St Albans

Coordinates: 51°45′18″N 0°20′10″W / 51.755°N 0.336°W / 51.755; -0.336

St Albans /sənt ˈɔːlbənz/, /seɪn.../ is a city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield about 19 miles (31 km) north-northwest of London, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Welwyn Garden City, and 11 miles (18 km) south-southeast of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north and became the Roman city of Verulamium. It is a historic market town and is now a dormitory town within the London commuter belt and the Greater London Built-up Area.

Toponymy

Saint Alban, the first British Christian martyr, was possibly beheaded in 308 CE by Maximian on the orders of Emperor Diocletian, who had denounced Christianity and ordered the deaths of all subjects and allies of the Roman Empire who refused to give up the faith. Saint Alban consequently gave the city its modern name.

St Albans has two official demonyms: Verulamian & Albanian. St Albans was a settlement of pre-Roman origin named Verlamion (or Verulam) by the Ancient British Catuvellauni tribe.

St. Albans (LIRR station)

St. Albans is a station on the Long Island Rail Road's West Hempstead Branch located in St. Albans, Queens, New York City. It is officially located on the southwest corner of Linden Boulevard & Montauk Place, although the segment of Montauk Place that once intersected with Linden Boulevard has been abandoned and fenced off.

History

In 1872, the Long Island Rail Road's Cedarhurst Cut-off was built through the area, but no stop appears here on the first timetables. Saint Albans Station was built on July 1, 1898, and originally appeared on maps with the name of Locust Avenue (the same name as the station at the other end of what is now called Baisley Boulevard). The station was razed in 1935 as part of a grade elimination project. The current elevated structure was opened either on October 22 or October 23, 1935.

Station layout

This station has one six-car-long island platform between the two tracks with two entrances. The north staircase goes down to the south side of Linden Boulevard between Newburg and 180th Street while the south staircase goes down to a short tunnel leading to the dead-end street of Foch Boulevard.

St. Albans station (Vermont)

St. Albans is an Amtrak train station in St. Albans, Vermont. The station is close to the headquarters for the New England Central Railroad, and was originally built in 1900 as a switch house by the Central Vermont Railway.

References

External links

St Albans Abbey railway station

St Albans Abbey railway station in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England is about 0.6 miles (1 km) south of the city centre in the St Stephen's area. It is the terminus of the Abbey Line from Watford Junction, part of the London Midland franchise. It is one of two stations in St Albans, the other being the much larger and busier St Albans City.

The unstaffed station consists of a single open-air platform and a car park. Improvement works were carried out in 2008.

It was the second UK railway station to receive a Harrington Hump to improve accessibility.

History

St Albans Abbey was the first railway station in St Albans, built by the London and North Western Railway in 1858. It was, as it is now, a terminus; the company's plans to extend northwards to Luton and Dunstable never materialised. Although the Midland Railway opened their station (St Albans City) in 1868, it was not until 1924 that "Abbey" was added to the station's title to avoid confusion - by this stage, both stations were owned by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. At 84 metres (276 ft), its nave is the longest of any cathedral in England. With much of its architecture dating from Norman times, it was known as St Albans Abbey before it became a cathedral in 1877. It is the second longest cathedral in the United Kingdom.

Although legally a cathedral church, it differs in certain particulars from most other cathedrals in England: it is also used as a parish church, of which the dean is rector with the same powers, responsibilities and duties as that of any other parish.

Britain's first Christian martyr

Alban was a pagan living in the Roman city of Verulamium, now Verulamium Park, in St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, about 22 miles (35 km) north of London along Watling Street. Before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, local Christians were being persecuted by the Romans. Alban sheltered their priest, Saint Amphibalus, in his home and was converted to the Christian faith by him. When the soldiers came to Alban's house looking for the priest, Alban exchanged cloaks with the priest and let himself be arrested in his place. Alban was taken before the magistrate, where he avowed his new Christian faith and was condemned for it. He was beheaded, according to legend, on the spot where the cathedral named after him now stands. The site is on a steep hill and legend has it that his head rolled down the hill after being cut off and that a well sprang up at the point where it stopped.

Train station

A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot (see below) is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight.

It generally consists of at least one track-side platform and a station building (depot) providing such ancillary services as ticket sales and waiting rooms. If a station is on a single-track line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as "stops" or, in some parts of the world, as "halts" (flag stops).

Stations may be at ground level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other transport modes such as buses, trams or other rapid transit systems.

Terminology

In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station. Railway station and railroad station are less frequent; also, American usage makes a distinction between the terms railroad and railway.

In Britain and other Commonwealth countries, traditional usage favours railway station or simply station, even though train station, which is often perceived as an Americanism, is now about as common as railway station in writing; railroad station is not used, railroad being obsolete there. In British usage, the word station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified.

St. Albans (town), Vermont

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St. Albans is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, in the United States. The population was 6,392 at the 2010 census. The town completely surrounds the city of St. Albans.

History

The town was named for St Albans, England.

On October 19, 1864, St. Albans was the site of the St. Albans Raid, the northernmost Confederate land action of the American Civil War, which was basically, an enemy cavalry raid and bank robbery across the border from Quebec, Canada. The town of St. Albans and the city of St. Albans were separated in 1902. References to "St. Albans" prior to this date generally refer to the town center, which now belongs to the city. The town was incorporated in 1859, and the city in 1902.

Henri Le Caron, who, while acting as a secret agent of the British government, held the position of "Inspector-General of the Irish Republican Army," asserts that he distributed fifteen thousand stands of arms and almost three million rounds of ammunition in the care of the many trusted men stationed between New York and St. Albans, in preparation for the unsuccessful Fenian raid on Canada which took place in April 1870. United States General George Meade, forewarned, captured much of these munitions as they arrived.