Roman Verulamium

Aline writes: About 20 miles away from London is St. Albans, a nice town with a huge cathedral, home of the first British martyr named, what else, St. Alban. It’s a charming town as you can see,



It has a huge cathedral that is a hodge podge from being built over hundreds of years. But I liked this small church near the museum – it was lovely.



But the best part is that underneath St Albans is Verulamium, one of the largest Roman cities of Britain. There are a lot of fascinating ruins that have been excavated, including a theatre, mosaic floors from many of the roman villas located in the area, grave sites, etc. It's pretty amazing it hasn't all been destroyed by plowing!

The theatre was excavated in the 1930’s and work continues today. It once held several thousand people in a structure built with multiple stories. You have to use your imagination now



Unfortunately, photography was not permitted in the museum, which had many fine artifacts including several amazing mosaic floors that had been found out in the fields, as part of large villas that formed Verulamium. You can see pictures on the museum website


They have kept one mosaic in situ out in the field. They built a building around it to protect it


It is a fabulous mosaic, as you can see


With a furnace that heats the floor from underneath.


It’s amazing to walk out in the middle of a huge field and find a mosaic. England, what a country!