Events & Celebrations

Joint Evensong with St Michael’s Church, Trinity College Cambridge & St Albans School choirs

Sir Francis Bacon was closely associated with each of the three organisations represented in the choirs at this service of Evensong; St Albans School was re-founded by his father, Bacon was a graduate of Trinity College Cambridge, and he was patron of and buried in St Michael’s church.

With music and liturgy that Bacon would have known, all are welcome to this service of Choral Evensong.

FREE

Bacon, author of the modern world? A discussion with Mark Rylance & Peter Dawkins

On this day of his death, we meet in St Michael’s Church to discuss the legacy of Francis Bacon; his impact on the modern world, the ongoing debate into his authorship of Shakespeare’s writing, and to hear readings from his work.

Tickets will be available from February 2026.

£30

The Assembly Room - St Albans Museum and Gallery

All are invited to the Assembly Rooms in St Albans for a family-friendly exhibition looking at Bacon’s scientific work and legacy.

FREE

Exhibition: Francis Bacon – A Man for All Time?

This display in the North Transept of St Albans Cathedral is free to all.

Explore the Essays of Sir Francis Bacon, each of which reflects on profound topics such as truth, death and love, alongside broader social issues like such as religion and ambition.

FREE - click for more information

The Bacons and Religious Change in Tudor England

‘Nicodemites and Nonconformists’

As St Albans celebrates the 400^th anniversary of the celebrated statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, Deborah Spring explores how the Bacon family negotiated and survived the roller coaster of religious upheavals across the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, and into the reign of James I.

Active in religious reform during the reign of the boy king Edward VI, the Bacon family employed careful tactics to negotiate the perils of Catholic Mary’s reign. During the reign of Elizabeth, with England once more a Protestant country, the widowed Lady Anne Bacon gave refuge at their estate in Gorhambury, just on the edge of St Albans, to the dissident Puritan preachers of Hertfordshire and with the support of her son Francis and brother-in-law Lord Burghley, campaigned vigorously on their behalf. This talk highlights the extraordinary story of how this leading local family successfully navigated a dangerous era of tumultuous political and religious change.

A joint lecture hosted by Adult Learning and the Friends of St Albans Cathedral. Part of the Francis Bacon 400th anniversary programme.

£6-12

'Walking Bacon's Gorhambury' Walk 1: with Viscountess Grimston & the Countess of Verulam

The first of three specially curated Gorhambury tours & walks celebrating the life of Sir Francis Bacon, 400 years after his death in 1626. This walk has more of a focus on the Baconian treasures in the collection at Gorhambury House and is the least physically challenging.

Visitors will start at Gorhambury House touring the state rooms and other rooms housing Baconian works. Some works are not on regular view and vary from Bacon family portraits, historic depictions of Old Gorhambury, architectural features from Francis Bacon’s house and his garden design.

For those walking, we will progress through the gardens of the 18th century house, through paddocks at the back to Old Gorhambury where will spend some time looking at what is left of the Tudor House and getting a sense of how the gardens were laid out. We will return to Gorhambury through Gilpin’s woods. If there are any who don’t feel mobile enough to complete the walk, they are welcome to drive from Gorhambury to Old Gorhambury and back.

This tour and walk will last from 1.5-2 hours.

Kit List – Indoor shoes, walking boots and weather appropriate clothing.

£25

Talk by Lucy Hughes-Hallett: 'The Scandal' Bacon and Buckingham.

From the author of the Baillie Gifford Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and the Costa Biography of the Year Award, this talk examines the relationship between Bacon and James I’s mercurial favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. What role did Buckingham play in Bacon’s demise? What did it mean to play politics in the world of the Jacobean court?

£TBC

Sir Francis Bacon’s ‘Greater Perfection’ and his love of gardens and plants, with Paula Henderson

The Apple House, Sergehill Lane, Bedmond, Hertfordshire WD5 0RZ

Thursday 25 June 2026,

6pm–8pm

2026 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Sir Francis Bacon, one of history’s greatest philosophers, scientists, and statesmen. As his home and final resting place, St Albans will be the focal point for Bacon400 global commemorations, featuring a wide programme of lectures, exhibitions, and community activities that celebrate his enduring legacy.

Join us for an unmissable evening in The Apple House, with architectural and garden historian and award-winning author Paula Henderson as she celebrates Sir Francis Bacon’s passion for and expertise on plants. An evening which will appeal to gardeners, garden designers, history lovers and anyone with a passion for plants and gardens.

This event is run in association with Hertfordshire Gardens Trust and as part of the Bacon400 celebrations.

£45

Sir Francis Bacon’s ‘Greater Perfection’ and his love of gardens and plants, with Paula Henderson

The Apple House, Sergehill Lane, Bedmond, Hertfordshire WD5 0RZ

Thursday 25 June 2026,

6pm–8pm

This event is run in association with Hertfordshire Gardens Trust and as part of the Bacon400 celebrations.