CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS

St. Edburgha's remained the only church in Yardley until Marston Chapel was consecrated at Hall Green in 1704. The first parish to be carved out was that of Christ Church Yardley Wood in '49, followed by St. Mary's Acocks Green ('67), and St. Cyprian's Hay Mills ('78). The following year an iron chapel was in use at Stechford, this being replaced by the present All Saints' in 1898.

It became a parish church in 1932. St. Michael's & All Angels, built in Rowlands Road as a mission in 1912, was enparished in '56. In that year a mission opened in the Bishop Lightfoot Hall : it became St. Richard's Lea Hall and was enparished when the new church was completed in '66.

Methodists were meeting in a house on Old Stoney Lane before 1875 : their first chapel was built on Victoria Road in '79, and the present church in Lyttleton Road opened in 1932.

The nearby Catholic church of Corpus Christi began as a mission in 1919, the church being consecrated ten years later. There has been a Carmelite nunnery at The Grange since '37. Our Lady Help of Christians mission at Lea Hall began in '61.

Other Nonconformist churches are Church Road (1873), Stechford Baptist Church Hall (1926), Station Road Meeting Hall (1936-52), Digbeth-In-The-Fields Moat Lane and Glebe Farm Chapel in Farmcote Road both 1949, and Elim Church in Broadstone Road ('50). There was a Salvation Army barracks in Shipway Road 1898-1903, and the Hall in Blakesley Road was opened in 1938.

The Trust School admitted some girls until 1819, after which - as they had to pay fees - there were none. In 1831 a school for Infants was begun somewhere in Yardley but soon closed for lack of money. Yardley Church School was opened for Girls and Infants in 1836.

There is one reference to a 'Stechford & Greet School' before 1847, but nothing else is known of it. Ebenezer Hoskins of The Grange built a Cottagers' Institute opposite the church to provide education for adults. Yardley School Board opened Redhill School at Hay Mill in 1892-4, Stechford Board School at Five Ways in '96. It was to be twice enlarged, by Worcestershire in '06 and by Birmingham in '28. Both Trust and Church Schools were condemned by the County Education Dept in 1908, and the next year the pupils went to the new Church Road Schools. All other schools in Church End have been provided by Birmingham Education Committee.

Dates that follow are those of opening and enlargement : details of the building's use and capacity will be found in the V. C. H. Warwickshire Vol.VII. Bierton 1928-9, Audley 1933-4, Hobmoor 1933-51, Ridpool 1937-9, Whittington Oval 1938-48, Lea Village (Mirfield) 1938-41 and Blakesley 1959.

Index