Chapter House History

History of the Chapter House

The team of archaeologists and volunteers work on the chapter house site, May 1978.

The medieval Chapter House was destroyed in 1539 following the dissolution of the monastery at St Albans.

In 1978, before construction work began on the new building, the site was meticulously excavated by a team of archaeologists led by Martin Biddle and Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle.

Their discoveries showed that the original chapter house, a modest structure completed in 1088 by Paul of Caen, had undergone several major renovations, culminating in a lavish remodelling by Abbot Wallingford at the end of the fifteenth century.

The team also made several intriguing finds, including an elaborate Norman pilaster, an exquisitely patterned late thirteenth century tiled floor, and a number of burials. These were the remains of 11 abbots and four monks buried beneath the chapter house floor. Sadly, all but one had been robbed, probably sometime in the seventeenth century.

The Original Chapter House

Detail of thirteenth century tiled floor. Around 750 nine inch square tiles were excavated.

The chapter house played a key part in the communal life of the medieval monastery, providing a place where the monks assembled each morning.

A day in the chapter house began when the community gathered to hear the martyrology for the day and to listen to a chapter from the Rule of Benedict being read aloud by the Abbot.

After this, more earthly matters would be dealt with: complaints heard, discipline administered, and secular business concluded.

The Abbot would sit under a great window in the centre of the East wall, from where he was able to look down the length of the chapter house and survey the monks gathered before him.

The chapter house also served as the final resting place for former Abbots, and the recital of psalms for departed brethren was an important part of the monks' daily ritual.

Plan of the fifteenth century chapter house, showing burial sites discovered during excavation.