The Story of St Albans Cathedral

The story of St Albans Cathedral is one of change and continuity spanning centuries, from a small church to a great Cathedral.

A beautiful church worthy of Alban's martyrdom was built, where sick folk are healed and frequent miracles take place to this day.
- The Venerable Bede, Anglo-Saxon historian, 731

Ever Changing, Ever Growing

Little is known of the early churches built over Alban’s grave. The Shrine of St Alban was the reason for the Abbey’s foundation and the town that grew up around it, and it is said that King Offa of Mercia founded a monastery here in 793.

After the Norman invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror appointed Paul of Caen as the first Norman abbot of St Albans and commissioned a new church. Paul started his great rebuilding of the Abbey with the Tower, which still stands today. This Norman church was built from bricks and tiles saved from the ruins of Roman Verulamium. This ambitious project was completed in 1115, under the rule of Abbot Richard d’Albini.

The only English pope, Adrian IV, was born locally and granted special privileges to the Abbey, enhancing its reputation and power.

In 1213 St Albans Abbey was the meeting place for a group of churchmen and nobles. Their discussions led to Magna Carta which was reluctantly sealed by the king at Runnymede in 1215.

Living and Learning

The medieval Abbey was famous as a place of learning. The monks who lived here produced high-quality manuscripts in a workshop called the scriptorium. These included bibles and books on science, music and classics.

Into great carts went silver basins, candlesticks, statues of the saints, precious stone and altar cloths. All sorts of treasure was thrown in just like rubbish.
- Robert Shrimpton, an eye witness to the Abbey's closure in 1539

St Albans Abbey was closed in December 1539 and most of the buildings were destroyed. The shrines of St Alban and St Amphibalus were demolished and Alban’s relics disappeared.

In 1553, the people of St Albans bought the church for their own use. However, the upkeep was expensive and by 1832, the Abbey was in a sorry state.

Wealthy Victorian benefactors paid for the building to be repaired. This included remodelling the West End, removing medieval features and replacing the statues in the High Altar Screen.

In 1877 what had previously been a local parish church became a cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of St Albans.

The History of the Alban Bun

It is said that the Alban Bun, the precursor to the famous Hot Cross Bun, originates in St Albans where Brother Thomas Rocliffe, a 14th Century Monk at St Albans Abbey, developed an original recipe. From 1361, Brother Thomas would distribute these buns to feed the poor on Good Friday.

The original recipe remains a closely guarded secret, but ingredients include flour, eggs, fresh yeast, currants and grains of paradise or cardamom. The baker today stays faithful to the original 14th century recipe with only a slight addition of some extra fruit. The buns are distinctive in their appearance due to their lack of a piped cross. Instead, the baker cuts the cross into the top of the bun with a knife.

Though the original source of the Alban Bun is still being researched, an article in the Herts Advertiser of 1862 reports it as follows:

It is said that in a copy of 'Ye Booke of Saint Albans' it was reported that; "In the year of Our Lord 1361 Thomas Rocliffe, a monk attached to the refectory at St Albans Monastery, caused a quantity of small sweet spiced cakes, marked with a cross, to be made; then he directed them to be given away to persons who applied at the door of the refectory on Good Friday in addition to the customary basin of sack (wine). These cakes so pleased the palates of the people who were the recipients that they became talked about, and various were the attempts to imitate the cakes of Father Rocliffe all over the country, but the recipe of which was kept within the walls of the Abbey." The time honoured custom has therefore been observed over the centuries, and will undoubtedly continue into posterity, bearing with it the religious remembrance it is intended to convey.

The fascinating story of the Alban Bun continues to attract significant interest with enquiries about its origins coming from as far as New Zealand. It was also featured on ITV's Good Morning Britain and Lorraine and the BBC’s Mary Berry’s Easter Feast.

This Cathedral is very much a living Church and continues to grow.