Editing St Albans (section)

===Modern===
[[File:George Street, St Albans.jpg|thumb|Tudor buildings on George Street]]

Before the 20th century St Albans was a rural [[market town]], a [[Christian pilgrimage]] site, and the first coaching stop of the route to and from [[London]], accounting for its numerous old inns. Victorian St Albans was small and had little industry. Its population grew more slowly than London, 8–9% per decade between 1801 and 1861, compared to the 31% per decade growth of London in the same period. The railway arrived in 1858. In 1869 the extension of the city boundaries was opposed by the Earl of Verulam and many of the townsfolk, but there was rapid expansion and much building at the end of the century, and between 1891 and 1901 the population grew by 37%.<ref name=briggs>Asa Briggs, "The Victorian City", in ‘'Cathedral & City: St Albans Ancient and Modern'’, ed. [[Robert Runcie]], Martyn Associates, 1977</ref>

In 1877, in response to a public petition, Queen [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]] issued the second royal charter, which granted [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] to the borough and [[Cathedral city|Cathedral]] status to the former Abbey Church. The new [[Diocese of St Albans|diocese]] was established in the same year, in the main from parts of the large [[Diocese of Rochester]].

In the inter-war years it became a centre for the [[electronics]] industry. In the post-[[World War II]] years it expanded rapidly as part of the post-War redistribution of population out of [[Greater London]]. It is now a popular tourist destination.