ST. ALBANS AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
211 
Harpenden Common, and the Rothamsted Experimental Station 
on the north, Colney Heath on the east, Bricket Wood with its 
Common on the south, and Gorhambury Park on the west. 
St. Albans is in the south-west of Hertfordshire. Its latitude 
is 51° 45' N., and its longitude 0° 20' W. Within the city 
boundary the range of elevation is from about 240 to 410 feet; 
the Town Hall is situated 378 feet above Ordnance Datum. It 
is on the main line of the Midland Railway and has branches 
from the North-Western and the Great Northern—one from 
Watford and the other from Hatfield. Eight main roads 
radiate from it, their direction being nearly as follows:— 
(1) N. to Harpenden, (2) N.E. to Wheathampstead, (3) E. to 
Hatfield, (4) S.E. to South Minims, (5) S. toElstree, (6) S.W. to 
Watford, (7) W. to Hemel Hempstead, (8) N.W. to Redbourn. 
(1) The course of the road to Harpenden is a little west of 
north. From St. Peter’s Street it passes St. Peter’s Church, 
turns to the left where the highest ground within the city is 
reached (410 feet O.D.), crosses Bernard’s Heath, and in a mile, 
at the foot of the hill, the ancient British earthwork known as 
Beech Bottom is seen on the right. The road passes Childwick 
Green and crosses Harpenden Common, at the farther end of 
which, on the left, is the Rothamsted Experimental Station of 
the Lawes Agricultural Trust. 
(2) The Wheathampstead road passes St. Peter’s Church in 
a north-north-easterly direction, and in rather less than two 
miles the farther end of Beech Bottom is seen on the left. 
Running through Sandridge the road crosses No-Man’s Land, 
beyond which, on the right, are the ancient British earthworks 
known as the Devil’s Dyke and the Moat or Slad. Just beyond 
Sandridge a road on the right leads to Coleman Green, where 
there is a chimney of a ruined cottage with an inscription 
stating that John Bunyan preached there. 
(3) The Hatfield road leaves St. Peter’s Street at St. Peter’s 
Green, now little but a name, and passes the Almshouses 
founded by Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, nearly opposite to 
which is the Hertfordshire County Museum. After passing 
Oaklands (two miles) it trends a little northwards. In three 
miles Colney Heath lies to the south, approached by a road 
starting opposite Oaklands; the Colne usually rises just above 
it. A little farther on Astwick Manor, a moated house, lies to 
the north, Sandpit Lane leading direct to it from St. Albans, 
and between it and Coleman Green is Symond’s Hyde Great 
Wood. 
(4) The road to South Mimms is known as the London Road. 
It starts opposite High Street and in three and a half miles 
crosses the Colne at London Colney. The river here is some¬ 
times nearly dry, but occasionally overflows its banks and forms 
a lake. In five miles is Ridge Hill (398 feet O.D.), the highest 
point on the London Road, and just on the rise to it, to the 
south, is Salisbury Hall, a moated house. The interesting 
