Yardley: Images of England

Until after the First World War, Yardley remained largely unaffected by industrial and housing developments taking place elsewhere and a rural landscape of lanes, farms and country mansions is still within living memory. Industry did come to Hay Mills, but it created a strong village identity and pride. Many people remember happy days wnadering in the countryside towards Sheldon and down towards the River Cole. Those who took up residence in the new houses built after 1918 also look back nostalgically at the days before the Second World War. Road widening has wreaked destruction at South Yardley and at Hay Mills. but Yardley Village itself is a Conservation Area, and walking through it is like entering a vanished world.

In this book, the past is brought to life again in photogrpahs. Many of the were collected by researchers working in Hay Mills and Yardley. Local people have contributed photographs of school classes, local football teams and shops, going back to the 1890s. These pictures give a special flavour to this book, which also contains dozens of scenes from the area's rural past and its later period as a growing suburb, up to the Second World War.