The boundaries of Yardley in 1609
In 1609 there was a Presentment made at a 'Courte holden for the mannor of
Yardley in the County of Wigorn', which records in detail the boundaries of the
manor, as established by examination of ancient records and by sworn testimony.
There are many difficulties in drawing the 1609 boundaries on a modern map.
Hedges and ditches, which latter include both natural and man-made watercourses,
banks, pools and trees, are frequently used as landmarks, and these cannot
always be traced, while the relating of bounds to properties of individual
owners by name rather than by location is, in the absence of estate plans, quite
unhelpful.
The Cole was the boundary between Yardley and Aston, the latter being a large
Parish containing several sub-manors, those bordering Yardley being Castle
Bromwich, Little Bromwich, and Bordesley. The river defined the border from Lea
Ford upstream to the pool tail of Hay Mill, that is, almost to the confluence of
the Cole and Spark Brook. The itinerary is given anti-clockwise, which is
unusual, though the Perambulation of Solihull in 1786 also went the same way
round.
Following the Spark Brook, the Yardley-Bordesley boundary went west to Spark
Green, which lay about the present junction of Stratford Road and Stoney Lane,
and south along the middle of that rough track (then called Lowe Lane) as far as
the Gilden Corner. This, which W. B. Bickley suggests should be the Yielden
Corner, was the eastern edge of the Moseley Tax Yield, part of the very large
Parish of Kings Norton, Yardley's neighbour on the west from Highgate Lane to
Solihull Lodge. The Corner was at the junction of Stoney Lane and Belle Walk,
which was called Greene Waye and formed the boundary, continued by Bulley Lane
across the edge of the waste called Kinges Heathe, part of the royal manor. The
Corner of the Haunche was probably at the south end of Barn Lane, and the Round
Croft next to it, whence the Haunche Ditche (Brook) provided the boundary down
to Chinn Brook. The Launde, a small dell on the brook, may still be seen. The
extensive Billesley Common was included in Yardley, but The Haunch Farm was just
outside.
Beyond Chinn (‘the Water of Chyne’) the border climbed out of the valley
southwards, leaving Warstock Farm just in Kings Norton. The name was anciently
'Hoar Stock', meaning a boundary post: the Saxon boundary (see above),
apparently so indefinite, may have been marked by a number of these, movable
though they were - unless in fact they were tall, distinctively-lopped trees.
From Warstock the border went straight to 'a crosse on Hoyters Heathe',
presumably at the point where the manors of Kings Norton, Yardley, and Solihull
meet: it was perhaps a cross, but more likely a crossroads on Prince of Wales
Lane. See map. Here was desolate heathland, though there was sporadic woodland
about - Kingswood to the west, and the woods of Yardley and Solihull separated
by the valley of the Yardley Wood Brook, which formed the boundary down to Bates
Mill and the Cole. The Priory Millpool is not mentioned (nor is Old Mill Pool on
Shirley Brook, nor Danford Lake on Spark Brook): since the Presentment is so
detailed, lack of record would seem to indicate non-existence, but as on shared
streams the boundary ran down the centre, it would be clear without mention that
this also applied to any pools constructed on them.
Bates Mill, more recently known as Colebrook Priory Mill, was in Solihull
Lodge. This 'lodgment' in Worcestershire - the Cole had been the county boundary
down to the Yardley border - was granted to the Lord of Solihull from King's
Norton in 1243. Thus the Presentment records boundaries with Warwickshire from
Highters Heath eastwards. The 'fleame' or tail-race from the Mill was the last
reach of Yardley Wood Brook, which had probably been diverted to enter the Cole
lower down and so ensure a better run-off when the Cole was high.
Beyond 'the water of Cole', the boundary follows hedges and ditches: it is
not made clear that there is a well-defined stream, Shirley Brook, along this
line, which is shown as the boundary on Beighton's map of 1725, and had almost
certainly provided a ready-made border since Saxon times. 'Old Mill', shown by
Beighton, is not mentioned: Fynche Halles was perhaps the later Colebrook Hall
Farm. It, the Radmore, Thomas Hawe's land, and the Conningree Crofte, all backed
onto the brook, which rose near Stratford Road - 'the highway leading from
Birmingham towards Henley'. The boundary thence went, by a path not recorded,
past Steelefields, a house just in Yardley standing beside Solihull Lane, and
along Redstone Farm Road, then Langley Lane: where that turned northward, the
boundary followed a narrow lane (still faintly visible across the Golf Course)
past Langley Hall (‘The Langleys') , and by a ditch thence to Gospel Lane. At
this point Yardley, Solihull, and Lyndon met, and the last named, a detached
part of Bickenhill, shared the boundary as far north as Barrows Lane.
At 'The Rasse', which might be the tail-race of Broomhall Mill, otherwise
Broomhall Brook, the boundary left Gospel (Langley) Lane to cross the Sixte
Lands: these appear to have been enclosed into six fields athwart the boundary,
since the marks given are trees (possibly planted specially to show the line)
and a pool, an ancient moat. Beyond 'the highway leading from Birmingham toward
Solihull' (Warwick Road), the same line was continued along Rowe Lesowe Lane
(Lincoln Road) and Rowe Lesowe ditche into the grounds called Shawley. This may
have been the later Lyndon Farm, just outside Yardley. The Shawley ditch led
into Shearley Medowe ditche which crossed the boundary, and was almost certainly
Westley Brook.
A ditch led north-east from the Brook to Lynedon Field Gate, with the Open
Field to the right, and The Breaches to the left in Yardley. Therefrom an
unrecorded lane led to Coventrye Way, parallel to and 100 yards east of modern
Gilbertstone Avenue, and to a ditch on the north side of the highway. Turning
north-west along a hedge, the boundary came to 'the lane where the stone doth
lie called Gilbertstone'. This, and two others on either side of the front door
of Biddle's House which straddled the boundary, were erratic boulders, quite
common relics of the Ice Age in our region, and often used as border-marks.
There are several references on the east side of Yardley to Shire Meares or
County Boundaries as if they were in some way different from other listed marks,
and one wonders if certain stretches which lacked hedge, ditch, or lane, were
marked by a line of stones or a fence.
Beyond Biddle's House, the line ran through a pool, down Haitley's ditche and
Hytson's dytche (both assumed to be the same rill which enters the Smarts Hill
Brook at Moat Lane, which was next listed - but not named) and so down Haytley's
dytche (Smarts Hill Brook) to Lyne Lake: this is thought to have been at the
confluence with the Lyndon Green Brook, which was probably Dunton's ditche. From
Barrows Lane (not listed in 1609) northwards, Yardley shared a boundary with
Sheldon, and from Duntons this went across Sheldon Parke. The exact line is not
traceable, because there was an alteration in 1717: by agreement between the two
parishes, the line was then drawn straight across the Park, 660 yards north-east
to Park Lane.
The boundary followed the lane (later Pool Lane) to the corner of Byefeildes,
where it deviated about a small field (the ‘Gore’ of 972). At Kytt Greene it
left the lane for a small watercourse, which had six names in its 1100 yards to
the Cole. It had Sheldon Feild to right and Lea Feild to left, both making use
of the patch of glacial drift thereabouts. The Dods of Lea Hall, the Ests of
Stechford and Hay Hall, the Cottrells of Paradise, and the Greswolds of Greet,
all held or leased land in this corner of the manor, and their holdings are
traceable. From the confluence of the Lea Ditch with the Cole, the boundary
returns to Lea Ford.
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