2-970-223 - /Heritage Images

St. Albans Abbey, from the South-West, 1856. 'When King Henry the Eighth suppressed the monasteries, a rich clothier named Stump bought the church for £400 and made it a parish church for the inhabitants. Even when its most precious days were gone, the people who worshipped in it seem always to have retained an affectionate reverence for the glorious old pile, and to have exerted themselves to obtain the means of preserving it. Some Government assistance was once or twice obtained, but it is of late years only that the work has been done on a large scale...Any attempt to "smarten up" the old pile is earnestly disclaimed. Repair what is venerable, "restore where beauty of form is needed," says Mr. Scott. And the heartiness with which the country is responding to the St. Albans appeal is most gratifying. Several thousand pounds have already been raised...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.