The boundaries of Yardley in 972
(Extract from an copy of the Charter of that year confirming the
possession by Pershore Abbey of 5 hides in GYRDLEAHE.)
'This sind tha land gemaera into Gyrdleahe. Aerest of Gyrdleahe on Colle. Of
Colle on Maer Dic. Of Maer Dic on Blacan Mearcan. Of Blacan Mearcan on thone
Haeth Garan on Dagardingweg. Of Dagardinweg on Ac Wyllan. Of Ac Wyllan on Bradan
Apoldie. Of Bradan Apoldie on Meares Thorn. Of than Thorne on Smalan Broc. Of
Smalan Broc on Cinctunes Broc. Of Cinctunes Broc on Dyrnan Ford. Of Dyrnan Ford
on Brom Halas. Of Brom Halan on Hwitan Leahe. Of Hwitan Leahe on Leomanningweg.
Thonan on Colle. Of Colle on Meos Mor. Of Meos More on Ciondan. Of Ciondan on
Spel Broc. Thonan on Bulan Wyllan. Of Bulan Wyllan on tha Langan Aec. Of tha
Langan Ac (on) Mundes Dene. Of Mundes Dene on Colle. Of Colle eft on Gyrdleahe.'
A translation by G. B. Grundy, published in Vol. LIII of the Transactions of
the Birmingham Archeological Society, 1928 is as follows.
(Repetitions of landmarks in the original are here omitted.)
'These are the bounds of Yardley. First from Yardley to Cole ...to Boundary
Dyke ...to the Black Border (*) ...to the Gore of the Heath to Dagardingway
...to the Spring of the Oak Tree ...to the Spreading Apple Tree ...to the
Boundary Thorn ...to Narrow Brook ...to Kington Brook ...to Hidden Ford ...to
Broom Hollows ...to White Lea ...to Leommanningway ...thence to Cole ...to Moss
Swamp ...to Ciond (a) ...to Spel Brook ...to Bull Spring ...to the Tall Oak
...to Mund's Dean ...to Cole ...from Cole again to Yardley.'
* Mr. E. E. Barker, M.A., suggests 'Bleak (open, exposed) Border'.
Identification of these boundaries can only be conjectural, since only the
Cole is certainly known. Broom Hollows (Broom Hall?), Ciond (a) which may well
be Chinn Brook, and Kington Brook, are possible to recognise: but all other
placings are doubtful, and based on the unproved though reasonable assumption
that in Saxon times Yardley was already established within the bounds since
recorded.
The starting point is Yardley, presumably the site of first settlement on or
near the present village centre, at the edge of the relatively dry and open
sandy patch which was used for the first open fields system. The River Cole,
curving about the manor from west to north-east, provided an indisputable if
shifting barrier. The circumstances which enabled a very small Hwiccan group to
claim and retain more than 13 miles of river bank, with the fish, hay, pasture,
waterpower, and perhaps navigation, which were obtainable therefrom, cannot even
be guessed at.
From the Cole, the bounds are recorded clockwise. The Boundary Dyke or ditch
may have been the Lea Ditch of 1609 (see below), which takes the line to Sheldon
Heath, where the Bleak Border would be. Dagardingway was probably Pool Lane, and
it might by guessed that the Gore, a triangular piece of ploughland, was that
formed by the Yardley boundary and a bend in the lane. Oak Spring was perhaps
the source of Lyndon Green Brook. It is notable that therefrom many expected
landmarks are not listed. In that unsettled district, watercourses were the most
convenient of boundaries, and in later times nearly half of Yardley excluding
the Cole was defined by them, so that it is reasonable to assume that this was
so in 972 : and if they were not than recorded, it must surely have been that
they were so obvious as to need no recording. If this theory is correct, then it
may be claimed that as in recent times the border followed Lyndon Green and
Smarts Hill Brooks, and a tiny tributary of the latter which enters it east of
the ancient moated site on Moat Lane. (Hytson's Dytche of 1609).
The Apple and Thorn Trees then presumably marked the boundary across the
small local watershed (along which Coventry Road would later lie - it is not
here mentioned) to the next stream, Narrow Brook. This may well have been
Westley Brook, only 1 mile from its source. If the Saxon surveyor was
consistent, the two brooks named presumably did not form the border, but only
crossed it. Kington Brook is then doubtfully identified with Broomhall Brook. It
is tempting to claim that Kington Brook is that which, rising on the Golf course
(White Lea?), flows north-east past the earthwork at Kineton Green, the ancient
Cinctun: but Yardley does not touch this brook at any point now. That it had
importance in the fixing of the boundary is certain, however, for the latter
parallels it for more than two miles at a distance of 2-300 yards. Geology
suggests that the border was set at the forest-edge, where it stopped at the
boggy alluvial meadows beside the brook: the people of Cinctun may have
established precious riparian ownership on both banks before the Yardleians
appeared.
This part of the itinerary is very difficult to determine. In Broom Hollows (Brom
Halas) we have an apparent likeness to Broom Hall, but this ancient moated site
is 500 yards from the boundary, and not in a hollow. Hidden Ford may not have
been a stream crossing, but a firm footing across a boggy patch. Foul Slough
(1843) where the boundary approaches nearest to the Kineton Green Brook, at the
foot of a slope, is a possible site. Broom Hollows is then placed somewhere near
Langley Hall: broom certainly grows on the Golf Course. Langley Lane skirted the
area in later times and perhaps in 972, staying on higher, drier ground after
Hidden Ford.
Leommanningway, the way of the family of Leommann, is possibly Stratford
Road. No other mark being given before returning to the Cole, the Shirley Brook
was presumably the boundary then as now. Moss Swamp is a good name for the
undrained heath of Warstock, in which the Yardley Wood Brook flowed east to the
Cole and provided a precise border needing no record. Where the surveyor is so
vague, we must assume that the boundary went straight from one obvious point to
another: in this area, from the source of the Yardley Wood Brook to the
confluence of Chinn Brook and its tributary, the Haunch Brook. Ciond (a) is very
reasonably identified with the Chinn.
It is tempting to suggest that Spel Brook is the Haunch Brook, in order to
establish a link between Bull Spring and the later Bulley Hall (Bulleye ref.
1280). But if the surveyor was consistent, so obvious a boundary as Haunch Brook
would not be listed. Hence it must be assumed that Spel Brook was the Bulley or
Coldbath Brook, which crosses the boundary 1¾ miles north of the Chinn, and Bull
Spring the source of the Showell Green Brook, somewhere near Wake Green Road.
Tall Oak may have been at the Belle Walk-Stoney Lane Corner, since Mund's Dean
is probably the shallow valley of the Spark Brook, which provides a clear
boundary back to the Cole and Yardley.
Between Chinn and Spark, 3½ miles, there are only three listed landmarks:
since in later times there was a lane (Bulley Lane, etc.) along almost the whole
of this stretch not defined by Haunch Brook, it is conjectural that the boundary
had been fixed along an existing track in comparatively open heathland, as
geology suggests. The alternative seems to be that the track which became the
lane was trodden out in regular perambulations, and this is unlikely though not
impossible.
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