C of E
Yardley – St Edburgh ( Was Worcestershire) Church Road (O.S GR SP 135863 )
Ancient Parish
The following parishes have been formed out of the ancient parish of Yardley; St Mary, Acocks Green 1867; St Cyprian, Hay Mills 1878; St John the Evangelist, Sparkhill 1894;TheAscension, Hall Green 1907; All Saints, Stechford 1932; St Michael, South Yardley 1956;and part of Christ Church, Yardley Wood 1849. In 1848 further parts of Yardley parish were transferred to the parish of St Cyprian, Hay Mills ,and parts of Sheldon were transferred to Yardley 1948. Places in the parish licensed for public worship were St Michael, South Yardley; the School Room, Sparkhill 1862- 1907; Hay Mill mission chapel 1864 & 1948; Stechford Iron Church 1877; the South Yardley mission room 1910 – 26; Lea Mission room 1910-40; and Bishop Lightfoot Church Hall 1939-55.
Neighbouring parishes
Sheldon, Solihull, Kings Norton, Aston, Coleshill
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department
Baptisms 1539-1926 includes Marston Chapel entries 1761 – 1812 Marriages 1539-1969
Burials 1539-199 includes Marston Chapel entries 1761 – 1812
Banns 1946 – 1970 includes Marston Chapel entries until 1760
Graveyard plan compiled 1959
Index to registers 1830 – 1831
Bishop’s Transcripts at Worcester
Commence 1608
Non Conformist
Baptist – Rowlands Road Yardley
Chapel was registered for public worship in 1948. The church formed in 1949 originated in mission work from Coventry Road, which resulted by 1938 in holding services at Church Road Yardley School.
Baptist – Slade Lane Yardley
Built 1888 as a village station of Cannon Street Birmingham although Graham Street Birmingham and the Circus Chapel also provided preachers. Baptist Missionary work in Yardley started from Bond Street Hockley in 1787 and the chapel was preceded by a cottage meeting in Slade Lane Yardley. In 1892 there was a Sunday afternoon congregation, but a separate church was not formed until 1921. A new chapel in Yardley Wood Road Billesley replaced Slade Lane Yardley in 1935.
Congregationalists and Independents – Church Road Yardley
Mission a wooden building was erected in 1873. In 1875 Warwick Road church took charge of the work, and a permanent church hall was built in 1879. The church became independent of Warwick Road Acocks Green in 1882.
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department Marriage 1947 – 1961
Congregationalists and Independents – Moat Lane Yardley
Digbeth in the Field church hall was opened in 1949. The church originated in 1937, when a sports pavilion was opened for use as a Sunday School.
Elim Church – Broadstone Road Yardley
Elim Church was opened in 1950.
Salvation Army – Blakesley Road Yardley
South Yardley hall was opened in 1938.
Gazetteer / Directory Entries
YARDLEY, a parish in the upper division of the hundred of HALFSHIRE, county of WORCESTER, 4½ miles (E.) from Birmingham, containing 2313 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king’s books at£9.19.4½., and in the patronage of Edmund Wigley, Esq. The church, dedicated to St Edburgh, exhibits various specimens of the English style of architecture, with a fine tower and spire of the later date; it has lately received an addition of one hundred and twenty sittings,, of which one hundred are free, the incorporated Society for the enlargement of churches and chapels having granted £100 towards defraying the expense. Here are various bequests, producing a considerable income, for the education and relief of the poor. Great quantities of tiles are made in the neighbourhood, and conveyed to Birmingham, whence they are sent by the canals to various parts of the kingdom. [Lewis 1831]
