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At the end of the 18th century communications throughout Devon were improving rapidly. Trewman's Exeter Flying Post was the newspaper for the whole of the county and turnpike trusts were improving roads and making travel between towns easier. In 1785 the Keyberry Turnpike Trust opened the road from Barton to Newton Bushell (Abbot). It was at this time that John and Charles Wesley went on their preaching tours in the West Country.
So it was that two brothers, Edward and John Henley, travelled to Exeter to hear John Wesley preach. Subsequently, Wesley stayed with them and preached at both West Hill and Pavor Meadow. It appears that Edward lived in Swan Street (behind Fleet Walk) and John lived at Barton. In 1788 they began to preach in accordance with Methodist principles from a room in George Street and, after objections from neighbours, used Edward's home in Swan Street. Edward and his wife still attended Matins at St. Saviour's, Torre, and trotted out to Barton, on one horse, for an afternoon service at brother John's and returned for an evening service at home.
Their preaching proved effective and in 1802 a thatched chapel was built, or possibly a cottage was converted at Barton; subsequently an adjacent cottage was purchased to allow for expansion. The Torquay congregation was outgrowing the Henley's home and in 1807 two cottages of a row of eight in the Fleet valley were acquired and converted into a chapel. This became known as the Chapel in the Meadow. Services continued to be held there until 1852. By then the congregation had outgrown the Chapel in the Meadow and a prominent site in Rock Road was purchased and the Rock Road Chapel built on it. By the middle of the century there was much discussion on the development of the lower Fleet valley. Finally, in 1864 existing buildings were removed and the row of shops from Rock Road to George Street was built. By 1870 the shop on the corner of George Street, on the site of the Chapel in the Meadow, had become the premises of Peter Thomas, draper. In the 1880's this was taken over by J. E Rockhey, twice Mayor of Torquay. Rockheys became a household name and continued until 1973 when it was bought by Dingles of Plymouth, and so it remained until 1988 when the premises stood empty for two years, Burger King taking over the building in 1990.
In the 1850's a group of Primitive Methodists began meeting in Torquay. When the Baptists moved into the new Baptist Church in Upton Vale the Primitive Methodists bought their old chapel in Temperance Street in 1863. This congregation ministered very much to the spiritual needs of the ever growing population of Ellacombe and finally they purchased a site in Market Street, and the Market Street Primitive Methodist Chapel was opened in July 1877. In the meantime, another Wesleyan Chapel had been built in Torwood, Street.
The high buildings of Fleet Street hid the Rock Road Chapel and its congregation was outgrowing it. The space problem was compounded by the fact that the Sunday School, started originally by the Anglican Miss Anna Gray and using various buildings in the town, had been taken over by one of her pupils, Mary Henley, daughter of Edward and was now using the Rock Road premises.
The number of scholars being in the region of three hundred. Therefore, a site in Union Street was purchased and the budding of a Sunday School was commenced in 1876. The building opened in 1878 and the adjoining Chapel in 1879. This building was burnt down in October 1926 and although there were thoughts of abandoning the site and concentrating on the rapidly growing Torquay suburbs, it was rebuilt.