OLD ROADS

Hob Lane (Hobmoor Road), Cole Hall, and Lea fords were at places of special difficulty, where the bogs were widest, so that they must often have been unusable. 'Rotyford' means slippery crossing and needs no further description. It was in use because it was on the most direct route to Birmingham.

The oak forest was exceptionally hard to push through : on game trails and manmade tracks the soggy topsoil was quickly removed by hooves and feet, while the clay beneath was readily churned into the stickiest of mud.

On slopes like Red Hill (Coventry Road from Hay Mills to Waterloo Road) and the descent of the Old Yardley Green Road to New Bridge, a holloway was formed which became a tributary stream in rain, washing away still more of the soft material.

It is not surprising that Thomas Telford, planning the improvement of Coventry Road early in the C 19th. to provide a fast coach road for Irish MP's between London and Holyhead, should decide to abandon Red Hill holloway and make a new road beside it : nor that the 'church way' (Church Road north from the Swan) had become so worn in Stuart times that it had to be raised on 'the long causeway' - still remembered in a Victorian cul de sac beside it : nor that the City Corporation should leave part of Yardley Green Road as a fossil holloway in a recreation ground.

As we have seen, the ridgeway which comes north through Yardley from Pershore, Beoley and Titterford, follows the highest ground and the drift which covers it. Thereon tree cover was least, giving way to heath where it was stoniest. North of Coventry Road - which makes use of the relatively drier and clearer boulder clay from Waterloo Road nearly to Wagon Lane - the ridgeway divided, one track going either side of Stick Brook.

It will be noted that Church Road continued to follow the highest ground, slightly better drained than the rest of the uncapped clay, but that Stoney Lane does not. (Clements Road is the ridgeway thereabout.) The reason for the lane's descent into the Stich Valley is clear in its name : for at least part of its length it is firmly bedded on gravel. As Station Road it cuts through the drift patch, whose eastern edge Church Road utilises north of the church. Similarly Lea Ford Road / Gressel Lane made use of a drift patch.

The road from Stichford to Lea crossed drift at Flaxleys and Hillhouse, but therefrom it was deep-sunk and difficult, especially at Cowford on Yardley Brook. Despite its bad approaches on both sides and its clay bed, Rotyford was much used because it led to the town where Church Enders' surplus produce could be sold, and they could buy what they could not make or grow. It acquired a timber (foot ?) bridge in 1462.

It is worth noting that Church Road goes in a straight line north towards the Limesi Moat, diverging only at Barrows Lane to go past the church. This suggests that the manor house predates the church. The isolation of the village was due in part at least to the difficulty of reaching it across clay, from every direction. Albert Road, whose earlier names are not known, began as a bounding track at Stichford Field.

Yardley's roads have often had changes of name. Map 5 gives the most interesting ones where several are known. As would be expected, lanes were often called after families which lived there, and these would inevitably change. Thus Holders Road was formerly Burdons Lane, Stud Lane (after Yardley Stud Farm) was Jones Lane, Barrows Lane was Ashmores. Deakins, Clements and Stuarts (correctly Stewards), Flavells, and Gressel (Greswold) recall tenants' or owners' names. Hob (Hobmoor), Moses (Croft Road), Donkey (Harvey) and Dead Man's Lanes (Crossfields Road) were doubtless so named for good local reasons.

Brook Hole Lane (west end of Flaxleys Road) crossed Stich Brook's holm or flood-meadow. The same term is in Hol Brook, the alternate name for Stich Brook. Rudding Lane (Deakins Road) crossed cleared woodland, Wash Lane bordered the wash, the oft-flooded meadow near the mill, Broomy Lane (Vicarage Road) describes its natural heathy vegetation. Park Lane approached and bordered Sheldon Park : it became Pool Lane for the ponds along it. Grove Lane (Queens Road) took its name from the mansion nearby as did Croft Road.