| Early church history
The civil and ecclesiastical parishes of Yardley were co-extensive.
St. Edburgha's Church, named after Alfred the Great's grand-daughter,
served the whole manor of eleven and a half square miles. See
my Ecclesiastical History of Yardley. It is an indication
of the scatter and smallness of the population that there was
no other church until 1704, despite the difficulty of reaching
Yardley Village for everyone except the Church Enders. Job Marston,
who lived in Haw Hall (Hall Green Hall), left land and £1,000
for the building and endowment of a chapel opposite his house.
Christenings, marriages, and funerals could be held there. The
small Queen Anne building, in red brick with stone balustrade,
portico and quoins, and a copper-domed cupola, served the whole
of the two southern Quarters for one hundred and sixty-two years.
It was enlarged by the addition of short transepts and apse, without
balustrade, in 1860, but remained a chapelry until 1908.
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