23 Jun 2025
It’s fair to say that there’s nowhere else in the world where you can watch two giant eyeballs parading through a city centre alongside a cohort of Roman legionnaires, two giant birds of prey and assorted local dignitaries.
The event is, of course, St Albans’ annual Alban Day, which honours the legacy of Britain’s first Christian martyr – executed at the hands of the Romans around 1,700 years ago – with massive carnival puppets representing the saint, assorted Centurions, lions and chariots.
The parade culminates with the bloody execution of Alban, whose executioner’s eyes fell out during the saint’s beheading, with local firefighters using hoses to illustrate where a well sprang up at the bottom of Holywell Hill when Alban’s head stopped rolling.
All photos by John Andrews.
More pictures in this week’s issue of the St Albans Times.
