This essay was written by Rachel Roberts,
and has been made available to us by Blakesley Hall. It is reproduced, with
minor changes. We are very grateful for being able to include its valuable
insights on our website.The meaning of Yardley, and
Yardley in the tenth century
The Meaning of
"Yardley"
The ancient parish of Yardley was much larger than the modem day area by
that name; it stretched from Yardley village to Yardley Wood and encompassed
much of what we know today as Hall Green, Moseley, Acocks Green and other
nearby areas. As such, it seems unreasonable and more difficult to drop
areas from this study when they were no longer considered officially in
Yardley. The old Parish has served as the template and in most areas the
development of everything encompassed in it up until the twentieth century
is included in this history.
The Tenth Century
Originally Yardley was one of nine ancient parishes included in what we now
know as the Birmingham area. The first written reference to Yardley comes in
972 in King Edgar's Charter (wherein the shire boundaries of much of England
were clarified and set) where it is referred to as "Gyrdleah" and confirmed
as the property of the Benedictine Abbey of Pershore. From this charter we
also know that Yardley was roughly 7,590 acres or 11˝ sq. miles, and that
there were five manses (an area of land big enough to sustain a family, so
there were most probably five families living within its borders). The
existence of Yardley Wood today is a hang over of how big this early Parish
was. While the control of the parish went to the Abbey of Pershore,
administratively (although never geographically or economically) Yardley was
in Worcestershire at this time. The area jutted out from its border and was
surrounded on the other three sides by Warwickshire. From King Edgar's
charter we also get the names "Dagardingweg" and "Leomanningweg" thought to
be our Pool Lane and Stratford Road.
The ending "ley" found in Tyseley, Yardley and Billesley comes from the
language of the ancient settlers and means a small clearing in a wood, this
gives us some ideas of the sort of terrain that tenth century Yardley had
been carved out of. This wooded area would have been even more difficult to
cultivate when you consider the tough clay marl, which underlies the entire
area. However, these ancient settlers not only managed to clear and
cultivate the area but build a wealthy and expanding community. The law and
order structure of the ancient parish was perhaps the most long lasting
aspect of the period, being organized in this way: The sheriff
(representative of the Lord) split his area into tythings, which were groups
of males from ten neighbouring households. "Thythingmen" lead these groups
and answered to Hundredmen, who answered to the Shire Reeve and then to the
Royal Reeve. If a crime occurred any member of the community would raise the
alarm and all members of the tything would stop and search for the
perpetrator. If they failed to catch him then a fine would be imposed on the
whole group. This structure was kept basically the same (with a few
alterations by the Normans) until the seventeenth century.
|
