Editing St Albans Cathedral (section)

===Saxon buildings===
King [[Offa]] of [[Mercia]], is said to have founded a [[double monastery]] at St Albans in 793. It followed the [[Benedictine]] rule.<ref name=tma>{{cite web|url=https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/history/monastic-site|title=The Medieval Abbey – The Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban|website=www.stalbanscathedral.org|access-date=10 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925092518/https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/history/monastic-site|archive-date=25 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Abbot of St Albans|The Abbey]] was built on Holmhurst Hill—now Holywell Hill—across the [[River Ver]] from the ruins of Verulamium. Again there is no information to the form of the first abbey.

Abbot [[Wulsin (Abbot Ulsinus)|Ulsinus]] founded [[St Albans Market]] outside of the Waxhouse Gate, on what is now Market Place, in {{circa|860}} to generate income for the Abbey and to form the centre of a new town.<ref name="williams1917">{{cite book
	| last = Rushbrook Williams
	| first = L. F.
	| author-link = L. F. Rushbrook Williams
	| date = 1917
	| title = History of the Abbey of St Alban
	| url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924028219461/
	| edition = 1st
	| location = London
	| publisher = Longmans, Green and Co.
	| pages = 
}}</ref><ref name="nicholson1870">{{cite book |last=Nicholson |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028219461/ |title=The Abbey of Saint Alban, some extracts from its early history and a dedication of its conventional church |publisher=Bell and Daldy |year=1870 |location=London |page=}}</ref><ref name="corbett1997">
{{cite book
	| last = Corbett
	| first = James
	| date = 1997
	| edition = 1st
	| title = A History of St Albans
	| location = Chichester
	| publisher = Philmore & Co. Ltd
	| pages = 14, 67, 116, 126
	| isbn = 1-86077-048-7
}}
</ref>

The Abbey was probably sacked by the Danes around 890 and, despite Paris's claims, the office of abbot remained empty from around 920 until the 970s when the efforts of [[Dunstan]] reached the town.

There was an intention to rebuild the Abbey in 1005 when Abbot Ealdred was licensed to remove building material from Verulamium. With the town resting on clay and chalk, the only tough stone is [[flint]]. This was used with a lime [[mortar (masonry)|mortar]] and then either [[plaster]]ed over or left bare. With the great quantities of brick, tile and other stone in Verulamium, the Roman site became a prime source of building material for the Abbey and other projects in the area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.easterncathedrals.org.uk/members/st-albans-cathedral.php|title=St Albans Cathedral, a former Benedictine Abbey Church, its history and attractions|website=www.easterncathedrals.org.uk}}</ref> Sections demanding worked stone used [[Lincolnshire]] [[limestone]] ([[Barnack stone]]) from Verulamium; later worked stones include [[Totternhoe Stone|Totternhoe]] [[freestone (masonry)|freestone]] from [[Bedfordshire]], [[Purbeck marble]], and different limestones ([[Ancaster stone|Ancaster]], [[Chilmark Quarries|Chilmark]], [[Clipsham]], etc.).

Renewed Viking raids from 1016 stalled the Saxon efforts and very little from the Saxon abbey was incorporated in the later forms.