Jan Johnston (bojanka @t bigpond.net.au) of Western Australia asks: I was wondering if you can confirm any work that may have been done on the Abbey gateway around  1870 / 1880's ?  I have been told that one of my ancestors (Frank Ward ) was a stone mason who worked on it around that period of time. I am now very curious about this bit of information.

It may be a complete coincidence, but in the 1881 census there was a Francis (Frank?) Ward living in College Street, St Albans, not far from the Abbey and the Abbey Gateway. In case they are your family I give details:

Francis WARD	Head	33	Bricklayer	Sandon, Herts
Sarah WARD	Wife	32	Hat Sewer	St Albans, Herts
Alice J. WARD	Daur	8	Scholar	St Albans, Herts
Emma WARD	Daur	7	Scholar	St Albans, Herts
Thomas WARD	Son	4	Scholar	St Albans, Herts
Thomas CRAWLEY	Uncle	76		Aldenham, Herts

The Great Gateway - from the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire

At the dissolution of the monastery in 1539 the gatehouse was taken over by the magistrates to be used as a prison. It is said to have had several cells and a spacious courtyard. In the 19th century the prisoners were allowed a pound and a half of bread a day, which had been increased from one pound by the Mayor, William Trelss in 1812. No firing was provided and it is said that prisoners used to dangle an old shoe on a string for alms, to allow them to buy fuel in order to keep warm. With the opening of the new County Prison near the Midland Railway Station in 1866 the building was no longer needed for this purpose. The Grammar School Trustees purchased it in 1867 for their school and after improvements it was open at Easter 1871.

If the above Francis Ward is yours he was obviously in St Albans, married, with a child in 1872/3 and could well have come to St Albans a few years earlier and worked on the conversion of the gatehouse from a prison to a school.

It is quite possible that he also worked on the Abbey. By the early part of the 19th century this was in a very poor condition. Restoration work was carried out in the 1870's. By 1880 work was beginning on rebuilding the West End and this may explain the large number of stone masons in St Albans in the 1881 census

Maybe your Frank worked on the Abbey as well.

Extensive details of the Victorian repairing and rebuilding of the Abbey are published in The Hill of the Martyr: an Architectural History of St Albans Abbey, by Eileen Roberts, published by The Book Castle in 1993.

February 2002

Jan Johnston (bojanka @t bigpond.net.au) replied: Thanks again Chris for you informative listing.  That Francis Ward is most definitely my Frank Ward. The daughter Emma you have listed in the census is my Great Grandmother. The information on the Abbey has been interesting reading  too. You've come through again for me.  I can't thank you enough.  Cheers......

You possibly already know it but two of Francis & Sarah Ward's children were baptised in the Abbey (source familysearch - which only goes up to about 1875 for the Abbey Christenings). The (microfilm of the) register will record Francis's occupation - while the birth certificates will include more information, including Sarah's maiden name - which could make it possible to find her in St Albans (with her parents and siblings) in the 1851 census.

• Alice WARD : 13 Oct 1872
• Emma Elizabeth WARD : 31 Nov 1873

July 2003

For more about the family see DIXON, St Albans, 19th century

If you can add to the information given above tell me.

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