Retford was involved in the early history of Methodism, with John Wesley preaching in the town square in 1779. His visit had a warm reception from some Retfordians - led by a certain John Willey - who decided to disrupt Wesley's preaching. In the end this was limited to the throwing of a bad egg, which missed Wesley but hit his sister. She was said to retaliate with a torrent of abuse that made the crowd laugh. Retford's first Methodist chapel opened the same year as Wesley's visit. This chapel was deemed too small for the crowd expected for his second visit to Retford when he was 83 years old. According to his journal he preached first at the New Inn, afterwards at Newark, and in the evening at Retford where he saw "the dead, small and great, stand before God". According to a tablet in the wall of a house in Bridgegate, Wesley preached under a pear tree in an orchard just over the Idle in the parish of West Retford. (Barry J Biggs 1967)