St Albans

St Albans (thus spelt, no apostrophe or dot) is a city and district in southern Hertfordshire, England, just north of London. The district includes the city and the parishes of Colney Heath, Harpenden Rural, Harpenden Town, London Colney, Redbourn, St Michael, St Stephen, Sandridge and Wheathampstead. The population of the district in mid-1998 was estimated at 131,400 by the Office for National Statistics[?].

Nearby places outside the district include Hatfield to the east, Welwyn Garden City[?] to the northeast, Luton and Dunstable to the northwest, Hemel Hempstead to the west, Watford[?] to the southwest and Borehamwood[?] to the south.

St Albans City

Markets are held in the main street of the city on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The football team is St Albans City FC: their 'stadium' is Clarence Park and they play in the Ryman's Premier League. There is also the Old Albanian Rugby Club[?] which has a large facility known as the Old Albanian sports complex or the Woolam Playing Fields.

There are two train stations: the city station is about 750 metres east of the city centre and is serviced by Thameslink. The abbey station is about one kilometre south of the city centre and is serviced by Silverlink: there is a single train running between St Albans and Watford Junction[?], starting a new round trip every 45 minutes during most of the day.

Housing is expensive relative to England in general, possibly due to fast commuting to London by train or maybe the large number of pubs. CAMRA has its head office in Hatfield Road and the local branch holds an annual beer festival in St Albans (e.g., in 2002, 25-28 September).

Notable buildings include St Albans Cathedral.

The Royal Navy has used a number of vessels with the name HMS St Albans

Harpenden

The Rothamsted Experimental Station is located at Harpenden.

History See: History of St Albans