Tales from distant Knebworth (From Gazette & Herald)

Tales from distant Knebworth

This week's Rural View comes from Knebworth in Hertfordshire, where my wife and I were attending the annual conference of the Crime Writers' Association.

Away from lectures and socialising, we had time to explore the locality and, as our hotel was on a site formerly within the grounds of

Knebworth House, we knew the house itself would be interesting.

When we announced to friends and family that we were going to Knebworth, many wondered why on earth we would want to attend an open air

rock music concert, for which Knebworth House is famed. Although bands like the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Queen, as well as Paul McCartney, Elton John and, more recently, Robbie Williams, have all played at Knebworth, I must admit there was no sign of a rock musician during our visit.

The house and grounds are famous for other things too - many of us will have seen both the interior and exterior in many film and TV series,

ranging from Batman to Jane Eyre.

The house was built in Tudor times and its guests have included Elizabeth I, Charles Dickens and Winston Churchill, whose picture of the

banqueting hall hangs in the room where he painted it. We were welcomed by the youthful owner, the Hon Henry Lytton Cobbold, whose family have lived here for more than 500 years and he made the point that there are not many

treasures in the house, but plenty of stories!

The Lytton family have featured in the nation's history and politics down the centuries, with Robert Lytton, Viceroy of India, proclaiming Queen Victoria as Empress of India in 1877, and Constance Lytton being a suffragette who fought for votes for women in the early 1900s.

Perhaps the most famous resident of Knebworth House was Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the first Baron Lytton (1803-1873). In the 1830s, he was the top-selling novelist of his day and his earnings from books, plays and poems enabled him to refurbish Knebworth House in 1843.

Set in 250 acres of parkland, it was transformed from a red-brick Tudor mansion to the

Gothic fantasy it is today but, in addition to his writing, Lord Lytton also found time to be MP for St Ives and Lincoln, a cabinet minister and founder of Queensland and British Columbia. He is also said to have written the first crime novel and the house remains a family home.

Nearby is St Albans, a busy market town boasting a pleasing mixture of ancient and modern history. For example, in the market place there is a clock tower which was built between 1403 and 1412, now the only medieval town belfry in England. It was permitted to sound its own hours

and curfew, and the original bell, known as Gabriel, is still in place.

The town itself is considerably older, for its origins date to Roman times when the city was founded as Verulamium. Verulamium Park is now a beautiful attraction on the edge of the town and there is a stylish Roman museum too, plus a Roman theatre on Bluehouse Hill, the only one of its period currently open to visitors in Britain.

There are other museums, too, including one specialising in organs and another displaying Mosquito aircraft.

In other words, there is plenty to see and do in St Albans, but pride of place must go to the splendid cathedral. It stands on a hill which has been the site of Christian worship since Saxon times, and in fact some of the bricks from which it is built came from the old Roman city of Verulamium.

The mighty church owes its origins to St Alban. He was a pagan, a prominent citizen in Verulamium when Christians were being persecuted and he sheltered a priest called Amphibalus.

After talking to the priest, Alban converted to Christianity and helped Amphibalus to escape, but Alban was caught and condemned to death by beheading. He became the first Christian martyr in this country and it was the Saxon King Offa who, in 793AD, petitioned the Pope to canonise Alban.

A settlement grew around the site of his martyrdom, and that has now become the present cathedral. Like all Catholic churches, it suffered at the Reformation but it has now become a venue for differing types of Christian service. A Roman Catholic mass was being held in the Lady Chapel as we toured the church.

We found time to visit Shaw's Corner, too, a beautiful house tucked away along a maze of country lanes near Ayot St Lawrence. This was the

home of George Bernard Shaw, the author and playwright who died in 1950. He was awarded an Oscar for best screenplay for the film Pygmalion (1938), which was based on his play of that title.

Considered the greatest playwright in the English language during the 20th century, his works included Candida, Arms and the Man, Man and Superman, Heartbreak House, Saint Joan and many others over a period of 60 years. To escape his fans, he often worked in a shed, which remains in his former garden.

Updated: 12:42 Wednesday, May 12, 2004