Lest We Forget, part 13: Remembrance Today: Services and Walks

Part 13 of 13 of Lest We Forget, a history of remembrance in Harpenden and St Albans. Read the whole illustrated book.

Both towns hold their main services this Sunday, 8 November 2026, and the national two-minute silence falls at 11am on Wednesday 11 November.

Wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Remembrance Sunday (Ministry of Defence).
Photo: Sgt Dan Harmer RLC, Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v1.0.

Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2026

• Parade — Harpenden: 10:35am from the entrance to Rothamsted Park · St Albans: Usually about 10:30am along St Peter's Street
• Service — Harpenden: 10:50am at the War Memorial on Church Green · St Albans: Usually 10:50am at the memorial near St Peter's Church
• Cost — Harpenden: Free · St Albans: Free
• Wreaths — Harpenden: The Mayor lays a wreath for the town · St Albans: In past years, laid by the Lord or Deputy Lord Lieutenant, the Mayor, the MP and the emergency services

Harpenden's timings are confirmed on the town council's page for this year. For St Albans, I could not find the 2026 programme, so the times above follow the pattern of recent years. Check the city council's website before you go.

In Harpenden, in recent years the Last Post has been played by a Salvation Army bandsman and the Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph read by a British Legion member. In St Albans, recent services have included readings from several faiths, with a Rabbi, a representative of the Islamic Centre and a Catholic priest, alongside the St Albans City Band.

A walk in Harpenden

A suggested route linking the main sites; check distances on a map.

1 Church Green. Start at the cross, and read the front and back inscriptions.

St Nicholas Church. Look for the memorials to Cyril and Gerald Lydekker, John Walthew and Trooper 2 Cecil Longland.

3 High Street Methodist Church. Find the memorial tablets, including to the Hill family.

Lydekker Park. Find the plaque to the two brothers. 4

Rothamsted Park. The first wartime hospital stood in tents near the Hatching Green gates. 5

6 The Friends Meeting House. This was the Institute, which hosted the military hospital in 1915 and the British Legion branch from 1922.

Milton Road. Rosemary, the house used as a hospital from 1915, was on this road. 7

8 Batford Methodist Church. Its roof was burned out by incendiaries on 12 May 1941.

A walk in St Albans

A suggested route through the city centre and Abbey parish; use a map to join the stops.

St Peter's Street cross. Look for the paving stone to Edward Warner VC. Nearby, at number 10, a tablet 1 records a single name.

2 Pageant Road. The plaque at number 11 lists nine names.

Albert Street. The first street memorial, at numbers 34 and 36. 3

Lower Dagnall Street and Fishpool Street. Two more street plaques. 4

5 High Street. The memorial opposite the Clock Tower.

Cathedral. The War Memorial Chapel holds the Diocesan Book of Remembrance. 6

St Albans School. The memorial outside the entrance records 87 old boys. 7

8 Kings Road. Last Post, on the wall of number 1, names 15 men.

Local guides have also led walks of the street memorials around Remembrance in past years, so look for current dates.

What you can do

• Buy a poppy from the Royal British Legion, and wear it in the weeks before Remembrance Sunday.
• Attend your town's service, or pause at 11am on Armistice Day, wherever you are.
• Take a notebook on a memorial walk and write down three names. Then search for them on the Harpenden Local History Society and St Albans history society sites, which hold detailed records.
• Tell a young person what you found.

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Sources and notes

This history was compiled on 7 November 2026 from local history societies, museum collections, council pages, official registers and national references. Some pages were read in full and others through search extracts, so check any figure you plan to quote against the original.

Where sources disagree

• Harpenden memorial date: 9 October 1920 in the Imperial War Museums register, the War Memorials Trust and the Harpenden History Society's tribute booklet; the Society's gallery page also records a dedication on 20 October 1920.
• Harpenden names: 162 or 164 First World War names, and 108 or 110 for the Second.
• St Albans memorial date: 21 or 22 May 1921. The Imperial War Museums register gives 22 May.
• St Albans names: 634, 635 or 640 from the First World War, and 162 or 168 from the Second.
• Architect's name: Edgar Wigram in the museum and IWM records; some leaflets give "Ernest".
• Evacuees: 1,500 or 2,000 reached Harpenden depending on the source.
• Conscientious objectors at the St Albans tribunal: 23 or 24 of 1,050 applicants, depending on the edition of the source.

Harpenden

• Harpenden War Memorial 1914-18 (Mary Skinner): harpenden-history.org.uk, Memorials section
• Harpenden's War Memorials, War Memorials in Harpenden Churches and Army Hospitals in Harpenden in WW1: harpenden-history.org.uk
• Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1914-18: harpenden-history.org.uk
• Ernest Hasseldine, designer of the memorial cross: harpenden-history.org.uk
• The Lydekker family: harpenden-history.org.uk
• Harpenden Methodist Church war memorial: mymethodisthistory.org.uk
• Wartime Harpenden and Harpenden 1939-45 wartime memories: harpenden-history.org.uk
• Harpenden Branch of the Royal British Legion: harpenden-history.org.uk
• IWM War Memorials Register entry for Harpenden: iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/14633
• Historic England listing 1172889: historicengland.org.uk
• War Memorials Trust, Harpenden (WM2577): warmemorials.org
• Roll of Honour, Harpenden: roll-of-honour.com
• A History of the Wheathampstead War Memorials: wheathampsteadheritage.org.uk
• Harpenden Town Council, Remembrance 2026: harpenden.gov.uk

St Albans

• IWM War Memorials Register entry for St Albans: iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/14703
• War Memorials Online, St Albans (WMO/173028): warmemorialsonline.org.uk
• Roll of Honour, St Albans First World War: roll-of-honour.com
• What's in a name? The street memorials of the Abbey parish: stalbanshistory.org
• Rare First World War memorials given Grade II listings and the Kings Road Last Post memorial: stalbans.gov.uk
• War memorial plaque at 11 Pageant Road: britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
• The Home Front in St Albans during the First World War (Soldiers Under Foot; Obliging His Majesty; Appealing against conscription): stalbanshistory.org
• Khaki and rogue knitters, and Total War comes to St Albans: stalbanstimes.co.uk
• The influenza epidemic of 1918/19 in St Albans: stalbanshistory.org
• Hertfordshire and the first Blitz: brethertonlaw.co.uk
• St Albans Museums: Bombs and air raids, Evacuation and Wigram's Wanderings: stalbansmuseums.org.uk
• SAHAAS war memorials walk leaflet: stalbanshistory.org
• Remembrance Sunday arrangements in St Albans: stalbans.gov.uk

Edward Warner VC

• Victoria Cross Online: victoriacrossonline.co.uk/edward-warner-vc
• VC and GC Association, Edward Warner: vcgca.org
• Bedfordshire at War, 2015: bedsatwar.blogspot.com
• Great War Stories, Luton: worldwar1luton.com

National background

• House of Commons Library, Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday FAQs: commonslibrary.parliament.uk
• History Extra, the history of Remembrance Day: history.co.uk
• Remembrance Sunday and The Cenotaph: Wikipedia
• National Army Museum, Peace and commemoration: nam.ac.uk

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Keep reading

Previous: ← Adding the Second World War Names

📖 Read the whole illustrated book. Turn the pages like a real book, or swipe on your phone.

All 13 parts

1. Introduction: Why We Remember
2. August 1914: Two Towns Go to War
3. Harpenden in the Great War: Camp, Hospital and Home Front
4. St Albans in the Great War: A Garrison Town
5. The Fallen: The People Behind the Names
6. Building Memory: The Memorials of 1920 and 1921
7. The Street Memorials of the Abbey Parish
8. Private Edward Warner VC: The Straw Hat Maker from Cannon Street
9. Between the Wars: Learning the Ritual
10. 1939 to 1945: Harpenden at War
11. 1939 to 1945: St Albans at War
12. Adding the Second World War Names
13. Remembrance Today: Services and Walks (you are here)