Saint Albans

Saint Albans , city (1991 pop. 76,709) and district, Hertfordshire, E central England. The market city of Saint Albans has printing, engineering, and clothing industries. Many of its residents work in London. The city is the site of the Roman Verulamium. King Offa of Mercia founded an abbey there in 793 to house the relics of Saint Alban, an early British martyr. The abbey and attached school (replaced by St. Alban's School in the 16th cent.) were made famous by Mathew of Paris and other chroniclers. The cathedral was built mostly in the 11th cent. under Paul of Caen, the first Norman abbot. Extensions and alterations were made in the 13th, 14th, and 19th cent. Part of nearby St. Michael's Church, which contains a memorial to Sir Francis Bacon , dates from the 10th cent. In the Wars of the Roses, St. Albans was the scene of a Yorkist victory in 1455 and a Lancastrian victory in 1461. Sarah Jennings Churchill, 1st duchess of Marlborough , was born in nearby Holywell House.

St Albans Herts. Sancte Albanes stow 1007, Villa Sancti Albani 1086 (DB). ‘Holy place of St Alban’, from the saint martyred here in AD 209. The early spellings contain OE stōw ‘holy place’ and Latin villa ‘town’. See also Watling Street.

Saint Albans, Canada, UK, USA UK (England): formerly Verulamium, Sancte Albanes stow, and Villa Sancti Albani. Originally a town built in the 1st century bc on the west bank of the River Ver and the tribal capital of the Catuvellauni, it was renamed after St Alban, a Roman who had converted to Christianity and who was martyred here; various dates have been suggested for his execution, particularly 209 and 303. Stōw and later the Latin villa were added. The town in Newfoundland, Canada, is spelt St Alban's.