What is St Albans?
[[File:St Albansmap 1944.jpg|thumb|220px|A [[map]] of St Albans from 1944]] '''St Albans''' is the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans in [[Hertfordshire]], [[England]]. It is 22 miles (35&nbsp;km) north of London. St Albans is the former [[Roman Britain|Roman]] town of '''Verulamium'''. == History == It was originally named Verlamion by the [[Celt]]ic Catuvellauni tribe, and Verulamium by the Romans. It was the first major town on the old [[Roman Britain|Roman]] road of [[Watling Street]] for travellers heading north. Many of the Roman walls were knocked down by [[William the Conqueror]] and used to build St Albans Abbey, otherwise known as [[St Albans Cathedral]]. The town had many notable buildings but most were knocked down by [[Henry VIII]]. The only building left is the abbey. Though many other buildings have been built nearby Ye Old Fighting Cocks, which claims to be the oldest pub in the UK, a Roman [[amphitheatre]] and [[hypocaust]] floor, a disused [[bear baiting]] square in Verulamium Park, and the imposing [[Rats Castle]] at the top of Hatfield Road as well as Roman Verulanium Museum The bones of [[St. Alban]], the first English martyr, were kept in the Abbey in a shrine, but were stolen during the 19th century.They were smuggled out of the country into Munich. A few years ago The German Cathedral sent the shoulder bone of St. Alban and it is kept in the shrine behind a curtain Now, due to its proximity to [[London]], St. Albans is a [[commuter]] town. === St Albans School === St Albans School is a [[Public school#UK and Commonwealth|public school]].<ref>Means fee-paying.</ref> It occupies a site to the west of the Abbey, which includes the 14th century Abbey Gateway.<ref>http://www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk/</ref> The school was founded in AD 948 and is the only school in the English-speaking world to have educated a [[Pope]]. Adrian IV was the only Englishman to become Pope.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mackie|first=John Duncan|title=Pope Adrian IV: The Lothian Essay, 1907|publisher=Bla