ST. ALBANS AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
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beheading of St. Alban, traditionally the first Christian martyr 
in Britain, which took place under the edict of Diocletian 
published in a.d. 303. This and the fact that St. G-ermain saw 
the shrine of St. Alban here when he came to this country to 
refute the Pelagian heresy in a.d. 429 would indicate possibly 
that Christianity was firmly established at Yerulam. 
The earthworks of Yerulam, except on the east face which 
adjoined the dammed up waters of the River Yer, consist of 
a bank of earth piled against the wall on the inside, a berm 
in front of the wall, and a dry ditch of considerable dimensions. 
On the south-west side this ditch is doubled, possibly because 
the ground on the outside is higher here than that within. The 
city wall is probably of the end of the third century, and can be 
traced for the greater part of the circumference of the city. It 
is of flint-rubble, faced with flints, with lacing courses of tiles at 
irregular intervals. The thickness of the wall varies from 9 ft. 
to 13 ft. 6 ins., and the greatest height now standing is 10 ft. 
The most important pieces of the wall are St. G-ermain’s block, 
the continuous line of wall in the Yerulam Woods, a piece in 
a field to the north-west of Blue House Hill, and G-orhambury 
Block, a little way up the Drive to G-orhambury House, The 
chief buildings which have been excavated are the Theatre, the 
remains of which lie on the west side of the G-orhambury Drive, 
and part of the Forum, which lies in St. Michael’s Glebe. The 
Theatre, the only one of Roman date discovered in Britain, was 
opened and planned by Mr. G-rove Lowe in 1847. It consisted of 
a stage 8 ft. 8 ins. wide and 46 ft. long, and a nearly semi-circular 
auditorium 190 ft. in diameter. The Forum was partially 
opened in 1898-1908 by the Rev. C. Y. Bicknell and the writer. 
It consisted of a courtyard 215 ft. by 308 ft. surrounded by 
corridors and apartments of considerable size opening into them. 
The Roman city was intersected by streets dividing it into 
squares in the usual manner adopted in a Roman town. The 
principal street was formed by Watling Street, which came from 
London by the Edgware Road through Elstree and Radlett, and 
followed approximately the present road through Park Street to 
St. Stephen’s. Here the existing road diverges in a northerly 
direction to St. Albans, but the Roman road continued across 
the fields to the east gate of the city, the approach to which over 
the ditch can be seen just north-east of the entrance to Yerulam 
Woods. It crossed the Roman city and left it by the west gate 
which stood a little to the north-east of Gorhambury Block. 
It followed the line of the G-orhambury Drive for a short way, 
and then, continuing in a straight line across the fields to Bow 
Bridge, there joined the existing road again, coinciding with it to 
Redbourn and with slight deviations on to Chester. The other 
main road entered the city from the south-west by the south 
gate which stood a little to the north-west of the footpath which 
runs from King Harry Lane to St. Michael’s Church, where the 
approach to it over the ditch can be seen in the meadow. 
