Historical Memorials

Historical Memorials. . As the ancient town church of St Albans, St Peter's church and churchyard have many fascinating stories to tell. Some of these are of individuals who have left their imprint on our city's history, as well as on our minds and imaginations., For several hundred years St Peter's churchyard had a resident anchoress (religious recluse). The one in residence in 1258 had a vision of an old man with a long beard at the top of the tower crying. 'Woe to all the inhabitants of the earth'. She then predicted the famine that followed. The cell or anchorage into which she was sealed to devote herself to a life of prayer, is likely to have been close to this spot at the east end of the church building. From here she could have seen the high altar during mass through a squint hole., The following points of particular interest are visible from around this side of the church and are marked on the map., The site of the Chapel of the Guild of All Saints usually known as the Charmel Chapel. From at least the early 1400's a chaplain was employed to say masses in the chapel for both the living and the dead. Traces of the chapel wall are visible on the outside of the churchyard wall., On the wall inside the south porch is an unusual medieval palimpsest -- a monumental brass, turned and inscribed on the reverse side of an older inscription. The later inscription is to Roger Pemberton, High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1620. He was responsible for the erection of a number of buildings in the area, Including the almshouses on St Peter's Street opposite the Churchyard., The grave of Dr Nathaniel Cotton, poet and mental health pioneer, who died in 1788. He opened a private asylum for the mentally disturbed at College Street near the Abbey and present day Cathedral. He treated the poet William Cowper there in 1763 during one of his long bouts of depression., Sir Richard Lee, military engineer and favourite of Henry VIII, is buried near the east end of the church. He is best known locally as the man who destroyed the monastery buildings and Sopwell Priory when the king closed them.