Saint Alban’s Abbey
Saint Alban by tradition was the first Christian to be martyred in England, in ca. 250. Soon a memorial and shrine developed on the site of his martyrdom, and in 793 King Offa II of Mercia founded an abbey there. The Vikings destroyed the abbey in the early 11th century, and later that century a series of Norman abbots rebuilt and further developed the abbey complex. In 1539 Henry VIII dissolved the abbey, and in 1877 it became the seat of the Diocese of Saint Alban’s.
