Yeldon, Yielden or Yieldon? Decades-long row over village name finally settled

Residents in a village with three different names have made a decision over the correct spelling after decades of confusion.

Yelden, Yielden and Yieldon all feature on road signs directing motorists to the Bedfordshire village. There has never been a consensus on how to write the name, meaning different spellings have been used across council social media posts, postal services, and official documents.

A poll of residents in 1998 saw 44 people prefer ‘Yelden’ to 30 choosing ‘Yielden’, but no official decision was taken over the spelling. Bedford borough council has now settled on one correct spelling in a bid to reduce complications.

The village will be written as Yelden, with all other road signs corrected, according to the council.

However, it isn’t only motorists who have been left puzzled by the spellings. In its official postal addresses for the area, Royal Mail uses the spelling “Yielden” – however, the Office for National Statistics used “Yelden” in the 2021 census.

In fact, the village has had a string of names since it was first listed as Giveldene in the Domesday Book of 1086, including Yueldene, Yealdon, Evelden and Yeveldene. Currently, three road signs remain with the three different spellings commonly used today – Yelden, Yielden, and Yieldon.

On social media, one ex-resident wrote: “I grew up in the village in the late 70s, 80s and early 90s. It was always Yelden and then on the Melchbourne side, a new sign was put up spelling it as Yielden.

“That made me mad. I said to my parents I was going to white it out, but I never did,” reports The Telegraph.

A spokesperson for Bedford borough council told The Telegraph: “We are aware of the difference in spelling in the signs around this village.

“Some years ago, we contacted the parish council to ask for clarification as to how their village name should be spelt.

“The response from the parish council was that they have no preference as to the spelling of their name as the difference in spelling has been used over many years.

“The local road signs in Bedford borough use the spelling as ‘Yelden’, the roads in Northamptonshire use both ‘Yelden’ and ‘Yielden’, and the spelling by Highways England on the A-road [trunk road] was ‘Yieldon’.

“Where signs are replaced, we will be using ‘Yelden’ as the spelling for this village.”

The Independent has contacted Bedford borough council for comment.