YARDLEY, (Hertfordshire) in the inclosed part of it, S. W. of Buntingford, and 3 m. S.E. of Clothall. It was parcel of the revenue of the Saxon Ks. till Athelstan, after consulting the great men, both clergy and laity, in that then called the C.C. of England, now the Pt. gave it to St. Paul's-Ch. London. Most of the inh. were bond-tenants to that K. and many of them are copyholders at this day. There is in this manor an old custom, that if any tenant die seized of any copyhold- lands held hereof, without heir-male, and leave 2 or more daughters, or sisters, the eldest daughter, or sister, goes away with the inheritance. The manor-house stands in an ancient park (now disparked) well-watered with fish-ponds, and heretofore had a moat round it, with a mount within it, which is thought to have been a fortification, either in the Danish or Barons wars. Sir Henry Chauncy of Yardleybury (where he wrote his history of this Co.) and his ancestors have held this manor of the D. and C. of St. Paul's, by leases upon lives for above 200 years. The little r. Beane rises in this p. and runs to Hartford. In March 1659, the spire of its Ch. 50 foot high, for want of the tennents being pinned down, was blown off the tower into the Ch.-yard. It pitched on the weathercock, and the basis turned over without doing any damage,