Early history

St Edburgha's is dedicated to a granddaughter of King Alfred. The present church was begun in the thirteenth century near the manor house, and acquired a tower and spire in the fifteenth century. The manor site was unoccupied after 1700.

Next to the church is the Trust School, a good deal of which is 16th century. Blakesley Hall to the west is a yeoman's farmhouse of 1590. These buildings and Hay Hall are the oldest surviving buildings in what we now understand as Yardley. However, there are other forms in which the past can continue to exist: for example, there is medieval ridge and furrow in the park near the church. For centuries, people laboured on the land to create a familiar patchwork landscape, before the move from an agrarian to an industrial and suburban lifestyle began.