St Albans Cathedral
St Albans, Hertfordshire
This is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain and stands over the place where Alban, Britains first saint, was buried after giving his life for his faith over 1700 years ago.
The Bernards Heath area of the city of St Albans was originally in the Parish of Sandridge, which had originally been given to the Abbey of St Albans by King Offa in the 8th century. In the late 1870s small dwellings sprang up on Sandridge Road, overlooking the Heath, near the brickyards. Known as ‘Snob's Island’, it was cut off from the rest of the city by mud wastes.
In 1882 the Vicar of Sandridge acquired a plot of land in Culver Road, and at the cost of £250 erected a small iron building to serve as a school church for the area. In 1888 a permanent school building was opened and the ‘little tin trunk’, as it became known, was improved and continued to serve the area as a Mission Church. In 1895 the Diocesan Mission Society assumed responsibility for the area, and plans were made to erect a permanent Mission Church on land gifted by the Earl Spencer on Sandpit Lane. The foundation stone was laid in July 1896 and work began building the chancel. Notably most of the bricks used in the building the church were from the local brickyard. Work began building the nave in 1901, and the completed church was dedicated by the Right Reverend Henry Frank Johnson, Bishop of Colchester* on All Saints' Day, 1 November 1902.
Today, St Saviour’s is a community hub in the Bernard’s Heath area of St Albans, hosting our annual Beer and Fizz festival, triennial Christmas Tree Festival as well as a monthly Street Food festival in the car park each Friday during the summer. We would be delighted to welcome you for a visit.