An obscure saint in Yardley

posted in: Map Improvements, Observations | 1

Yardley Old Village is a haven of rural peace set in the middle of the suburban expanse of East Birmingham. There is a cluster of listed buildings around the mediaeval church of St Edburgha, which includes an old farm and a working blacksmith. The church is currently swathed in scaffolding so no picture I’m afraid.

St Edburgha ( pronounced edburra) was grand-daughter to King Alfred and her relics are in Pershore Abbey whose full name is  the Abbey Church of Holy Cross with St Edburgha. I’m not sure if there are any other churches dedicated to her.

On the way there I surveyed  the new route of the A4040 Church Road, opened this week to accommodate the controversial development of a new Tesco store. The road still awaits a roundabout at its northern end, so the bus route relations haven’t been updated yet. Let’s see how long it takes other map-makers to update this stretch of road.

  1. Joni

    This is the only site I’ve found to explain St Edburgha!! Thank you for the information and lovely pictures!! I wish I’d taken more notice when I lived close by!!

Leave a Reply to Joni Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.