The Cathedral Church of St Alban looks over the modern city and dominates the skyline.

It marks the place of execution in AD209 of Alban - Britain's first Christian martyr. It was first founded in 792 by Offa of Mercia on the hilltop site where Alban's martyrdom and burial had already been marked by a shrine for over 500 years.

The Roman bricks in the Abbey Tower Walk Picture Gallery 2

The church you see today is the result of rebuilding in 1077-88 shortly after the Norman Conquest. Its head was made the premier abbot of England in 1154 and it was one of England's greatest abbeys until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. It then fell into disrepair until its restoration at the end of the 19th century, becoming a cathedral in 1877.

Norman builders made great use of Roman bricks taken from the ruins of Verulamium - they are best seen in the square Tower.

Slopes
There is a modern pathway leading up to the Abbey, up the steeper north slope of the river valley as described in Stage 3. During the Pleistocene period, torrential melt water and soil would have flowed down this northern slope during the summer, making it the steeper side of the valley.

But under the grass now to the right are remains of the monastic buildings such as the hospital, the refectory and the guest chamber, and all the other things that came with a very big Abbey.

St Albans Abbey was famous for its hospitality and although it was wealthy, an awful lot of money was spent on entertaining. A few years ago a rubbish pit was dug up at the top of the deanery and it was full of remains of sturgeon, turbot, pike and venison so we can assume that they ate very well!

The walls of the Abbey are clearly made up of flint and bricks from the Roman Wall Walk Picture Gallery 2

The bank before you get to the Abbey would probably have been the limit of the cloisters. Here you can feel you're walking on fairly hard ground.

The medieval town grew up around this Abbey and became a centre for pilgrimage. Then the Abbot moved the old Roman road so that the main road went into the Abbey. The Roman town died, and the growth of St Albans followed.

It was never a very big town until the mid 19th century. In the 18th century there was a fair bit of trading because of the coaching inns but when the railways come from the 1850s onwards there was rapid growth.

More about the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Albans >>