The London Traveler

If you want to see a typical piece of Olde England, you don’t have to go far from London to soak yourself in half timber houses and little lanes. Just take a train twenty minutes from King’s Cross to St Albans, ignore the suburban commuter belt, and make your way to the historic centre of the city – you’ve stepped back into an England you might see on the front of a jigsaw puzzle or a box of chocolates.

St Albans goes back to the Romans, and you can still visit the Roman theatre – not as impressive as the Colosseum, but still an interesting and unusual reminder of England’s ancient past. Verulamium, as it was then, also saw the martyrdom of a Christian convert called Albanus – which is where St Albans gets its name from.

St Alban’s shrine can still be seen in the fine cathedral, parts of which date back to Norman times – though the west front is a fine piece of Victorian gothic. The monks’ watching chamber still stands by the shrine – a little loft where the monk in charge could ensure pilgrims behaved themselves, and didn’t steal any bits of the saint or his shrine. You can also see some of the finest and best preserved early medieval wall paintings anywhere in England, on the pillars of the nave, and a loely medieval iron grille protecting the tomb.

By the way, the Roman connection continues in the cathedral – parts of it are built of reused Roman brick, quite likely robbed from the theatre!

St Albans is the home of the Campaign for Real Ale, and has one fantastic old timber frame pub, the Fighting Cocks, which is a contender for the title of the oldest pub in England. There are other fine old inns too – St Albans was a major overnight stop on the coaching routes into London in the eighteenth century.

Wander down to Kingsbury Watermill and you’re in chocolate box picture territory – water, lawns,  lovely old buildings. It’s difficult to believe London is only twenty minutes away.

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