Old names (Maps One and
Five)
The first recorded spelling of Yardley's names is as Gyrdleahe in the AD 972
Charter. Victor Skipp, author of 'Medieval Yardley' and leader of the
'Discovering Yardley' Group 1960-7, plumps for its meaning as 'stick
clearing' or 'yard (in the sense of small) clearing'. Neither is really
satisfactory. Gyrd(an) gives among other terms the extant word 'gird'
meaning to surround or encircle. The sandy patch on the ridge-end that was
the heart of Yardley was certainly encircled, by dense woods and water
courses. However, speculation about the prefixes of old names is rarely
fruitful. 'Colle' (Cole) appears in the Charter and may mean 'hazel', but
the hazel is not natural to clay or alluvium, only to drier soils, so that
this seems an odd name for our stream. Incidentally, though Colle is the
oldest name, 'Hay Mill Brook' is one of several names for different
stretches of it.Lay subsidy Rolls for 1275-1327 provide the next oldest
names in the Quarter, those of Stichford, Flaxley, Lee, and Rotyford,
Lyndon, and Gilbertstone. Rudyng (Ridding) is recorded earlier (1345) than
Stichford and Church Fields, but that does not necessarily mean that it was
earlier in existence, only that its record has survived. Blakleistoles
(bleak clearing where pollarded trees provide withies?) is the first
reference to Blakesley. A number of closes and lanes are named during that
14th and 15th centuries. (See Map 5.)
Old roads (Maps One and Five)
Communications, settlement, and occupations were largely determined by
geology up to the present century. Valley bogs were an obstacle to travel,
whether crossing or following the Cole, there were no riverside roads, and
tracks led down at right angles to those few places on the river where
gravel in its bed made crossing possible. These were Styfec's (Stich) Ford,
Hay Mill Ford (where travellers made use of the shallows below the millweir),
and Rotyford at the site of New Bridge. Hob Lane, Cole Hall, and Lea fords
were at places of special difficulty, where the bogs were widest, so that
they must often have been unusable. 'Rotyford' means slippery crossing and
needs no further description. It was in use because it was on the most
direct route to Birmingham.
The oak forest was exceptionally hard to push through. On game trails and
man-made tracks the soggy topsoil was quickly removed by hooves and feet,
while the clay beneath was readily churned into the stickiest of mud. On
slopes like Red Hill (the Coventry Road from Hay Mills to Waterloo Road) and
the descent of Old Yardley Green Road to New Bridge, a holloway was formed
which became a tributary stream in rain, washing away still more of the soft
material. It is not surprising that Thomas Telford, planning the improvement
of the Coventry Road early in the 19th century to provide a fast
coach road for Irish MP's between London and Holyhead, should decide to
abandon Red Hill holloway and make a new road beside it; nor that the
'church way' (Church Road north from the Swan) had become so worn in Stuart
times that it had to be raised on 'the long causeway' - still remembered in
a Victorian cul de sac beside it; nor that the City Corporation should leave
part of Yardley Green Road as a fossil holloway in a recreation ground.
As we have seen, the ridgeway which comes north through Yardley from
Pershore, Beoley and Trittiford, follows the highest ground and the drift
which covers it. Thereon tree cover was least, giving way to heath where it
was stoniest. North of the Coventry Road - which makes use of the relatively
drier and clearer boulder clay from Waterloo Road nearly to Wagon Lane - the
ridgeway divided, one track going either side of the Stick Brook. It will be
noted that Church Road continued to follow the highest ground, slightly
better drained than the rest of the uncapped clay, but that Stoney Lane does
not. (Clements Road is the ridgeway thereabout.) The reason for the lane's
descent into the Stich Valley is clear in its name: for at least part of its
length it is firmly bedded on gravel. As Station Road it cuts through the
drift patch, whose eastern edge Church Road utilises north of the church.
Similarly Lea Ford Road/Gressel Lane made use of a drift patch. The road
from Stichford to Lea crossed drift at Flaxleys and Hillhouse, but from
there it was deep-sunk and difficult, especially at Cowford on the Yardley
Brook. Despite its bad approaches on both sides and its clay bed, Rotyford
was much used because it led to the town where Church Enders' surplus
produce could be sold, and they could buy what they could not make or grow.
It acquired a timber (foot) bridge in 1462.
It is worth noting that Church Road goes in a straight line north towards
the Limesi Moat, diverging only at Barrows Lane to go past the church. This
suggests that the manor house predates the church. The isolation of the
village was due in part at least to the difficulty of reaching it across
clay, from every direction. Albert Road, whose earlier names are not known,
began as a boundary track at Stichford Field.
Yardley's roads have often had changes of name. Map 5 gives the most
interesting ones where several are known. As would be expected, lanes were
often called after families which lived there, and these would inevitably
change. Thus Holders Road was formerly Burdons Lane, Stud Lane (after
Yardley Stud Farm) was Jones Lane, Barrows Lane was Ashmores. Deakins,
Clements and Stuarts (correctly Stewards), Flavells, and Gressel (Greswold)
recall tenants' or owners' names. Hob (Hobmoor), Moses (Croft Road), Donkey
(Harvey) and Dead Man's Lanes (Crossfields Road) were doubtless so named for
good local reasons. Brook Hole Lane (west end of Flaxleys Road) crossed the
Stich Brook's holm or flood-meadow. The same term is in Hol Brook, the
alternate name for the Stich Brook. Rudding Lane (Deakins Road) crossed
cleared woodland, Wash Lane bordered the wash, the oft-flooded meadow near
the mill, Broomy Lane (Vicarage Road) describes its natural heathy
vegetation. Park Lane approached and bordered Sheldon Park: it became Pool
Lane for the ponds along it. Grove Lane (Queens Road) took its name from the
mansion nearby as did Croft Road.
Introduction
Preface
Geology and natural vegetation, and relief and
drainage
The foundation of Yardley, and Boundaries
Old names, and old roads
Norman to medieval times, and St. Edburgha's church
Owners of Yardley
Old buildings
Open fields, and Tudor and Stuart times
The river Cole
Georgian times
The nineteenth century
Churches and schools
The twentieth century
Thirty-five years, and Principal sources
Maps |
