Redbourn House Portico
Picture



 
On 15th June 2019, Redbourn villagers and guests, including museum patron Sir Simon Bowes-Lyon, celebrated the unveiling of the Redbourn House Portico in the grounds of the local history museum at Silk Mill House on Redbourn Common.
This was the culmination of a 3-year project initiated by Museum Trustees, co-ordinated by Graham Lawrence with architect Charles Milner and wide fundraising support from the village and beyond.
The Portico was originally the doorway of Redbourn House, a grand mansion that once stood in the High Street and was visited by H. M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as a young girl, as it was owned by the Bowes-Lyon family.
After Redbourn House was demolished in 1955, the doorway was re-erected in St. Albans outside the museum in Hatfield Road, where it remained for over 60 years.
Now it has a new home back in Redbourn, and it looks magnificent.




Portico on Redbourn House in the High Street
Many more photographs of Redbourn are available by searching through the Geoff Webb collection on Herts Memories
Redbourn Police Station
 
The Hertfordshire Constabulary was formed in 1841 and later in the 19th century a police station was established on the corner of Fish Street and the High Street. There were at least 2 cells and a manned desk, and the 1891 census shows that two sergeants lived on the premises. The police station was demolished sometime in the 1950s to allow for the widening of the road junction, but Redbourn still had a local constable until the 1980s.
 
The first photo shows the police station in the background in 1950, after a brick lorry had collided with Gertrude Peake's car and demolished the grocery shop (now the Spatchcooks Cafe).
The second photo shows police on parade outside the police station around 1910.
The third photo shows a similar view in 1993.
The final photo is of PC John Creassey who was stationed in Redbourn from 1881 to 1886.
 
There are some newspaper accounts of some of his arrests, including:
Drunkenness - Walter Astley in Jan 1885 was fined 10s for being drunk and disorderly in the High Street, as well as threatening PC Creassey
Stolen Ducks - in Feb 1885 proved that a Mrs Warboy had received a duck stolen in Redbourn.

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!

Hours

Sat & Sun 2 - 5 pm 
​Closed Jan & Feb

Telephone

01582 793397

Email

redbournmuseum@gmail.com