Cut them back to the ground and treat the remaining stumps/roots with SBK if you can't dig them out.

Or, if practical, sow grass seed and mow the area as lawn for a year or so. Gorse won't survive the regular grass cutting regime.

I pull the bushes out. Cut back the thorny growth, leaving a foot or so of trunk as a handle, then lever it this way and that to get it out. It's a very satisfying job - I love it! And you can have an exciting bonfire afterwards. The needly leaves go up like firecrackers, leaving the woody stems and trunks to burn reluctantly for ages.

If all you have are little tiddlers just pull 'em out. And keep weeding/hoeing the seedlings to get rid of them - for the next unknown number of years. I collect a bucketful or so of cress-sized gorse seedlings every few days, and they just go in the composter.

And did you know, gorse burns well when green and was used in the old days to get fires going.julien

Our old house had the remains of an old cloam oven (a clay oven) built into the back wall of one of the fireplaces. You would fill it with "furze" (i.e. gorse branches), light them, shut the door and let it burn, then rake out the embers and use the heat left in the oven to bake your bread.

I know it is a few years late but thank you so much to all the people that replied to my question in 2011, i have not been on this site since then. Kind regards Gillian