, 1291. The King, Edward I., visited the Abbey during the
vacancy, and again after the appointment of the new Abbot. The conduct of
the King’s agent before the election had been very extortionate. The claim
of the Warden of Hertford Castle to certain tolls within the Abbot’s
liberty was the subject of a long investigation; in the end the claim was
disallowed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert of Winchelsea, sent a
message that he wished for hospitality in the Abbey, but the Abbot refused
to entertain him unless he would sign a paper undertaking that his visit
should not in any way prejudice the privileges granted by the Pope, the
Abbey being stated to belong “ad Romanam Ecclesiam, nullo medio.” The
Archbishop declined to sign this document, and so had to put up with
lodgings outside the Abbey precincts. When he arrived the bells of
St. Stephen’s Church were not rung in his honour, whereupon the Archbishop
put the church under an interdict; but the clergy paid no attention to
this, and conducted the services as usual. During his rule the body of
Queen Eleanor rested at St. Albans, and one of the Eleanor crosses was
erected and remained here until 1702, when it was destroyed. A drinking
fountain now occupies its site. In 1302 the Abbot obtained from Edward
I. a confirmation of all the grants that had been made to the Abbey by
former kings. This Abbot does not receive a very good character from the
chronicler: he cut down and sold too much timber, granted too many
pensions, and deprived several of the priors of the cells without
sufficient cause.

26. John de Marinis (1302-1308). This Abbot had been Cellarer, and
afterwards Prior, for fourteen years, before his election as Abbot. The
full list of the fees and expenses connected with his confirmation at Rome
is given. The sum was enormous: 2,500 marks and 400 shillings.

He offended Edward II. by refusing to supply some carriages and horses
which the King had demanded, and so when Edward came to St. Albans he
refused to see the Abbot. The latter tried to appease the King by a
present made through the notorious favourite Piers Gaveston, and also by a
grant of the manor of Westwood, which was beyond his power to give, but
all to no [Pg 97]purpose. Most of the records of his rule relate to
rights of property and regulations respecting the monks. As his end
approached he made a statement of his liabilities. He owed £1,300 and had
never paid the 1,000 marks due to the King at the last vacancy. We are
told that he was constant, not given to much talk, honest in his life,
religious, and circumspect.

27. Hugh of Eversden (1308-1326). This Abbot, who had been Cellarer
for five years, is described as being tall and handsome, able to speak
French and English well, but with little knowledge of Latin. On this
account he wished to avoid going to Rome, and sent his proctors instead to
obtain the Pope’s confirmation of his election—but they, having incurred
much expense, returned to say that the Pope insisted on the new Abbot
appearing at Rome in person. By liberal presents he made a favourable
impression at Rome, but the journey, beyond the payments of first-fruits,
cost him more than £1,000. With the help of a legacy from Reginald of
St. Albans he finished the Lady Chapel and the retro-choir, in which he
placed the shrine of St. Amphibalus. King Edward II. paid a second visit
to the Abbey, and on being told by the Abbot of the benefactions of Edward
I. gave 100 marks and much timber towards the work then in progress. The
Abbot was twice besieged in his Abbey by the townspeople; they desired to
be answerable to the King and not the Abbot. They gained their point,
though they were compelled to surrender to the next Abbot the privileges
they had obtained of Abbot Hugh. It was during the rule of this Abbot that
the piers in the main arcade of the nave gave way while mass was being
said on St. Paulinus’ Day, 1323, and he had to begin repairing this part
of the church.

28. Richard of Wallingford (1326-1334). He was of humble birth; his
father was a blacksmith. After taking his degree at Oxford he became a
monk, and resided at St. Albans for three years, when he again went to
Oxford and studied philosophy and theology there for nine years. He was on
a visit to St. Albans at the time of the death of Abbot Hugh. He was
elected Abbot, but the election was found to be informal, so he resigned
his claim to the Pope, who thereupon appointed him Abbot. He wrote a
Register of things done in his time, compiled a book of Decretals and
Constitutions of Provincial Chapters, and sundry works on geometry and
[Pg 98]astronomy. He constructed a clock showing the courses of the
sun and moon, the ebb and flow of the tides, etc., which Leland, Librarian
to Henry VIII., speaks of as still going in his day. He also made an
astronomical instrument to which he gave the name “Albion,” and wrote a
book describing the manner of using it. Edward III., visiting the Abbey
and seeing the clock being constructed, while the damage done by the fall
of the nave piers in his predecessor’s time had not been fully repaired,
remonstrated with the Abbot, who replied that anyone could repair the
church, but few could construct a clock such as he was making.

It is said that he suffered from leprosy and that his death was hastened
by the shock caused by a terrible thunderstorm on St. Andrew’s Eve, 1334,
which set some of the domestic buildings on fire. The fire was put out
before much damage was done, but the Abbot died.

29. Michael of Mentmore (1335-1349). He was a graduate of Oxford, a
monk of St. Albans, and had been appointed Master of the Schools. He
finished the repairs to the south arcading and south aisle begun by Abbot
Hugh, built three altars, and vaulted the aisle. He baptized in 1341
Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III., from whom the House of York
was descended. Philippa, the Queen, went to the Abbey to be churched and
gave the Abbey a cloth of gold. The Abbot, the Prior, the sub-prior and
forty-seven monks fell victims to the terrible plague known as the Black
Death, which was ravaging the country in 1349. He is described as being
pious, patient, and meek like Moses.

30. Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396). He was a man of high birth, and
was connected with many people of importance, among them probably Sir
Peter de la Mare, the first Speaker of the House of Commons. He became a
monk at St. Albans, and was sent to Wymondham, recalled to St. Albans, and
afterwards became kitchener, cellarer, and then Prior at Tynemouth in
Northumberland. When Abbot Michael died the Prior of Wymondham was
elected, but declined the abbacy, whereupon Thomas de la Mare was
elected. One of the proctors who started with him to Rome died on the way
of the Black Death. The new Abbot himself, after his appointment had been
confirmed, was taken seriously ill at Rome, but recovered with great
suddenness. He was a great favourite with Edward III., and[Pg 99]
it is said that King John of France, who was taken prisoner at
Poictiers in 1356, was for a time committed to his charge; he treated John
with great moderation and respect, and King John afterwards showed his
appreciation of his treatment by releasing some St. Albans men who were
prisoners of war in France, bidding them tell the Abbot that they owed
their release to him. The Abbot was strict in correcting faults, curbing
excesses, cutting away abuses, and putting things right; he was revered by
all, feared by many. He was appointed by the King as visitor to numerous
monasteries, and in 1351 was President of a general chapter of
Benedictines. Moreover his knowledge of painting was such that Edward
III. appointed him master of the painters assigned for the works to be
executed at the chapel of the Palace of Westminster, and the ornamental
painting and glazing of St. Stephen’s Chapel was carried on for several
years under his supervision. After having been Abbot for some years he
wished to resign, but Edward III. would not hear of it. In the time of
Richard II. an attack was made by the followers of Wat Tyler on the
Abbey. They succeeded in extorting certain charters from the Abbot, but
after the collapse of the rebellion the King himself came to the Abbey and
stayed there for eight days, summoning all the commons of the county to
make oath to do suit and service to the Abbot and the convent in the
customary manner. He rebuilt the Great Gate of the Abbey (see
Appendix). He died on September 15th, 1396, having been Abbot for
forty-seven years, a longer period than any of his predecessors or
successors. He was buried before the high altar and a brass to his memory
may now be seen in the Wheathampstead chantry.

31. John de la Moots (1396-1401). He had held several offices in
the Abbey before his election as Abbot, and when Cellarer had been put in
the pillory in Luton Market, “in hatred to the Abbot and utter contempt of
religion.” The conspiracy to dethrone Richard II. was first formed at the
dinner table of this Abbot, when the Duke of Gloucester and the Prior of
Westminster were dining with him. In 1399 the body of John of Gaunt rested
in the Abbey on its way to London, his son, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of
Lincoln, being allowed to conduct a service in the Abbey; and in the same
year Richard II. and Henry, Duke of Lancaster, lodged at St. Albans. On
arrival in London Richard II. was dethroned, and the Bishop of Carlisle,
who [Pg 100]took his side, was seized by order of the Duke of
Lancaster, soon to be known as Henry IV., and carried as a prisoner to
St. Albans; he was, however, afterwards pardoned by Henry. A dispute for
precedence between this Abbot and the Abbot of Westminster occurred. John
died in 1401.

32. William Heyworth (1401-1420). This Abbot was promoted to the
see of Lichfield in 1420, died in 1446 or 1447, and was buried in
St. Alban’s Abbey.

JOHN OF WHEATHAMPSTEAD’S CHANTRY.

33. John of Wheathampstead (1420-1440 and 1451-1464). The Abbot’s
surname was Bostock, and it is supposed, as on his mother’s grave in
Wheathampstead Church a shield bearing the Heyworth arms is found, that
John was a kinsman of his predecessor. To increase the revenue he admitted
many gentlemen and ladies of high rank to the confraternity; this
admission was a mere honour, conferring indeed the right to vote in the
chapter, but not imposing any duties or monastic restrictions[Pg 101]
on those thus admitted. Among the names of those admitted in 1423 we
find those of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Jaqueline his wife, whom
he subsequently divorced; in 1431 his new wife, Eleanor, was
admitted. John procured by royal grant lands in various quarters, and
also, in order that he might secure himself against any charges which
might be made against him, a pardon for diverse offences, of none of which
was he in all probability guilty—treason, murder, rape, rebellion,
conspiracy, etc. A strange light is thrown by this upon monkish morals of
the day; one would have thought no abbot would ever have been supposed
possible of committing such offences. These were disturbed times, for the
King, Henry VI., was imbecile and various nobles were intriguing against
each other for power. The star of Humphrey of Gloucester, the Abbot’s
friend, was setting, and other troubles threatened the nation, so Abbot
John resigned in 1440.

34. John Stokes (1440-1451). This Abbot ruled for eleven years, and
then either died or resigned. During his rule Eleanor, Duchess of
Gloucester, was tried for witchcraft, was imprisoned in the Tower, and did
penance in the streets of London. Her husband died, or more probably was
murdered, in 1447, and was buried in the Abbey on the south side of St.
Alban’s shrine.

33. In 1451 Abbot John of Wheathampstead, though over eighty years of age,
was re-elected. Soon after his election he gave his church a “pair of
organs,” surpassing all others in England in size, tone, and workmanship.

In 1455 the Wars of the Roses began with the first battle of St. Albans
(May 23rd), fought to the east of the town. In this the White Rose party
were victorious; the King was taken prisoner and lodged for the night in
the Abbey. The victorious army plundered the town, but the Abbot by
sending out plenty of wine and food saved his monastery.

In 1459 King Henry was again at the Abbey and spent Easter there, ordering
his best robe to be given to the Prior when he left.

Another battle was fought, this time to the north of the town, on February
17th, 1461. Henry was at this time in the hands of the Yorkists and at
St. Albans. The Queen, having defeated and slain the Duke of York at
Wakefield, marched southward at the head of an undisciplined horde of
18,000 men—Scotch, [Pg 102]Irish, Welsh, and English—to rescue
her husband. The Earl of Warwick at first drove the Queen’s troops out of
St. Peter’s Street to Barnard’s Heath with great slaughter, but, owing to
treachery on the part of one of the Yorkist leaders, the fortunes of the
day changed, and Margaret drove Warwick before her towards the town. He,
however, rallied his forces and retreated in good order to London, though
he had to leave Henry behind him. The royal party went to the Abbey,
where they were enthusiastically received by the monks, who chanted
thanksgivings for the victory; they were led to the high altar and to the
shrine of St. Alban. But the victorious troops, being little better than
barbarians, flushed with unexpected victory, committed fearful excesses in
the town, and even plundered the Abbey. Hitherto Abbot John had been a
strong partisan of the Lancastrians, but the treatment he received turned
him into a staunch Yorkist. Edward IV. when he came to the throne granted
the Abbot the right to hear and try all causes, even treason, with full
power of sentencing to death. The Abbots continued to exercise these
powers till 1533. In 1462 the Abbot presented a petition to the King,
setting forth the impoverished state of the Abbey; this led to further
powers being granted to the Abbot. Wheathampstead had been ordained in
1382 and, according to canon law, must have been twenty-five years of age,
so he must have been over a hundred and five when he died in 1463. He, as
we have seen (Chap. I.), made many changes for the worse in the fabric of
the church; the character of the work was partly due to the time in which
he lived, for the age of great architecture was over, and partly to lack
of funds.

35. William Alban (1464-1476).

36. William of Wallingford (1476-1484). This Abbot’s name will be
remembered because the high altar screen was his work, and is generally
called Wallingford’s screen. It is said that his management of the
revenues of the Abbey was prudent, and that he was energetic in defending
his rights; but it would seem that he was not equally energetic in
repressing irregularities within its walls. During the interregnum that
followed his tenure of office things went on from bad to worse, so that
the Archbishop sent a monition to the Abbey reciting a bull which had been
sent to him as legate. This bull directed the Archbishop to visit all the
larger monasteries in which he had reason to suspect that evil practices
prevailed, and the Archbishop threatens [Pg 103]to visit St. Albans
because he has heard of cases of simony, usury, lavish expenditure, and
immorality. He says unless within sixty days things are reduced to order,
not only in the monastery but also in the nunneries of Pré and Sopwell and
other cells, he will visit personally or by commission to inquire into
matters and set things in order. The Abbot died in 1484, but his successor
was not appointed until 1492.

37. Thomas Ramryge (1492- ). No details of events during the rule
of this Abbot exist, nor is the date of his death known.

38. Thomas Wolsey (1521-1529). This great cardinal was invested
with the temporalities on December 7th, 1521, and held the Abbey “in
commendam.” There is no record of his ever having resided in the Abbey,
but he probably put a stop to the printing which had been carried on in
the Abbey from 1480 onwards. He also made a gift of plate to the Abbey. He
held the office of Abbot until his disgrace in 1529.

39. Robert Catton (1530-1538). This Abbot was really appointed by
Henry VIII., but was nominally elected by the chapter. He had been Prior
of Norwich. The Abbey printing press was again in use in his time. He
seems to have been deprived during his lifetime, for what reason we cannot
say.

40. Robert Boreman of Stevenage (1538-1539). This Abbot was a
nominee of the King, and was chosen by him because Henry knew that he
would be willing to surrender the Abbey. This he did on December 5th,
1539. It was part of the policy of Henry VIII. to make it appear that the
monasteries were voluntarily surrendered by the abbot and chapter,
and it was generally made worth their while to do so by a liberal
pension. In some cases the abbots refused, among them the last Abbot of
Glastonbury, who paid dearly for his refusal, as he was hanged on a hill
commanding a view of the possessions of the Abbey, which not being his to
part with he had refused to surrender, though, of course, the nominal
charge against him was not the real one. Abbot Boreman, however, made no
objection, and received a yearly pension of £266 13s. 4d., so was a rich
man for the rest of his days. Pensions of varying amounts were given to
his monks. Boreman and twenty of the monks were in receipt of them when
Mary came to the throne. Mary wished to revive the Abbey and put Boreman
over it, but did not live to carry out her intended plan.[Pg 104]
The monastic buildings very rapidly disappeared; the church became
parochial, and has been served by the following sixteen
rectors:

The Church of St. Albans was in the diocese of Lincoln until 1845, when it
was handed over to Rochester. In 1877 Parliament passed a bill for the
division of the populous diocese of Rochester into two parts; the northern
to be called the see of St. Albans, the southern to retain the name of
Rochester. The Right Rev. Dr. Claughton, then Bishop of Rochester, elected
to take the northern division of his old diocese and became Bishop of
St. Albans. He was succeeded in 1890 by John Wogan Festing, D.D., who died
in 1903.

Both of these bishops are buried in the churchyard on the north side of
the nave. On Dr. Festing’s death the Right Rev. Edgar Jacob, D.D., was
translated to St. Albans from the diocese of Newcastle, and was enthroned
in May, 1903.

The Church of St. Albans, although legally a cathedral church, yet differs
in certain particulars from most of the other churches of this rank in
England. It is also used as a parish church, of which the Dean is
rector. He has the same powers, responsibilities, and duties as the rector
of any other parish. It is sometimes said that the nave is the parish, and
the part eastward of [Pg 105]the rood screen the cathedral church,
but it is not so. The Dean as rector has power over the whole, and
parishioners have right of access to every part of the building, just as
in any other parish church; and the Dean as their rector can be called
upon to baptize, marry, visit, and bury the people under his charge.
Churchwardens are also appointed and have their statutory rights. There
are some honorary canons, but as yet no “canons residentiary,” nor are
there “priests vicars” (or “minor canons”), lay vicars, or choristers on
the foundation. The choir is a voluntary one, the clergy under the Dean
are curates.

The two parts of the church that are ordinarily in use are the Lady
Chapel, where morning and evening prayer is said daily on week-days, and
the nave, which is used for the Sunday services. There is at present no
high altar in place under the great screen, but one will probably be
placed there as soon as the final touches are put by Mr. Gilbert to the
carved work of the reredos. The choir proper is not, however, capable of
holding a large congregation. It was, of course, originally intended to
hold the monks only. The part eastward of the stalls might on special
occasions, such as the enthronement of a bishop, the installation of a
dean, be temporarily fitted with chairs, but it is not likely that any
permanent seats will be placed here, since as a matter of fact the nave
and Lady Chapel answer all ordinary requirements.

[Pg 106]

THE GREAT GATE.

CHAPTER V.
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

The Great Gatehouse.—In the days of its prosperity the Abbey was
surrounded by a wall within which, as was usually the case, were placed
all the buildings that were necessary for monastic life: cloister,
dormitory, refectory, kitchen, chapter-house, infirmary, guest-house,
stables, dovecote, granary, garden, orchard, vineyard, lodgings for the
abbot, prior, cellarer, cook, and servants, fish-house, fish-ponds, as
well as cemeteries for dead brethren. A number of gatehouses gave access
to this inclosure: the Great Gate, which alone remains standing; the
Waxhouse Gate, where the tapers used for burning before the shrines were
made; the Water-gate, St. Germain’s gate, and others. The chief of these
was the Great Gate to the west of the Abbey Church. It was built in the
time of Thomas de la Mare about 1365, on the site of a previously existing
gatehouse which had been destroyed by a violent gale a few years
earlier. It was not only a gateway, but a prison wherein offending monks,
and also [Pg 107]laymen of the town, over which the Abbot had civic
jurisdiction, were imprisoned. The Gatehouse was stormed by rioters in the
time of Wat Tyler’s rebellion, the monks in their terror giving wine and
beer to their assailants, but news arriving of Wat Tyler’s death, the
rioters dispersed; the ringleaders were tried and condemned to death,
among them John Ball, who, with his seventeen condemned companions, passed
the time between their trial and execution in the dungeons beneath the
Gatehouse. In 1480 a printing press was set up in this gatehouse; after
the dissolution it was used as the borough gaol. During the Napoleonic
wars some French prisoners were confined within the walls. In 1868 the
Gatehouse was found too small for use as a gaol, and a new prison was
built near the Midland Station. The Gatehouse was bought by the governors
of the grammar school, and in 1870 the school was removed from the Lady
Chapel to the Gatehouse. There are dungeons beneath the level of the
roadway; over the archway is the large room where the sessions used to be
held, with other rooms on either side. In this building some old
chimney-pieces may still be seen. Although the present foundation dates
from the reign of Edward VI., yet a school had existed in St. Albans from
very early time. Some think it was founded by Ulsinus. Be this as it may,
it is certain that Geoffrey de Gorham, who was afterwards Abbot
(1119-1146), first came to England during the time of Richard of Albini
(the fifteenth Abbot), with a view of being master of the school. In 1195
we read that the school had more scholars than any other in England. The
school in these early days stood to the north of the Great Gate on the
other side of the street that runs down the hill on the north side of the
triangular graveyard known as Romelands, where a Protestant martyr, one
George Tankerfield, a cook, born in York, but living in London, was burnt
on August 26th, 1555, during the reign of Mary I.

Sopwell Nunnery.—There are a few remains of Sopwell Nunnery in a
field near the river Ver, to the south-east of the city. They may be
reached by taking the first turning to the right hand after crossing the
bridge on the way from the city down Holywell Hill. This nunnery was
founded by Geoffrey of Gorham, sixteenth Abbot, about the middle of the
twelfth century. Two women, pious and ascetic, had taken up their abode
on this spot in a hut which they built for themselves, and Geoffrey
determined to build them a more permanent dwelling, and make[Pg 108]
them the nucleus of a religious house. They accepted the Benedictine
Rule, and gradually the nunnery increased in size, and many ladies of high
birth took the veil here. One of the abbesses wrote the “Boke of
St. Albans,” not, as might be imagined, an account of the saint or of the
religious house, but a treatise on hawking, hunting, and fishing. It was
printed in 1483 at the St. Albans printing press. When the nunnery was
dissolved, Sir Richard Lee, to whom the Abbey lands were granted, turned
it into a dwelling-house for himself. The ruins consist of ivy-clad walls
of brick and flint, pierced by square-headed windows, but containing few
interesting features.

The name is said to have been derived from the fact that the two women
mentioned above soaked or sopped their dry bread in water drawn from the
Holy Well or some well in the immediate neighbourhood of their hut.

St. Peter’s Church.—This church, standing at no great distance
from the cathedral, may be reached by taking the footway called the
Cloisters, crossing High Street, passing between the Clock Tower and the
picturesque and ancient inn, the Fleur de Lys, and through the quaint
street of gabled houses known as French Row, into St. Peter’s Street.

The church was originally built about 948 A.D., by Ulsinus, the sixth
Abbot of St. Albans, but none of his work remains. It seems to have been
almost entirely rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century, and most of
it is Perpendicular in character. It has a central tower rebuilt about a
hundred years ago, and until that time had a transept. There is a
clerestory on either side of the nave. The chancel and the west end with
its circular window show signs of Lord Grimthorpe’s style of restoration.
The tower contains a fine peal of ten bells. In the windows of the south
aisle is some richly coloured modern Belgian glass by Capronnier; in the
windows of the north aisle are some fragments of fourteenth or fifteenth
century glass, including the arms of Edmund, the fifth son of Edward III.,
from whom in the male line Edward IV. was descended, though he also traced
his descent and his claim to the throne from Lionel, the third son,
through his daughter Philippa.

In the churchyard, which is of considerable extent, many of those who fell
in the two battles of St. Albans were buried.

St. Michael’s Church.—St. Michael’s Church is further from the
cathedral than St. Peter’s. To reach it one must go[Pg 109]
westward from the Clock Tower, along High Street and its
continuations, down the hill past Romelands, where, as we have seen,
George Tankerfield, condemned by Bishop Bonner as a Protestant heretic,
was burnt at the stake. At last a bridge over the Ver is reached, and,
turning round to the left after crossing it, we see St. Michael’s Church
before us. It has within the last ten years lost its Saxon tower, a new
one with no pretention to beauty, pierced by two pentagonal windows in the
third stage, having been built on a slightly different foundation. It
stands within the area once inclosed by the walls of Verulamium, and Sir
Gilbert Scott conjectured that it was originally the Basilica of the Roman
city altered for Christian worship; but probably, though it may stand on
the same site, it is of more recent date, though still of great age. Like
the cathedral, its walls are built of Roman brick and flint. The plan is
irregular: there is a nave and chancel, a large south aisle, or rather
chantry, the eastern gable of which is of half-timber construction, below
which are two tall round-headed windows far apart, with a small circular
opening between them; the western gable has an opening with louvre
boards. The tower projects from the north aisle, its western wall being
flush with the west end of the nave; on the outside in the south wall of
[Pg 110]the chancel is a canopied niche over a flat slab a few
inches above the level of the ground. The south door, within a porch, has
a pointed top beneath a wide, round-headed arch springing from
imposts. The arcading of the nave was formed by cutting arches through
what probably were at one time the outside walls of the church; two of
these on the south side open into the chapel. The carved oak pulpit of
early seventeenth-century work, with its sounding-board and iron frame for
the hour-glass, demands attention; but the chief attraction of the church
for many is the alabaster statue of Francis Bacon, which is placed in a
niche in the north wall of the chancel. He wished to be buried in this
church, as his mother was already buried there, and moreover it was the
parish church of his house at Gorhambury, and the only Christian church
within the walls of ancient Verulam, from which he took one of his titles.

MONUMENT OF LORD BACON. “Sic sedebat.”

St. Stephen’s Church.—There are two ways of getting to this
church: either by following the road that runs south from St. Michael’s,
and after reaching the top of the hill turning sharply to the left; or by
going from the centre of the city down Holywell Hill and straight on, past
the London and North-Western Railway Station, up St. Stephen’s Hill. The
church spire is a conspicuous landmark. The churchyard is exceedingly
pretty, and the church most interesting. It was originally built in the
tenth century by Abbot Ulsinus, rebuilt in the time of Henry I., restored
in the fifteenth, and again by Sir Gilbert Scott in the nineteenth
century. The south porch is of timber; under it is a square-headed
doorway; to the east of it is a chapel once called “the Leper’s Chapel,”
but probably a chantry, now used as a vestry. There is a small aisle on
the south side. The spire is a broach and stands at the west end. On the
north side of the nave is a wide, blocked-up, round-headed arch; through
the blocking wall a pointed doorway was cut, but this is also now blocked
up. There is a door of Perpendicular style, with a square-headed label
terminated by heads much weathered, in the west wall of the tower. The
walls of this church are of the usual materials, flint and Roman brick.

The lectern is of brass, and bears round its foot the inscription
“Georgius Creichtoun Episcopus Dunkeldensis.” There were two Scotch
bishops of this name; both lived in the sixteenth century. How the lectern
reached St. Albans no one knows for certain, but it may possibly have been
part of the plunder [Pg 111]carried off by Sir Richard Lee from
Scotland. It was hidden for safety in a grave at the time of the civil
wars, but was found again in 1748 when the vault was opened.

THE OLD ROUND HOUSE, “THE FIGHTING COCKS.”

The Clock Tower.—This is a most conspicuous object in the city,
standing near the market-place, almost due north of the Lady Chapel. It
was built at the beginning of the fifteenth [Pg 112]century in
order that the curfew bell might be hung in it. This had been cast some
seventy years before the building of the tower, and had hung in the
central tower of the Abbey Church; it weighs about a ton. It bears the
inscription: “Missi de coelis, habeo nomen Gabrielis.” The tower was
restored under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott in 1865, and in the
process has lost most of the interest it possessed.

The Old Round House.—This curious old house, also known as “The
Fighting Cocks,” stands near the river at the bottom of the roadway that
leads down from the town through the Great Gate, and probably occupies the
position of the Abbey gate that was known as St. Germain’s Gate. There is
little doubt that the foundations of this house date back to the time of
the monastery, and may have been the foundations of the gateway. The
cellars, it is said, appear to have an opening into some subterranean
way. The name of “Fighting Cocks” no doubt indicates that after the
dissolution of the monastery a cockpit existed here. It is said that it
was at St. Germain’s Gatehouse that the monks kept their fishing tackle,
rods and nets. A claim is made for this building, that it is the oldest
inhabited house in England, a claim that many other buildings may well
dispute.

[Pg 113]

INDEX

[Pg 115]

DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDRAL.13

[Pg 116]

GROUND-PLAN OF ST. ALBANS CATHEDRAL.

FOOTNOTES