ARDELEY, or Yardley, a parish in Royston district, Herts; on the river Beane, 4 miles W of Westmill r. station, and 4½ SW by W of Buntingford. Post Town, Buntingford. Acres, 2,405. Real property, £3,815. Pop., 574. Houses, 126. The manor was given by Athelstane to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. Ardeley-Bury belonged once to the Cornwalls, then to the Chaunceys; and passed to the Murrays. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £224.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. The church was re paired in 1850. and has a brass of a priest. Charities, £20.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))