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The effect of the Reformation on St Albans and the establishment of the Abbey Church as a parish church

Henry VIII's act of Supremacy in 1534 made him head of the English church. The Dissolution of the Monasteries, which soon followed, changed the entire economic structure of the country.

Most monastic property, about one third of the landed resources, now became the property of the King. This was sold on to eager buyers seeking to elevate their social position as landowners. At St Albans, the Abbot and his community finally submitted to the crown on 6th December 1539 and the ancient monastic seal was surrendered. Thirty nine monks signed the surrender, an unusually large number which suggests that the community had held together, in spite of external pressure. The Abbey was no longer rich, as Cardinal Wolsey had appointed himself abbot in 1521 and during his nine years of non-residency had stripped the treasury to fund his building of Cardinal College Oxford. The library at St Albans was in good order, and fortunately many of the monastic records survived to augment the libraries of Corpus College Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin and The British Library.

Twelve days later the spoil that had survived Wolsey’s theft was seized for the crown including 133oz of pure gold, 4,000oz of parcel gilt and silver. Images of gold and silver were removed, ewers and candlesticks, chalices, censors, rich ornaments, fine linens, altar cloths and costly tapestries. Brass, iron, lead and bells were taken. What became of the relics of St Alban is not known, though it is possible that they were hidden away. Indeed, churches at Odense in Denmark and Cologne claim to hold relics of St Alban.

The town's economy declined dramatically. No longer did a constant stream of pilgrims and royal visitors arrive at St Albans expecting food and lodging. No longer was each day marked by bells and prayers at the Abbey. The mayor and corporation bought the Abbey church from King Edward VI for £400 to be used as a parish church, but without the Abbot’s income to pay for repairs and without the teams of masons, carpenters and plumbers to care for it, the great church slowly declined into dilapidation. The Abbey church was now the largest parish church in the land, with only the population of a small market town to care for it. Local worthies left bequests for church maintenance but this money was only enough for urgent repairs, and in spite of several royal briefs raising larger sums, the following centuries show, in the paintings of many artists, a record of St Albans Abbey in romantic decay.

In 1570 the Lady Chapel was walled off from the rest of the church to contain the grammar school, as the original premises had been destroyed in the demolition of the conventual buildings, when the aspiring Tudor landowners came for building materials to enlarge the newly-purchased monastic farmhouses. In this county with no stone, valuable building materials were recycled. The shrines of Alban and Amphibalus were probably demolished at the same time, as their stones were used as rubble for the dividing walls.