St Albans
For other places named St Albans see St Albans (disambiguation)
St Albans (thus spelt, no apostrophe or dot) is the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans in southern Hertfordshire, England, just north of London. It was the first major town on the A5 for travellers heading north and was previously the Roman city of Verulamium.
Markets are held in the main street on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The football team is St Albans City FC: their 'stadium' is Clarence Park and they play in the Ryman's Premier League. There is also the Old Albanian Rugby Club which has a large facility known as the Old Albanian sports complex or the Woolam Playing Fields.
There are two train stations: the City Station is about 750 metres east of the city centre and is serviced by Thameslink, with trains to London, Luton, London Luton Airport, Bedford, London Gatwick Airport and Brighton. The Abbey Station is about one kilometre south of the city centre and is serviced by Silverlink: there is a single train running between St Albans and Watford Junction, starting a new round trip every 45 minutes during most of the day.
St Albans is home for one of the country's finest indoor skateparks. It is located at the Pioneer Youth Club, in Heathlands Drive, next to the fire station. Its ramps are available to all skateboarders and inliners. A new outside mini ramp was built in March.
Housing is expensive relative to England in general, possibly due to fast commuting to London by train, easy access to London Luton Airport or maybe the large number of pubs. CAMRA has its head office in Hatfield Road and the local branch holds an annual beer festival in St Albans. In recent years this has been a four day event starting on a Wednesday near the end of September.
Notable buildings include St Albans Cathedral and the Clock Tower depicted on the right. See also St Albans School.
The Royal Navy has used a number of vessels with the name HMS St Albans.
Two of St. Albans more poetic denizens were William Cowper (1731-1800), and the eccentric lithographer Ralph Chubb (1892-1960).