The City of St Albans is situated just north of London. It dates back to the Iron age when it was a local tribe capital called Verulamium, which lay just to the south west of the current city centre. When the Romans arrived in AD50, they developed it into a ‘municipum’. In 61 AD it was sacked by Boudica during the Iceni rebellion, but this was only a short break in its continued development. There were town other significant town fires, one in 155 and the other in 250, which caused significant damage.
Roman City Wall 
Roman Mosaic found at St Albans
When the Romans withdrew between 400 and 500 the town continued and eventually became an Anglo-Saxon Regional centre. An Abbey was founded on the hill overlooking the Roman town and gradually the centre of the town shifted to the area around the Abbey. The present abbey was begun in 1077 and contains much building material taken from abandoned Roman Buildings.
The life of the town continued pretty much unimpeded during the middle ages, although St Albans was the site of 2 battles during the War of the Roses.
In 1877, it was granted city status and the church became a Cathedral on the formation of the Diocese of St Albans in the same year.
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