St ALBANS HERTFORDSHIRE UK 1960s

The St Albans area has a long history of settlement. The Celtic Catuvellauni tribe had a settlement at Prae Hill a mile or so to the west. The Roman town of Verulamium, second-largest town in Roman Britain after Londinium, was built alongside this in the valley of the River Ver a little nearer to the present town centre.
After the Roman withdrawal, and prior to becoming known as St Albans, the town was called Verlamchester or Wæclingacaester by the Mercian Angles.
The mediaeval town grew up on the hill to the east of this around the Benedictine foundation of St Albans Abbey. This is the spot where tradition has it that St Alban, the first British Christian martyr, was beheaded sometime before AD 324. It was, at one time, the principal abbey in England and the first draft of Magna Carta was drawn up there, reflecting its political importance. The Abbey Church, now St Albans Cathedral (formally the Cathedral & Abbey Church of St Alban but still known locally as The Abbey) became the parish church when it was bought by the local people in 1553, soon after the priory was dissolved in 1539. It was made a cathedral in 1877 when the City Charter was granted. There is evidence that the original site was somewhat higher up the hill than the present building and there had certainly been successive abbeys before the current building was started in 1077

[@peterg957]

Hi Peter Gillson here... Lived at 319 Hatfield Road during the 1960s... Beaumont school and all that + the love of my life Christine Law... I love you St Albans and will do forever...

[@JohnAddy-wl8zy]

283. Must have known you

[@JohnAddy-wl8zy]

I was born in St Albans and lived on the Hatfield Road (283) until 1977. Wonderful footage. These places were my early life and I can remember being in Verulam with my Mother and with friends so well.

[@jessehalper]

What a gentle place it was in the 60s I can smell the freshly roasted coffee from the shop near the clock tower. I didn't drink coffee but knew I would enjoy when I was a grown up.

[@keinrodriguez9692]

I visited this beautiful town in 2015 and I am still in love with it and its people…

[@gwynnb7073]

Thank you for the memories, I was born in St Albans and I am still here. wow Ginger Mills, remember him well. he lived in a caravan in the cheqers car park . ( now the maltings ) and he might not have looked it but he was a very nice fella.So much has changed over the years, not all for the better but I still love living here

[@andymck6323]

I have met ginger he is a very nice bloke my brother knew him he lived in a mobile home at that time at the back of the high st I lived hear in the early 80s I recognize all the pubs great place my aunty still lives here

[@pigknickers2975]

Ginger nicked my schoolbag when I left it under his bus.. Oh well......

[@taylorjacobs8134]

Ginger Mills...? Was he not the one who wore all those belts and buckles and cowboy type hat and a lot of people where scared of him? I lived in st.albans a few times.

[@colinhazell6259]

@@pigknickers2975 Hahaha!

[@cakehead1]

He worked the market as well... fruit and veg store. He was a lovely bloke ... could be found down the hare and hounds and along that road... few pubs there...Friday nights buzzing when the art college was still there ...

[@OLDCHEMIST1]

I think of St Albans as my home town, because I lived there as a young child. Thank you so much for reviving old memories!

[@mumbiggs]

This bought a tear to my eye................All those memories.!! Thank you so much! XxX

[@bednarikovak]

miss you miss you miss you, my love St Albans, I want come back one day

[@dromaharg]

Beautiful video. Thanks for sharing this. We lived on Romeland Hill for many years so the park was our back yard. Amazing that the power boats was a hobby that people still enjoyed when I lived there too.

[@OLDCHEMIST1]

Charming film ... very nostalgic for me as I was here as a child from 1960-67. Thank you for such a lovely film!

[@eldarmanorshortstories8158]

Thank you very much for this clip. So sorry to hear about my good friend Ginger Miller, we had such good time in the 60s and good times in the Peahen. I also lost the love of my life Maragret nee Bateman to Motor Neurone disease in May 2012. I also new Jock Wilson and his daughter Jenny, lovely people and I know Ginger classed them as family. Hopefully coming to St. Albans for my son's 50th, and looking forward to going to the Peahen.

[@timcasterton1017]

What a great video - that could even be me in it by the Ver at about 5 seconds in! I remember the guys with their model power boats - I used to sail my model yacht on the larger of the lakes.

[@timcasterton1017]

I meant to add - I also remember Ginger Mills and his van. When I left school and still lived there I used to go to the Horn of Plenty to listen to the bands (Bob and Jan Andrews ran it then) and got hooked on live music - I still go to see it when I can in pubs etc. So many pubs in St Albans then that if you didn't arrange to meet friends at a given time / place you never did find them (remember no mobile phones then). Favourites apart from the Horn of Plenty were The Cock, The Jolly Sailor (Sunday nights), The Goat, The Plough and the Barley Mow (Tyttenhanger) and The Hare & Hounds.

[@stevealexR1]

My maternal grandparents used to live in Spicer Street and my mother was married in the Abbey which was effectively her “parish church”. I was born in 1965 so visited them throughout my childhood. I think St. Albans seemed to go through a rather “down at heel” period in the Seventies (like much of Britain) until the more prosperous Eighties came...

[@SuperAnnettew]

Was nice going back for a few years from 7 to 21, and enjoyed my college days at St Albans. Remember the guy in a little box out side the Eastern Electricity Board selling papers. And who remembers Ginger Mills with his big leather belts and a shock of Ginger hair!! Thank you, always fond memories .

[@TOPCAMERAMAN]

Hello Annete, What a nice way you have with words thank you. Comments like yours are allways wellcome hope you enjoy the rest of my channel. Kind Regards John.

[@SuperAnnettew]

Thank you John.

[@andygregory6570]

+Annete Williams ....Ginger Mills...now theres a blast from the past....I found out he was a "police informer" later on but dont know if that was true...He had a van down at Verulamium

[@SuperAnnettew]

Really!!! That's a suprise.

[@johnnypoker46]

Very nice film. I was born in St. Albans (a few years earlier) but never lived there. And the music is lovely. Don't listen to the complainers, they probably won't appreciate anything that isn't "death metal".

[@jessehalper]

Makes me want to drop into the Bat andBall for a pint like I did aged 14. No-one batted an eye.

[@MyGallery3000]

Wonderful nostalgic footage, takes me back to my childhood visits! So much more leisurely in those days!

[@Susannah50]

Great footage. It's making me homesick though! I spent the 70s, 80s and half of the 90s in St.Albans. It was a lovely place to grow up.

[@sebbyrules]

This is some truly great footage. Thank you so much for uploading this.

[@taylorjacobs8134]

I used to swim in that very same outside paddling pool when I was only 6.

[@barryroberts2196]

Oh my goodness! I have just stumbled across this. What fantastic memories.I went to school in St. Albans, Townsend boys to be exact.The lake great fishing there,as long as we went before the "Parkie"can round on his scooter !! Fighting Cocks & The Boot where my old "watering holes" Friday nights at the Market Hall,oh, happy days.I still go to St.Albans every week to see my Mum & Dad, now well in their 80's & just love the place !! Thank you so much for posting this.I know that "Ginger" passed away a few years ago,now,there was a true Albanian legend R I P mate. Barry Roberts.

[@timcasterton1017]

What year did you start at Townsend Barry? I was there from 1970 - 1977 when Andy Flower was Head, Donald Howson was Deputy (other staff: Frank Carter, Mary Skinner, Phil Heath, Ian Ayre, Mr Jarman, Basher Bowman, Mr Jervis (TD), Miss Sloan / Mrs MacAdam, Mr Graham - Art).

[@gruntfoot]

What a great video! I was brought up there, moving away in 1967. The Peahen & Fighting Cocks were two of my haunts. And, yes Annette, I remember Ginger Mills ... a real character.

[@andymck6323]

mine too the boot the fleur de lees and many more in the early 80s walked passed the Abby and the fighting cock going to work at Abby mill

[@bobzthecat82]

amazingly very little has changed! except probably the swimming in the lake and adjacent pool which was closed when I last visited, due to "health & safety", the killer of fun and adventure for all kids in the UK these days.

[@zeusmc.8662]

Some of those potholes are still there.

[@GrannySea]

Oh Fabulous, my home town from 1952-1963 although I was a frequent visitor while I still had family there, sadly all gone now....but I did come back for my 60th birthday, October 2011.....the lake area and the Fighting Cocks are amongst my happiest memories!

[@bednarikovak]

God gave me a chance to spend few years there and I will never ever forget them. My heart is bleeding... I want live there... I bless to this city, to every brick, to every person, who is living there.... My heart will never ever stop bleed... I want cry out, how deep is my pain... how deep is my love.... and I cant be there...

[@jackylockley5089]

I remember Ginger Mills. That was a lifetime ago.

[@incy7488]

Beautiful video

[@GrumpleWrinkleskin]

It's amazing how much it's changed. Especially the ruins & cathedral.

[@babysteps1]

So many memories, thanks

[@TOPCAMERAMAN]

@erroneousapostrophe Hi thanks for your comment yes 60s please enjoy the rest of my channel. Regards John

[@andrewc426]

Oh St Albans how I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@smike09100]

@bednarikovak, you'll be happy to know that most of the lovely shots captured here look very much the same these 40-odd years later. Even St Peters St has had her trees reinstated, now beginning to mature after 6/7 years and looking beautiful. If only the town planners valued the architectural heritage as much! They want to ram a budget hotel in up by the top roundabout! D'uh?? So, come back, your town still awaits! :)

[@gunsrus123]

Wow, I recognise these places!

[@edmund184]

I really wish I could go back there.

[@dandastardlyful]

Fantastic cars back then and fashion too

[@colinhazell6259]

Very nice.

[@mikey1958ward]

fantastic

[@Saaj2]

i live here and its wonderful to see what the town looked like in the 60s

[@alsanssmiles7622]

alan miles donnybrook wa yes I to remember ginger mills even having left st albans 45 years ago but still left with great memories

[@johncarden8985]

From 0.37 you can see what looks like a 1960 Vauxhall Crests in two tone black and grey. I was born in St. Albans and we got a new one exactly the same; 3 gears on the steering column, 6 Cylinder engine. It cost just over £1,000 new. The registration was XGX 353 (boys remember that sort of stuff). I wonder if that was our car? In those days not many people had cars, and had there been another in St Albans I would have noticed it. I was 11 and knew all about cars. Can anyone identify the number?

[@TheElanor37]

This is absolutely lovely footage. We at St Albans Museums are planning an exhibtion on St Albans in the 1960s...it opens in September...we would love to use this film if we may?

[@TOPCAMERAMAN]

@TheElanor37 Hi yes that would be fine do you have any old film that maybe I could use if you have I could put onto DVD for you at no cost. Regards John.

[@IvorKellock]

Hi do you have any other footage of St Albans? Ivor

[@smike-lz8uf]

Still a lovely video - and I love the music! Now dear St A is stuffed with cars, cyclists risk their lives on the roads - yes the potholes are still there - but the old town hall has finally been revived and I love St Albans dearly. :-)

[@Jonetwothrree4]

Now this is epic

[@themcmanusgaming]

I loved this. St Alban's is a lovely place. It hasn't changed much at all.

[@M1st3rn1c3]

Put some dubstep on this it would be better music ! Great footage :)

[@jazz4]

I like living here :)

[@stephgerber]

Hi I am Jock Wilsons youngest daughter,Pauline,and Ginger got me my first budgie....we as a family grew up with him visiting us all....Fred,how did you know Dad?Look forward to your reply

[@johnnorman591]

Yes good to look back at a bygone era. Lived in Catham Close for years it seemed !

[@summerdaez]

hey , thankyou very much for the upload , i have always lived in st.albans and love it to bits , alot of your footage is around my house , as for the grammer in the comments , ohhhh people need to get over it , darn , too many commas not enough capitals or should that be capital's!?!?!??! Hahahahah just enjoy the footage and smile

[@grahamfigg5817]

GRAMMAR!!!

[@christinawatkinsyoutube]

If you went in that lake now you’d get all manner of diseases😅😮 I grew up here and it’s so fun to see it in times before I was born

[@SimonV_]

Fab clip. Shame it's been turned into a mess these days.

[@xXxb00mheadshotxXx]

@bednarikovak yeah i know what you mean i miss it so much i live in plymouth now and feel like iv been chucked 20years behind.....everythings so slow here and boring i miss st albans

[@TOPCAMERAMAN]

You can always turn the sound down.

[@Frogmanbb66]

I live in St.Albans Vermont :)

[@TheElanor37]

@TOPCAMERMAN Thanks so much, there is nothing like real footage to get people remembering... can we e-mail via work [e-mail] Don't have any cine in our collection, will look for other material, thanks for the offer. Elanor

[@lovelythings9401]

How lovely, I thought it hadn't changed much. Still a great place to live

[@VikingSimon2503]

I went to college in St. Albans! :)

[@envy351]

oaklands?

[@VikingSimon2503]

@@envy351 City College.

[@clcrehan]

Great video. I don't suppose you know if it was 1969 that the film was made? I moved to St. Albans in 69 and one of the kids in the paddling pool looks very much like me although the camera moves to fast to be sure.

[@johncarden8985]

Judging by the cars it is early 60's.

[@OLDCHEMIST1]

There is no "correct spelling" as such. The apostrophe came in - I believe - as a printer's error [yes I do know how to use it despite attending an appalling school]. Spelling and grammar changes throughout the ages. Just look at Chaucer and you will see.

[@csgocommunity8555]

60s...

[@OLDCHEMIST1]

As long as it is understandable it is of no importance. St Albans has always been "St Albans" to my knowledge. Surely with a genetive/possessive you would have to add a noun anyway, e.g. St. Alban's Town. Appealing to Shakespeare is a waste of time anyway. At the time English was so fluid there wasn't even an established way of spelling his name!!!!!

[@peterleary4378]

great clip. Shame about the terrible music though! it kind of ruins it

[@1948DESMOND]

do teachers not teach youngsters to speak "properly" instead of "pwoperly"? do - or can - teachers not teach at all? yeah, i know, they call it the language of the vernacular. WHEN I WAS YOUNGER, IT WAS CALLED ILLITERATE SPEECH.

[@1948DESMOND]

Do these people not know what an APOSTROPHE is and how to use it? Obviously not. and st.andrews, mount st. helens, lytham st. annes, and st. davids city in wales. IS THERE NO LAW THAT REQUIRES THE CORRECT SPELLING OF THESE TOWNS? IT IS A BIT like saying "for free" instead of "for nothing" or "i were there" instead of "i was there". no wonder the english lingo is going down the drain. DO SOMETHING TO STOP IT, PLEASE. THIS IS THE LINGO OF SHELLEY, SHAKESPEARE ET AL.