Slide Shows on Cathedral and Church Architecture - by Michael G Hardy

return to home page          go to list of slide shows

Description of Slide Show

Part One starts with a brief look at the Roman city of Verulamium. We hear how Alban was put to death in 209 for giving shelter to a fugitive Christian priest, and for refusing to worship the Roman Gods. Nearly 6 centuries later King Offa searched for the remains of Alban and then persuaded the Pope to canonise Alban as the first martyr of England. In 795, Offa then founded a monastery to preserve St Alban's remains, and dedicated it to St Alban, really as his penance for murdering Ethelbert, King of East Anglia. The Benedictine foundation of St Alban would eventually become one of the country's greatest Abbeys. A Norman Abbot was appointed only 11 years after the Conquest, and we can imagine that he immediately started to build a new church, wanting to show the influence and power of the new Norman era by replacing the Saxon wooden church with a stone one 380 feet in length. We look at the remarkable parts that remain, which are focused around the central crossing with its four arches, over 40 feet high, that have now been standing for over 900 years.

The interior is still plastered, as was the exterior, but now we can see from the exterior that the impressive Norman building was built mainly using the old Roman city as a quarry for its building materials. The central tower is built purely of old Roman bricks or tiles, all twice as old as the Norman abbey itself. (I cannot help wondering how many of our modern bricks will still be in use 1800 years after they were made.) We also find that much of the original Norman decorative painting survives on the interior walls, much of this is very rare, and is mainly in the form of chevrons around arches and block patterns imitating stonework. 

We look at how the west end of the building was extended during the 12th century and at the rebuilding of the east end in the 13th century. A remarkable survival from this work is the wooden vaulted ceiling of the eastern arm. Dating from 1280 it is made of chestnut boards on oak frames, and is the largest work of its kind of such an age. Collapse of the original south nave arcade in 1323 led to a rather slow rebuilding, interestingly done in the Decorated style, but in sympathy with the Early English work that it joins to the west. The choir screen also had to be replaced, and this solid screen in a very early Perpendicular style has now formed a pronounced division between the nave and the choir for over 600 years. It is good to see that St Albans has never fallen victim to the trend for knocking down screens to open up clear vistas along the length of many other of our greater churches. We then look at the choir ceiling which dates from around 1400, and still has 66 original painted panels, including 32 which are a remarkable display of heraldry, mainly featuring members of the House of Lancaster. The tall high altar screen was fitted in 1484 but its present statues all date from its restoration in the 1880s. Mention is also made of how all this work was achieved despite extreme political and financial difficulties experienced by the abbey through medieval times. The abbey was dissolved in 1539 and we end Part One by seeing that the only other building to survive from the monastery is the Great Gateway.

In Part Two of the show, details are given of the desolate state of the building following three centuries of neglect after the dissolution of the monasteries. By then it was used as a vast parish church of a small town, and was obviously too much to cope with, especailly at a time when the upkeep of church buildings was not a great priority anyway. We than take a detailed look at the changes made by the 19th century restorers, who did actually save the building, but at the same time received much criticism, some of which has never stopped. Work was done by Cottingham, Sir George Gilbert Scott, and finally Lord Grimthorpe, who persuaded the church authorities that they should allow him to restore the church to his own taste if he paid for the work himself. The church had been granted Cathedral status in 1877, with the formation of a new diocese for Hertfordshire, having previously been part of Rochester diocese. Therefore the authorities were desperate for funds and action, and had little choice but to accept Lord Grimthorpe's offer, which would give the building sufficient funds for the first time in over 350 years.

The show then looks at specific treasures of the building such as the fine wall paintings from the 13th and 14th centuries. We also see the restored shrine of Saint Alban, together with its remarkable timber watching chamber. With its history, St Albans does not have a vast array of important monuments, but we do look at its two fine Perpendicular Chantry Chapels. One is a royal tomb to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and the other is for Abbot Thomas Ramryge, who was Abbot from 1492 to 1521, and was really the last true Abbot, before a succession of three others were appointed by the King, paving the way for an easy Dissolution in 1539.

This show ends by looking at one some additions of the 20th century, most importantly the building of the new Chapter House which was opened by the Queen in 1982.

Contents, Important Dates, Number of Slides Shown

Please note that some of the dates quoted are only approximate

return to top of page

return to top of page

This page last modified on 15th December 2005