St Albans

St Albans is an historic and attractive conurbation set between the M25, M1 and A1(M) motorways and surrounded by outstanding countryside.  These two attributes, alongside many others, makes St Albans a highly sought after location in which to live. 

The town has seen over 2000 years of human occupation. Its first appearance was as a Celtic iron age settlement called ‘Verlamion’. In Roman Britain, the site was developed as the settlement, ‘Verulamium’ and was the third largest Roman City in Britain.  Following the departure of the Roman Army in AD410, ‘Verlamion’ began to falter and many of its buildings deteriorated.  However, these materials were utilised to create a new monastic and market settlement, St Albans.

St Albans is described as the best kept secret of Hertfordshire and outer London, whilst also being described as a miniature England.  The main contributing factor to the latter is the wealth of property history, dating back to the Roman era, including England’s only Roman theatre. St Albans has seen century by century development from this period, housing such points of interest as a market dating from the Saxon era, and a variety of medieval and Tudor coaching inns.

The town’s array of historic buildings is particularly majestic, including St Albans Cathedral (look for the gargoyle to commemorate the Queen mothers visit.) Character properties can be found along Fishpool Street and Holywell Hill.  The history of the town can be viewed in its two museums, Verulamium Museum and St Albans Museum.

This historic location offers a wealth of historic buildings and in turn a varied property stock that ranges from period cottages in the conservation area to ongoing development throughout the 20th century. There is a fairly sizeable modern speculative type development on the north eastern edge of the town.

Whilst it offers a range of multiple national retailers and a twice weekly market, St Albans additionally offers a wide variety of local traders.  Its two small shopping centres, The Maltings and Christopher Place, offer a number of shopping facilities. A variety of boutique shops can be found in Holywell Hill and George Street.  Furthermore, a range of excellent restaurants, public houses and schooling is available within St Albans, which is also the headquarters of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale!

The communication links for this area are via the two railway stations in the town, St Albans City Station, which offers an approximate 20 minute commute to London’s King Cross, St Albans Abbey Station, which connects to Watford.  Additionally the town is close to the M25, M1 and A1(M) motorways, making it an ideal location from which to commute from.