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St. Albans Residents First Weekend - Abbey Roof Tour

Residents' First Weekend gives local residents the opportunity to gain entry to places which are not normally open to the public - such as the roof-top of St. Albans Abbey Cathedral, which I had the opportunity to visit this morning.

View of the Park and St. Michaels from the Top of the Cathedral

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Visiting the roof of the Cathedral is probably the most popular of the many things to do during Residents First Weekend - it's also one of the few things you'll need an advance ticket, available at the Tourist Information Centre, for. I got there at a few minutes past 9am and most of the tickets for Cathedral visits had already gone.

At the start of the tour, we were asked to read a warning sign which said those with heart or breathing problems, or pregnant women, shouldn't go up. There are 211 steps to the top, most of them within a very narrow - I'm not very broad and I had to turn sideways numerous times just to pass through - spiral staircase.

First stop was above the ceiling of the main entrance to the Abbey. When you're on the ground floor, have a look and you'll see five tall windows, the tallest of their type in all of England. Those windows, however, actually go up higher than you'd initially think - above the ceiling the middle two actually extend another several meters.

After that, we proceeded to the roof space above the screen and St. Alban's shrine. The original painted wooden ceiling is still in place, supported by pine and steel supports put in place in the 1930's. On top of those new (well, 80 year old) beams are cans which once were full of bug repellant which, those carrying out the work thought, would soak down into the wood below. It didn't work, but the cans have been left in place and are now considered historic.

Next up was the grand finale - the bell ringing room, the belfry where the actual bells hang, and up onto the very highest point on the Cathedral. One of the bell ringers was on hand to tell us about the special 5000 bell sessions they've held to mark historic events. He also showed us the chalk board where they write up the arrangements they'll be ringing.

From the roof of the Cathedral the view was, as I'd hoped, wonderful. It was possible to see not just the park and St. Michaels below, but out across Hertfordshire and all directions across the city.

A big thanks to our two tour guides, who were knowledgeable, enthusiastic and friendly. I highly recommend the roof tour to anyone who gets the opportunity to do it in future. I've posted a few additional photos over on flickr if you'd like to see more.