Yardley (St. Edburgh)

YARDLEY (St. Edburgh), a parish, in the union of Solihull, Upper division of the hundred of Halfshire, Northfield and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 4½ miles (E.) from Birmingham; containing 2825 inhabitants. The parish lies on the road from Birmingham to Coventry, and is separated from the county of Warwick by a small rivulet. It comprises 6513a. 28p., of which 1809 acres are arable, 3889 pasture and meadow, 8 woodland, and the remainder waste, roads, &c.: the surface is generally level; the soil is a stiff loam, fertile and well cultivated, with extensive beds of clay beneath. Great quantities of excellent red tiles are made, and conveyed to Birmingham, whence they are sent to various parts of the kingdom. The parish is crossed in the northern part by the Birmingham and London and the Birmingham and Derby railways, and near the centre by the Birmingham and Warwick canal. The village stands in the northern part of the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 19. 4½.; net income, £463; patron, J. M. Severn, Esq. The church, a substantial and venerable structure, situated in the centre of the village, exhibits various specimens of the early and later English styles; a gallery, containing 100 free sittings, was erected in 1823. At Yardley-Wood and Hall-Green are other incumbencies. The inhabitants have, from a very early period, enjoyed the benefit of certaiu lands and rent-charges granted to trustees for their use by different benefactors; the revenue amounts to £833. 19., and is appropriated to the maintenance of two schools, in paying house-rent for poor parishioners, in the repair of the church and bridges, a distribution of bread and money twice a year, and in apprenticing children. Job Marston, in 1703, bequeathed property now producing £111 per annum, which is appropriated in the distribution of clothing, bread, &c., and in apprenticing one or two children annually. Henry Greswolde Lewis, in 1829, gave £1500, directing the dividends to be expended in clothing, bread, and meat.