St Alban's Church

St Alban's Church. . Saint Alban's Church may have originated in Roman times, although there is no conclusive evidence to support such an early date. However, it is believed that a church was in existence here by c.720. The present building is at least Norman (c.1175) with possibly some of the stonework being Anglo-Saxon. In common with other surviving medieval churches in Worcester, it was heavily restored and altered in the 19th and 20th centuries., The man to become Saint Alban (the first British martyr) was serving as a soldier in the Roman army during the 3rd or 4th century. He was converted to Christianity by a fugitive priest to whom he gave shelter. They exchanged identities so that he was martyred in the priest's place. His tomb was revered and later the site became a church, from an abbey around which developed the town of St Albans, formerly the Roman-British settlement Verulamium). His feast day is celebrated on June 22nd., Illustration from Valentine Green 1764.