Thrales of St Albans

  • Posted on: 22 September 2009
  • By: David Thrale
John Thrale 1726 graffiti, St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral graffiti

In 1726 a John Thrale scratched his name into the wall of St Albans cathedral in the shrine area, and almost 290 years later, this can still be seen today, as marked below at location S.R.3. The shrine area is known to have been used in the 18th century as a militia centre for the Herts Regiment and in indoor wet weather meeting place.

St Albans Abbey rear of High Altar Screen

It is not known which John Thrale scratched his name, however, the family tree reveals three potential culprits:

  1. John Thrale 1694 - 1755; or
  2. John Thrale, born 1694; or
  3. John Thrale, born 1703.

Businesses

Several Thrale's - including my branch of the family - moved from Sandridge to St Albans, where they became well known locally for several local businesses, for which links to pages with further information are given below.