St Albans

St Albans, city in Hertfordshire, south-eastern England, on the River Ver, near its confluence with the Colne. St Albans is located on the northern fringe of Greater London. Its chief industries are printing, the manufacture of electric equipment and musical instruments, and other light industries. Landmarks include the cathedral, St Albans Abbey (largely 11th century with 13th- and 14th-century additions), a 15th-century clock tower, and remains of the Roman town walls. The Roman settlement of Verulamium was founded here in ad 43. In the 8th century Offa, king of Mercia (reigned 757-796), founded an abbey to house the bones of the first Christian martyr in England, St Alban, who was put to death here in the early 4th century. The medieval historian and monk Matthew Paris lived here, and Nicholas Breakspear, later Pope Adrian IV, was born near the town. The town of St Albans developed around the abbey. During the Wars of the Roses, St Albans was the scene of two battles (1455 and 1461). Population 128,982 (2001).