Default Image We do not have a
Photograph at present.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

The Gideon Chapel,
Hudnalls,
St Briavels, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Chapel had a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded before 1880, but we understand it was closed before 1991.

The area surrounding St Briavels appears to have been quite well served with places of worship, both in antiquity and throughout the industrialisation of the 19th century. Old Maps show Chapel Ruins and Holy Wells; and Kelly's Directory of 1923 records a Wesleyan chapel, and 2 Congregational chapels.

The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (1996), pp.247-271 (St Briavels) records this chapel at Hudnalls as the second of two mission stations of the Congregational Church in the High Street in St Briavels village. It is shown on OS 1880 1:2,500 at the position indicated by the Grid Reference.

OS 1902 1:2,500 appears to show the chapel as having a small burial ground to the east; however this is omitted on later maps.

In 1991 the "mother" chapel in the village was recorded as affiliated to the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches, and still attracting worshippers to morning and evening services; whilst the chapel at Hudnalls, known as the Gideon chapel, was then used mainly as a youth centre by young members of the St Briavels congregation and by visiting groups from other churches. This information was supplied to the compilers of the VCH by the chapel's lay pastor.

The chapel occupies (or occupied) a rather isolated location, but nevertheless the "Gideon Schoolroom" at St Briavels Common is listed in Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010), registered to "Independents".

Denomination

Now or formerly Independent/Congregational.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Chapel was located at OS grid reference SO5450703615. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• The Gideon Chapel, St Briavels shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in St Briavels shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for St Briavels, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean (null) (verified 2018-11-06)
• Places recorded by the Registrar General under the provisions of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 (2010) is available as a "Freedom of Information" document on the website What Do They Know. (verified 2018-10-14)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.