In 1819 a successful application was made to the Goff’s Trust for funding a schoolmaster-preacher and within 2 years a school / chapel was built. Free education and a place for families to meet for Christian worship had a huge impact on the district.

John Hall, an energetic man, was appointed in 1831, and he worked for over 50 years as pastor and 34 years as a schoolteacher. Men who worked in the woods, quarries and on the land invited John Hall to start Bible teaching groups in their homes or workshops in Kempley, Upton Bishop, Oxenhall, Dymock and Kilcot. He encouraged Christians to become teachers and preachers.

By 1848 the congregation was too large for the Goff’s chapel-school that accommodated 300, so Gorsley Chapel was built from local stone and opened in 1852. Later four small chapels were built in nearby villages. The premises at Gorsley Chapel’s have regularly undergone extensions so that today they include halls, classrooms, a commercial kitchen, six bungalows for the elderly, homes for staff, two fields and most recently a coffee house.

In 2019 we celebrated 200 years since the Goff Charity first sent a teacher and pastor to Gorsley.