St. Albans is a city located in Hertfordshire England, about twenty miles away from London. Before it was the city Dickens wrote about, it went through multiple changes. In 20 BC a Celtic tribe built their capital at the location. Later, in 43 AD Romans invaded the area and established the town of Verulamium. Verulamium met its downfall in 61AD, when the area was burned by Queen Boudicca. The next major event took place in 304 AD, when a Roman named Alban, later granted the title of Saint Alban, was executed in the city. After his death, an abbey was founded at the place of his execution, and thus the town of St. Albans grew. Churches were built and in 1539 the abbey became a borough.

Charles Dickens writes of St. Albans in ​Bleak House ​as it was during the 1850s. During the nineteenth century, St. Albans acted as a suburban expansion of London. It housed a population of seven thousand in 1851. The city has been home to many different industries, including a silk mill, cotton mills, brewing, and printing. By 1850 the city had gas street lighting, a new town hall, a police force, and piped water supply.

It is widely believed that Charles Dickens wrote Bleak House while staying in Broadstairs, Kent. However, Dickens found inspiration for the novel in St. Albans. On Folly Lane there sits the original Bleak House, for which Bleak House is named after. In the novel, Bleak House is owned by John Jarndyce and characters often travel to and from the city to visit the house. Recognizing the importance of the industries that were prominent in St Albans allows readers to better understand Bleak House. Like many of his novels, Dickens uses Bleak House to highlight political and social conditions of life in England. In the novel, the brickmaker lives and works in St. Albans. This character is a poor man who earns little money and Dickens uses his character to point out the poor conditions the lower class was forced to live in. The brickmaker’s house, in St Albans, is terribly filthy and the brickmaker points out the unhealthy state of the water. It in interesting to note that while St. Albans had a piped water supply in 1850, the lower class still had unhealthy water. St. Albans also highlights the difference between the classes. While the brickmaker’s house barely meets the necessities for survival, John Jarndyce’s Bleak House represents that of the middle class. Those who live in the house, live comfortably and enjoy St. Albans as a suburb of London.

The attached image is a painting by George Jones titled ​The Market Place, St Albans​. While the exact year of its creation is unknown, historians have narrowed it down to being painted sometime between the years 1826 and 1869. This painting emphasizes the importance of St. Albans as a market town throughout its existence. In the middle ages, St Albans hosted a weekly market and three annual fairs. At the time, fairs were similar to a market, and most towns only hosted these fairs once a year. By hosting three fairs a year, buyers and sellers would travel from all across Hertfordshire and London to attend St. Albans fairs. During the nineteenth century, which is when ​Bleak House​ takes place, St. Albans remained a small market town.

Works Cited

“A Brief History of St Albans, England.” ​A History of St Albans,​ www.localhistories.org/stalbans.html. Accessed 30 October 2020.

“Charles Dickens.” ​Herts Memories,​ www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/topics/literary_hertfords.... Accessed 30 October 2020.

“Saint Albans.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica,​ Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Albans-England. Accessed 30 October 2020.

“Workhouse Populations In The Mid-nineteenth Century : The Case Of Hertfordshire.” ​Local Population Studies,​ www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/PDF/LPS62/LPS62_1999_52-69.pdf. Accessed 30 October 2020.