Scheduled MonumentsEnglandSt Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings

St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings

England
List entry 1003526
Nation
England
The designation
Reference
List entry 1003526
Authority
Historic England (NHLE)
Status
Scheduled Monument
Scheduled area
9.76 hectares
Grid reference
TL 14541 07118, TL 14621 07051, TL 14328 07060, TL 14190 06844, TL 14433 06962
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic England (NHLE)

Overview

History & significance

St Albans Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in the tenth century on the site of a Roman settlement at Verulamium in Hertfordshire. The abbey became one of the most important religious houses in medieval England, exercising considerable influence over ecclesiastical and political affairs, and its abbots held seats in Parliament. The surviving conventual buildings, including the chapter house, cloister ranges, and ancillary structures, date primarily from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries and demonstrate the substantial architectural investment in monastic infrastructure during the later medieval period. The site was extensively damaged during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century, though fragments of its stone buildings remain within the precinct and testify to the former scale and prominence of the establishment.

St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1003526. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings?

St Albans Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in the tenth century on the site of a Roman settlement at Verulamium in Hertfordshire. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1003526.

Who is responsible for protecting St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings?

St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1003526.

What other scheduled monuments are near St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Verulamium, part of wall and ditch of Roman city (0.3 km), St Albans Abbey Gatehouse (0.3 km), The Clock Tower (0.5 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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The ground beneath

The bedrock under St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings

St Albans Abbey, site of conventual buildings stands on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.