Chantry Island is currently a small (5,300sq.m.) deciduously wooded area with a narrow, and now dry, moat, giving the impression that it is an island. It is located in the grounds of the former

All Saints Pastoral Centre All Saints Pastoral Centre is a complex of buildings at London Colney on the southern outskirts of St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. It was built as a convent for the Anglican Society of All Saints Sisters of the Poor. The original buildings ...

London Colney London Colney () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is located to the north of London, close to Junction 22 of the M25 motorway. It is near St Albans and part of the City and District of St Al ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. Chantry Island is famous as being the alleged place of arrest of

Saint Alban Saint Alban (; la, Albanus) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, for which reason he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs recorded ...

, the first

Christian martyr In Christianity, a martyr is a person considered to have died because of their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at th ...

in what is now the United Kingdom. The local legend associated with the island is that Alban had harboured a fugitive priest at his home on Chantry Island and, when they heard of the impending arrival of Roman soldiers, Alban changed clothes with the priest so that he himself, and not the priest, would be arrested. Alban was arrested, and taken to nearby

Verulamium Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon ...

, where he would later be

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. Verulamium was later renamed

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

in his honour. The

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...

chapel on the island is first mentioned in land records around 1100 AD. It was then dedicated to St

John The Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. The chapel fell into disuse in 1471. The remains of the chapel built on Chantry Island became a site of local

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

and, in about 1920, some restoration workers rebuilt the walls to a height of about 60 cm.

References

{{Reflist Catholic pilgrimage sites History of Hertfordshire Geography of Hertfordshire Catholic Church in England and Wales City of St Albans