The South West Views of the Abbey Church of St. Alban

Published in London 1773 for R. Goadby, J. Towers in Fore Street near Cripplegate.

Size is about 11.5 x 20 cm (4 1/2 x 8 inches)

The great cathedral, or abbey church, is finely situated on the steep hill, above the small river Ver, on which the central part of the city is placed. Shortly after the martyrdom of St Alban, probably in 303, a church was built on the spot where he was slain, and in 793 Offa, king of Mercia, who professed to have discovered the relics of the martyr, founded in his honor a monastery for Benedictines, which became one of the richest and most important houses of that order in the kingdom. The abbots, Ealdred and Ealmer, at the close of the 10th century began to break up the ruins of the old Roman city of Verulamium for materials to construct a new abbey church; but its erection was delayed till the time of William the Conqueror, when Paul of Caen, a relative of Archbishop Lanfranc, was in 1077 appointed abbot. The cathedral at Canterbury as built by Lanfranc was almost a reproduction of St Stephens, Caen; but Paul, while adopting the same model for St Albans, built it on a much larger scale. The church was consecrated in 1115, but had been finisl~ed some years before. Of the original Norman church the principal potions now remaining are the eastern bays of the nave, th~ tower and the transepts, but the main outlines of the building are still those planned by Paul. It is thus one of the most important specimens of Norman architecture in England, with the special characteristic that, owing to the use of the flat broad Roman tile, the Norman portions are peculiarly bare and stern. The western towers were pulled down in the 13th century. About 1155 Robert de Gorham repaired and beautified the early shrine and rebuilt the chapterhouse and part of the cloister; but nothing of his work now remains except part of a very beautiful doorway discovered in recent times. About 1200 Abbot John de Celia pulled down the west front and portions of the north and south aisles. He began the erection of the west front in a new and enriched form, and his work was continued by his successor William de Trumpyngtone in a plainer manner. In 1257 the eastern portion was pulled down, and between the middle of the 13th and the beginning of the I4th century a sanctuary, ante-chapel and lady chapel were added, all remarkably fine specimens of the architecture of the period. In 1323 two great columns on the south side suddenly fell, and this necessitated the rebuilding of five bays of the south aisle and the Norman cloisters. Various incongruous additions were made during the Perpendicular period, and much damage was also done during the dissolution of the abbeys to the finer work in the interior. Structural dangers gave rise to an extensive restoration and partial rebuilding, begun under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, and completed in 1894 by Lord Grimthorpe, some of whose work was, and remains, the subject of much adverse criticism. The abbeys extreme length outside is 550 ft., which is exceeded by Winchester by 6 ft. The nave (292 ft.) is the longest Gothic nave in the world and exceeds that of Winchester by about 20 ft. The length of the transepts is 175 ft. inside. The monastic buildings have all disappeared except the great gateway.

This original antique print was produced from copper plate engraving process. Some deterioration on the left hand margin area. The picture itself is still in very good conditon for the age of this print.