Close to the ridge and furrow behind the church in Old Yardley Park is a is a medieval earthwork known as Rents Moat. Beside the churchyard wall can be seen a tree-covered rectangle, the site of the moated manor house, and on the side furthest from the church a bank can still be seen among the trees. As the straight northerly line of Church Road doglegs to the west at Barrows Lane, it has been suggested that a straight road originally led directly to this manor house site, which may therefore pre-date the church. If this is the case, the site must have been occupied when the first chapel was built in 1165 during the tenancy of the Beauchamp family of Elmley. However, this was only one of many Beauchamp manors held by the family for some 300 years. The family are thought to have rarely lived here and the hall was very likely sublet.
The de Limesi family were resident during the 13th century, at the time when the present church building was begun. They are the likely sponsors of the work. About 1700 the Allestree family, then occupants of Rents Moat, moved to Witton Hall, and this hall was subsequently demolished. The silted but still water-filled moat was infilled for safety reasons in 1900 when the Yardley Great Trust gave land between Church Road and Queens Road for public access as Old Yardley Park.