Bigger and More Proud

Eighteen seventy-seven: it turned out to be a significant year in the history of St Albans, as the Abbey became a Cathedral (formally known as the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban) and a Bishopric.  The Council then successfully applied for the Monarch, Queen Victoria, to confer the status of city on for St Albans.

Co-incidentally (or not) in the same year the rather rural sounding  Sweetbriar Lane was changed to become Victoria Street from the Town Hall to the city boundary, which since 1835, had been set at Lattimore Road from its previous limit near Marlborough Road.  No markers exist to show where these limits were.

1879 boundary post at Bluehouse Hill.

In 1877 the Herts Advertiser published details of the number of residents.  8,303 lived within the borough (the 1835 limits), 11,000 in the wider town – from the Market Cross to one mile distant.  So around 3,000 people resided beyond the city limit although would have relied of the services of the city and its council for various aspects of their lives.  The time had therefore come to apply for the extension of the boundary to approximately three-quarters of a mile.  Eastwards that created a new limit along Hatfield Road at  Albion Road.  This extension was granted in 1879 and for such a historic occasion the new Council had boundary posts manufactured, most of which remain today.  The wording proudly reflects the new status of the borough as a city.  Below the crest are the words CITY OF ST ALBAN 1879.  The town's name used to be written with an apostrophe (St Alban's) but today this is universally omitted.

1913 post in Sandpit Lane:
date label not quite level

Even in 1879 houses were being built beyond the boundary and the council therefore found itself in a similar position in 1913 when an application to take in new added areas as far as Oaklands was successful.  On this occasion new posts were set up with the same wording but with the year 1913 inside a rectangular panel, this panel having been added to the posts after casting, and not always in exactly the same position.  On the Sandpit Lane post it not quite horizontal.

1913 post at Hill End Lane

A much smaller boundary extension took place in 1935 but no dated boundary posts were produced.

The responsibility for looking after the markers rests with the local authority, but inevitably they end up being treated like lamp posts, road signs and other items of street furniture in being neglected.  The boundary posts are also prone to being hidden in undergrowth and shrubs, including ivy.  If the city was proud of them and their function when first installed, perhaps we should all feel a little bit proud of them today.  Maybe the council will permit volunteers to renew the paintwork with approved products and colours.  Just a suggestion.