GORSLEY with CLIFFORD'S MESNE, 2 miles south-west from Newent station on the Gloucester and Ledbury section of the Great Western railway, and in the civil parish of Newent, was formed into an ecclesiastical district August 13, 1872, from Newent and Linton. Herefordshire. The parish is in the Forest of Dean division of the county, hundred of Botloe, petty sessional division, union and county court district of Newent, rural deanery of North Forest and archdeaconry and diocese of Gloucester. Christ Church, erected in 1892-3, at a cost of about £1,500, and consecrated by the Bishop of the diocese in July, 1893, is a cruciform edifice of local stone, with Bath stone dressings, in the Early English style, from designs by Messrs. Rollinson, architects, of Chesterfield, and consists of chancel, nave, transepts, organ chamber and a western turret containing one bell: the stained east window is a memorial to Mrs. Onslow, of Stardens, Newent: the carved oak pulpit screen was the work and gift of Miss Emma Onslow, of Great Malvern, sister of Captain Onslow, of Newent: there are 300 sittings.

The school church, opened August 14, 1872, is a building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of small chancel, added in 1877, nave and a belfry on the south side containing one bell, but it is now used only for school and other parochial purposes.

St. Peter's, Clifford's Mesne, built in 1882, at a cost of £1,000, is an edifice of stone, in a plain style, consisting of chancel and nave and a central belfry containing one bell: there are 100 sittings. The register dates from the year 1882. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £232, including 3 acres of glebe, with residence, built in 1876, in the gift of the vicar of Linton, who has one turn, and the rector of Newent, who has two turns, and held since 1914 by the Rev. William Henry Dickson, of the London College of Divinity. Clifford Manor, the seat of Francis Frederick Grafton esq. J.P. who is lord of the manor, was built in 1882, and has been since considerably enlarged; it is a handsome mansion of stone, standing in about 15 acres of grounds. The total population of Gorsley and Clifford's Mesne ecclesiastical district, which extends into Herefordshire, in 1911 was 804.
[Kelly's Directory of Gloucestershire, 1923]