St Albans: A Visitor's Guide to One of England's Oldest Cities

St Albans has been a significant place for a very long time. The Romans built one of Roman Britain's largest cities here in the first century — a city called Verulamium, with 6,000 residents, a forum, public baths, and some of the finest town houses north of Gaul. The Anglo-Saxons came next, then the Normans, who began constructing the cathedral that still dominates the skyline.

Two thousand years of history tends to accumulate in interesting ways. Walk down the high street today and you'll pass a medieval cellar turned restaurant, a Georgian townhouse that's been converted into a café, and — if you look carefully — a Roman hypocaust (underfloor heating system) visible through a glass panel in the pavement. St Albans doesn't shout about this stuff. It just quietly sits there, full of it.

Here's what's worth your time when you visit.

Verulamium Park and the Roman Walls

Verulamium Park — over 100 acres of parkland on the site of Roman Verulamium. © Geograph / CC BY-SA

Start here. Verulamium Park is a large, leafy public park occupying the site of the Roman city — and unlike most Roman sites in Britain, where you're largely staring at grassy bumps and reading interpretation panels, St Albans has something genuinely visible. Stretches of the Roman city wall still stand to several metres in height, complete with the flint rubble-and-brick construction technique that the Romans brought with them from the continent.

The park is free to enter and used by locals as an everyday green space. Beyond the history, it's a genuinely great day out: there's a children's play area, cricket pitches, football nets and grass pitches, and the River Ver runs pleasantly along the southern edge. In summer the park fills up with picnicking families, ice cream vans park near the lake, and it all has the feel of somewhere people actually love rather than just visit.

The Verulamium Museum

Inside the park, the Verulamium Museum holds one of the finest collections of Roman domestic artefacts in Britain. The centrepiece is the mosaic floors — great sweeping geometric designs in red, black, and white tesserae — which were lifted from the ruins of town houses and reassembled here with extraordinary care. Some of the painted plaster is equally remarkable: interior wall decoration from Roman houses, reconstructed to show what a well-appointed Roman dining room would have looked like.

The museum does a good job of making the material tangible. There's an reconstructed Roman room, everyday objects — coins, hairpins, shoes — and enough context that you leave with a genuine sense of the city as a place that people actually lived in, rather than an archaeological abstraction.

The Roman Theatre of Verulamium

The Roman Theatre of Verulamium — built around AD 140, still largely intact in a St Albans residential street. © Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA

A short walk from the museum, this is one of the most unusual Roman sites in England — and one that's easy to overlook because it sits incongruously in a residential street. But step through the gate and you're standing in a theatre that was built around AD 140 and could accommodate 1,600 spectators.

What makes it distinctive is the stage structure. Most Roman theatres found in Britain preserve only the seating bank (the cavea). Here, the stage building survives in outline, which means you can read the spatial relationship between performers and audience in a way that's impossible on most sites. It's an open-air site, which makes it feel authentic rather than museumified. Well worth the modest entry fee.

St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral — a Grade I listed building on the site of Britain's first Christian martyr. © Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA

The Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban occupies the high ground east of Verulamium. This has been a sacred site since at least the third century — Alban was a Roman soldier who sheltered a Christian priest during the Diocletianic persecutions, converted, and was executed in his place, becoming Britain's first Christian martyr. A church was built on the site of his execution, and there has been one there ever since.

The current building is overwhelmingly Norman in its lower stages — the nave is one of the longest in England, at over 85 metres, and the tower is built from Roman bricks salvaged from the ruins of Verulamium nearby. Later additions include a 13th-century retrochoir, Victorian restoration work by Lord Grimthorpe (a controversial figure in English architectural history), and various medieval wall paintings that are among the best-preserved in the country.

Entry is free, and there's usually a guided tour available on weekends. The shrine of Saint Alban is still a place of pilgrimage, and there's a quiet contemplative quality to the building even when it's full of visitors.

Eating in St Albans

St Albans punches well above its weight for food, partly because of the commuter population that expects good restaurants, and partly because of a genuinely strong independent scene that's managed to hold its own against the chains. Here are some worth knowing about:

• Japes — a popular local favourite; great atmosphere and consistently good food.
• Sushi Mania — solid Japanese, good value, and always busy for a reason.
• Per Tutti — proper Italian, a St Albans institution. Book ahead at weekends.
• Tikka Nation — excellent Indian food; well worth a visit if you're in the mood for a curry.
• St Albans Market — runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Saturday market has become a proper food market, with local producers, street food, and artisan goods.
• The Maltings — a shopping and leisure development along the River Ver with several cafés good for a daytime stop.
• Christopher Place — a quiet covered arcade off the high street with independent cafés, less crowded than the main streets.

The Odyssey Cinema

The Odyssey Cinema — St Albans' beloved independent. © Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA

This is one of St Albans' most loved institutions, and for good reason. The Odyssey is an independent cinema that's been serving the city for decades, and it programmes films in a way that a multiplex simply wouldn't — a mix of current mainstream releases, art house and foreign-language cinema, classics, and special events.

The atmosphere is altogether more civilised than a chain. Reasonable prices, good snacks, and an audience that's actually there because they want to watch a film. Check the website before visiting — it books up at weekends and certain screenings sell out entirely.

The Alban Arena

The city's main entertainment venue hosts a varied programme of touring comedy, tribute acts, drama, and occasional concerts. It's a 3,000-capacity arena — not a major touring venue, but it brings a decent variety of shows through over the course of a year.

St Albans Museum + Gallery

Reopened after a significant renovation, the city museum occupies the former Town Hall on the high street. The permanent collection covers the full arc of St Albans' history alongside temporary exhibitions that change regularly. Worth a stop, particularly if you're spending a full day in the city.

Getting around

The city centre is best explored on foot — everything within the walls is walkable, and Verulamium Park is about 15 minutes from the station. The Roman Theatre is a further 10-minute walk from the park. You won't need a car for the core attractions, though a car is useful for day trips further into Hertfordshire.

When to visit

The city is pleasant year-round. The market is busiest on Saturdays. Summer brings outdoor events and a fuller Verulamium Museum programme. Autumn is particularly good for the surrounding countryside, and the Christmas market is popular locally. Avoid visiting on a Sunday if you want the full market experience.