Editing St Albans Cathedral (section)

===19th century===
[[File:St Albans Wallingford Screen 2, Hertfordshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|upright|The Wallingford Screen of c. 1480 – the statues are [[Victorian era|Victorian]] replacements (1884–1889) of the originals, destroyed in the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], when the screen itself was also damaged.<ref>The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans, Thomas Perkins, 205, p.21</ref> Statues of [[Saint Alban|St Alban]] and [[Amphibalus|St Amphibalus]] stand on either side of the [[altar]].]]
This century was marked with a number of repair schemes. The Abbey received some money from the 1818 "[[Commissioners' church|Million Act]]", and in 1820, £450 was raised to buy an [[organ (music)|organ]]—a second-hand example made in 1670.

The major efforts to revive the Abbey Church came under four men—[[Lewis Nockalls Cottingham|L. N. Cottingham]], H. J. B. Nicholson (Rector), and, especially, [[George Gilbert Scott]] and [[Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe]].

In February 1832 a portion of the [[clerestory]] wall fell through the roof of the south aisle, leaving a hole almost thirty feet long. With the need for serious repair work evident, the architect [[Lewis Nockalls Cottingham]] was called in to survey the building. His ''Survey'' was presented in 1832 and was worrying reading: everywhere mortar was in a wretched condition and wooden beams were rotting and twisting. Cottingham recommended new beams throughout the roof and a new steeper pitch, removal of the spire and new timbers in the tower, new paving, ironwork to hold the west transept wall up, a new stone south transept window, new buttresses, a new drainage system for the roof, new ironwork on almost all the windows, and on and on. He estimated a cost of £14,000. A public subscription of £4,000 was raised, of which £1,700 vanished in expenses. With the limited funds the clerestory wall was rebuilt, the nave roof re-leaded, the tower spike removed, some forty blocked windows reopened and glazed, and the south window remade in stone.

Henry Nicholson, rector from 1835 to 1866, was also active in repairing the Abbey Church—as far as he could, and in uncovering lost or neglected Gothic features.

In 1856 repair efforts began again; £4,000 was raised and slow moves started to gain the Abbey the status of cathedral. [[George Gilbert Scott]] was appointed the project architect and oversaw a [[Victorian restoration|number of works]] from 1860 until his death in 1878.

[[File:St Albans Choir 2, Hertfordshire, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|left|The choir]]
Scott began by having the medieval floor restored, necessitating the removal of tons of earth, and fixing the north aisle roof. From 1872 to 1877 the restored floors were re-tiled in matching stone and copies of old tile designs. A further 2,000 tons of earth were shifted in 1863 during work on the foundation and a new drainage system. In 1870 the tower piers were found to be badly weakened with many cracks and cavities. Huge timbers were inserted and the arches filled with brick as an emergency measure. Repair work took until May 1871 and cost over £2,000. The south wall of the nave was now far from straight; Scott reinforced the north wall and put in scaffolding to take the weight of the roof off the wall, then had it jacked straight in under three hours. The wall was then buttressed with five huge new masses and set right. Scott was lauded as "saviour of the Abbey." From 1870 to 1875 around £20,000 was spent on the Abbey.

In 1845 St Albans was transferred from the [[Diocese of Lincoln]] to the [[Diocese of Rochester]]. Then, in 1875, the Bishopric of St Albans Act was passed and on 30 April 1877 the [[Diocese of St Albans|See of St Albans]] was created, which comprises about 300 churches in the counties of [[Hertfordshire]] and [[Bedfordshire]]. [[Thomas Legh Claughton]], then [[Bishop of Rochester]], elected to take the northern division of his old diocese and on 12 June 1877 was enthroned first [[Bishop of St Albans]], a position he held until 1890. He is buried in the churchyard on the north side of the nave.

George Gilbert Scott was working on the nave roof, vaulting and west bay when he died on 27 March 1878. His plans were partially completed by his son, [[John Oldrid Scott]], but the remaining work fell into the hands of [[Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe]], whose efforts have attracted much controversy—[[Nikolaus Pevsner]] calling him a "pompous, righteous bully."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDlDA_Db0rYC&q=Nikolaus+Pevsner+%22pompous,+righteous+bully%22+%22the+buildings+of+england%22 |title=The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding |date=1951 |publisher=Penguin Books |language=en}}</ref> However, he donated much of the immense sum of £130,000 the work cost.

Whereas Scott's work had clearly been in sympathy with the existing building, Grimthorpe's plans reflected the Victorian ideal. Indeed, he spent considerable time dismissing and criticising the work of Scott and the efforts of his son.

Grimthorpe first reinstated the original pitch of the roof, although the battlements added for the lower roof were retained. Completed in 1879, the roof was leaded, following on Scott's desires.
[[File:St Albans West End Wickhamstede window.jpg|thumb|1805 engraving of the west front of the Abbey, showing the lost Wheathampstead window.]]
His second major project was the most controversial. The west front, with the great Wheathampstead window, was cracked and leaning, and Grimthorpe, never more than an amateur architect, designed the new front himself—attacked as dense, misproportioned and unsympathetic: "His impoverishment as a designer ... [is] evident"; "this man, so practical and ingenious, was utterly devoid of taste ... his great qualities were marred by arrogance ... and a lack of historic sense".{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} Counter proposals were deliberately substituted by Grimthorpe for poorly drawn versions and Grimthorpe's design was accepted. During building it was considerably reworked in order to fit the actual frontage and is not improved by the poor quality sculpture. Work began in 1880 and was completed in April 1883, having cost £20,000.

[[File:Cathedral in St albans PS099.png|thumb|The Lady Chapel at the east end of the cathedral]]
Grimthorpe was noted for his aversion to the [[Perpendicular Period|Perpendicular]]—to the extent that he would have sections he disliked demolished as "too rotten" rather than remade. In his reconstruction, especially of windows, he commonly mixed architectural styles carelessly (see the south aisle, the south [[choir screen]] and vaulting). He spent £50,000 remaking the nave. Elsewhere he completely rebuilt the south wall cloisters, with new heavy buttresses, and removed the arcading of the east cloisters during rebuilding the south transept walls. In the south transept he completely remade the south face, completed in 1885, including the huge lancet window group—his proudest achievement—and the flanking turrets; a weighty new tiled roof was also made. In the north transept Grimthorpe had the Perpendicular window demolished and his design inserted—a rose window of circles, cusped circles and lozenges arrayed in five rings around the central light, sixty-four lights in total, each circle with a different glazing pattern.

Grimthorpe continued through the Presbytery in his own style, adapting the antechapel for Consistory Courts, and into the Lady Chapel. After a pointed lawsuit with [[Hucks Gibbs, 1st Baron Aldenham|Henry Hucks Gibbs, 1st Baron Aldenham]], over who should direct the restoration, Grimthorpe had the vault remade and reproportioned in stone, made the floor in black and white marble (1893), and had new Victorian arcading and sculpture put below the canopy work. Externally the buttresses were expanded to support the new roof, and the walls were refaced.

As early as 1897, Grimthorpe was having to return to previously renovated sections to make repairs. His use of over-strong cement led to cracking, while his fondness for ironwork in windows led to corrosion and damage to the surrounding stone.

Grimthorpe died in 1905 and was interred in the churchyard. He left a bequest for continuing work on the buildings.

During this century the name ''[[St Albans Abbey railway station|St Albans Abbey]]'' was given to one of the town's two railway stations.