East Common The Primitive Chapel
A branch of the local Wesleyan Methodists preferred a more upbeat style of worship, with revivalist services. The foundation stone was laid in 1869 after a procession through the village. The chapel could hold 200 people and also had a gallery. It was very active throughout the rest of the 19th century and into the 20th, with a flourishing Sunday school, choir and services not only on Sundays but in the week as well. Sermons of George ‘Tizzy Wizzly’ Draper in 1920’s and 1930’s were especially remembered. Just before the Second World War, the Methodist Church decreed that all such chapels be united with the main Methodist branch. This news was not popular in Redbourn, so a compromise was reached with the chapel on East Common staying open and functioning as the Sunday school and the centre for women’s meetings. But eventually it was sold, firstly being used as a storehouse, then it was demolished and a house built on the same footprint.
House adjoining the Chapel
This no longer exists but was lived in by an Emma Webb in the early years of last century and she raised geese, chickens and ducks on the Common. The water birds waddling down to the water at the Moor and then returning at night.
