Day trip by train - to historic St. Albans!

Come along on Saturday 24th May to visit the historic city of St. Albans!

About St. Albans
St. Albans sits 22 miles north of London along the old Roman road of Watling Street. The Romans named it Verulamium. It was the second-largest town in Roman Britain and one of the most important. It was later destroyed in the Iceni revolt led by Boudica in AD 60/61 (along with London & the then capital Colchester) and rebuilt after.

In medieval times, the town grew up on the hill to the east of the former Roman settlement around the Benedictine foundation of St. Albans Abbey. The abbey church was built where Alban (later St. Alban) was executed by the Romans in the 4th century. Alban, became the first British Christian martyr.

Today, the 'Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban' is 84 metres (276 ft) long, with much of its present architecture dating from Norman times, it became a cathedral in 1877 and is the second longest cathedral in the United Kingdom (after Winchester).

Basically St. Albans is three cities in one, the Roman one in the park, the medieval one around the abbey and the modern one around the train station.

I live in St. Albans and know it very well, so I'll be your guide for the day. I will show you the medieval and Roman parts of the city, plus tell you about Alban.

Aprox Itinerary
9:51am - catch train
10:13am - arrive at St. Albans and walk into the city centre
10:40am - start the guided tour around the city
12noon - tour of the cathedral
1:15pm - stop for lunch - bring your own food, eat in a local café, a pub or the Saturday market has lots of food stalls
2:30pm - continue the tour of the town, visiting the Roman town remains and the Roman Mosaic Hypocaust
4:30pm - freetime: lots of nice shops here, head back to the station or visit one of the many old pubs in St. Albans (The White Hart is one of the oldest, dating from 1470)

Train tickets
Trains going back at: 4:37pm, 4:52pm, 4:56pm, 5:07pm, 5:22pm, 5:26pm and the same times past each hour.

Some trains are fast and some are stopping. A fast train takes 21mins and a stopping train takes 35mins.

GroupSave train tickets (3for2) which we will purchase on the day when you arrive in groups of 3 work out at £8.20 each.

Cost
The tour of St. Albans is free for Full Members and £7 per person for everyone else (payable by cash or PayPal on the day).

The tour of the cathedral is £10 per person. Visiting the Roman Hypocaust is free.

You can decide to do all three, just one or your own thing.

Become a Full Member
To become a Full Member (£14 a year), either go to:
- PayPal and send a payment to general@cultureseekers.org (using the ‘For Friends & Family option’ as this avoids a charge from PayPal).
- Send via Bank Transfer (email me – [general@cultureseekers.org](mailto:general@cultureseekers.org) for details)
- Pay cash on the day.

Please note, we only wait at the station for 10 minutes after the advertised meeting time before boarding, so please be early or on time.

If you can't see us at the station, please text.

Look out for the red & blue 'London Cultureseekers' group sign.

Hope to see you there!

Robert
07905 901 834 (prefer text)

On the day, if you can’t make the visit, just change your RSVP to No or text me to say you can’t make it.
Please don’t post any messages in the comments that you can’t make it, as this generates spam for everyone else.

Please make sure you are aware of the group rules here before RSVPing - https://www.meetup.com/london_cultureseekers/messages/boards/thread/53768478