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Article ST. ALBAN'S ABBEY. Page 1 of 10 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
St. Alban's Abbey.
ST . ALBAN'S ABBEY .
Southwest View of the Abbey at St . Albans . Drawn I }); , Engnm ' il & Publish''ijany . IJS 6 , by t . Carter , lVooiSt ., IVtstr . THE noble Abbey , now the Cathedral Church , of St . Albans , stands on the ' spot where St . Alban , the Protomartyr of England , was beheaded in the vear 803 . Albairas was bom at Vernlamiumand went to Romewhere tor seven
, , years he served in the Roman army . He then returned to England , and , having been converted to Christianit y by a certain St . Amphibalus , about whom very little is known , was the first to suffer martyrdom in England , during the dreadful persecution organised against the Christians by the emperor and tyrant Diocletian . The site of his martyrdom was on the hill on the opposite side of the river Ver , or Verulam , to that on which the old
Roman town of Vernlamium once stood , and of which portions of the walls still remain . A church is said to have been erected on the spot by the first Christian Emperor , but was soon afterwards destroyed , and lay in ruins for many years . At length , in the year 795 , Offa , King of Mercia , fired by the zeal which had been awakened by the record of St . Alban , as given by the Venerable Bede , in his . Ecclesiastical History , founded the Monastery in honour of St . Alban , which soon became one of the most important Ecclesiastical establishments in England .
Of the numerous conventual buildings existing np to the period of the Reformation , only the Abbey Church ancl principal gateway now remain . The broken ground on the south side of the Church marks the site where the various buildings once stood , covering the whole space between the Abbey Church and the river , which is distant from it about 250 yards . There is little doubt that careful excavations would reveal the ground plan of the Abbey , and
would bring to light many interesting architectural remains . During some excavations last year , for tbe purpose of laying new gas pipes on the south side of the Church , the lower portions of the north wall and west front of the Chapter House were discovered , ancl details of late Norman architecture of the most ornamental and interesting character were temporarily uncovered . On the subject of the architectural details of the great Abbey Church very much has already been written ; ancl for a more complete account than our
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
St. Alban's Abbey.
ST . ALBAN'S ABBEY .
Southwest View of the Abbey at St . Albans . Drawn I }); , Engnm ' il & Publish''ijany . IJS 6 , by t . Carter , lVooiSt ., IVtstr . THE noble Abbey , now the Cathedral Church , of St . Albans , stands on the ' spot where St . Alban , the Protomartyr of England , was beheaded in the vear 803 . Albairas was bom at Vernlamiumand went to Romewhere tor seven
, , years he served in the Roman army . He then returned to England , and , having been converted to Christianit y by a certain St . Amphibalus , about whom very little is known , was the first to suffer martyrdom in England , during the dreadful persecution organised against the Christians by the emperor and tyrant Diocletian . The site of his martyrdom was on the hill on the opposite side of the river Ver , or Verulam , to that on which the old
Roman town of Vernlamium once stood , and of which portions of the walls still remain . A church is said to have been erected on the spot by the first Christian Emperor , but was soon afterwards destroyed , and lay in ruins for many years . At length , in the year 795 , Offa , King of Mercia , fired by the zeal which had been awakened by the record of St . Alban , as given by the Venerable Bede , in his . Ecclesiastical History , founded the Monastery in honour of St . Alban , which soon became one of the most important Ecclesiastical establishments in England .
Of the numerous conventual buildings existing np to the period of the Reformation , only the Abbey Church ancl principal gateway now remain . The broken ground on the south side of the Church marks the site where the various buildings once stood , covering the whole space between the Abbey Church and the river , which is distant from it about 250 yards . There is little doubt that careful excavations would reveal the ground plan of the Abbey , and
would bring to light many interesting architectural remains . During some excavations last year , for tbe purpose of laying new gas pipes on the south side of the Church , the lower portions of the north wall and west front of the Chapter House were discovered , ancl details of late Norman architecture of the most ornamental and interesting character were temporarily uncovered . On the subject of the architectural details of the great Abbey Church very much has already been written ; ancl for a more complete account than our