The Clock Tower of St Albans is the only medieval town belfry in England - kept open to the public by volunteers from this Society and the Civic Society. Find out more about the tower and its changing uses by following the links below.
The Clock Tower is now closed for the winter, but will open on Good Friday, 29 March for weekends and bank holidays, 10.30am to 5pm, until Sunday, 29 September 2024.
The construction of a shutter telegraph during the Napoleonic Wars linking London to Yarmouth via St Albans Clock Tower dramatically speeded up messaging. But just how fast was it?
St Albans has the only medieval town belfry in England, dating back to 1405. It rang the alarm at the first Battle of St Albans in 1455, and enabled rapid cross-country communication during the Napoleonic Wars, when it became a signalling station in 1805.
Here you can see images of the Clock Tower from the last few hundred years, including a short film showing the interior of the Clock Tower, and a 360 degree video taken from the top.
Help keep the Clocktower open to the public by joining the Society and becoming an occasional volunteer.
Years after young Zachariah Mountford scratched his initials in the stone of a room in the Clock Tower in 1709, he became a tenant of the building. Find out more about Clock Tower-related curiosities.
Nineteenth century residents of St Albans did not have far to go to find a pub, and for a while even the Clock House (as the Tower was then called) retailed beer.
Jeff Walkate writes about his ancestors, who ran a saddlery shop beneath the Clock Tower between 1874 and 1898.
Frederick Kitton was a 19th century journalist and illustrator. He was also a member of the Society, and wrote and illustrated an article about the Clock Tower for the Society's Transactions.
