358 YARDLEY.

Yardley.

FORM1NG the utmost limit of Worcestershire in the direction of Birmingham, and almost surrounded by Warwickshire, Yardley is an extensive parish, enclosing 7,335 acres and containing a population in 1861 of 3,848. It belonged to the Abbots of Pershore, and then successively to the Beauchamps, Middlemores, Botelers, Blounts, Greves, and Taylors. W. F. Taylor, Esq., is the lord of the manor, and the other chief landowners are Mrs. Severne and Mr. Williams. It is a thriving district, and will, in the course of a few years, form a continuous town with Birmingham. Already Acock's Green has expanded nearly to that town on the one hand and to Solihull on the other, and is covered with villa residences, the abodes of the Birmingham gentry and tradesmen. At Hay Mills, Mr. Horsfall has established an extensive manufactory of iron wire, and it was here that the wire was made for the great Atlantic cable. There is Mr. Lee's needle manufactory at Greet, and tiles are produced from the extensive beds of clay in the parish. At Small Heath is the Small Arms Factory, where guns are made by machinery; and Mr. Joseph Hill has a steel rolling mill for pen steel, at Titterford. Soil, stiff clay, for wheat, oats, beans, barley, roots, &c. Yardley church is a large structure, with handsome spire, and exhibiting various styles, from Early English downwards. Monuments of the Greswoldes, Estes, and others. A capital peal of five bells, the bequest of A. Folliott, Esq., in 1638, and therefore the oldest peal hereabout. Mrs. Severne is patroness of the living, value, £595 ; Rev. H. Gwyther vicar ; church accommodation, 670 ; free seats, 150. Besides this there is St. Mary's Church, or chapel-of-ease, at Acock's Green ; accommodation, 600; free, 200. Also Christ-