Yelden

Yelden
Yelden Church
Yelden is located in Bedfordshire
Yelden
Yelden
Location within Bedfordshire
OS grid referenceTL011746
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBEDFORD
Postcode districtMK44
Dialling code01933
PoliceBedfordshire
FireBedfordshire and Luton
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Bedfordshire
52°17′00″N 0°31′00″W / 52.2833°N 0.5166°W / 52.2833; -0.5166

Yelden or Yielden is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Melchbourne and Yielden, in the Bedford district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, near the borders with Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. It lies on the River Til which feeds into the Great Ouse valley and is about 70 m (230 ft) above sea level. It is approximately 14 miles (23 km) north of Bedford, 3.75 miles (6.04 km) south-east of Higham Ferrers and 6.75 miles (10.86 km) west of Kimbolton and is in the Hundred of Stodden. The countryside around the village rises to about 90 m (300 ft) above sea level, is generally open and rolling in nature and is predominantly used for agricultural purposes. The centre piece of the village is the Castle Mound or Yielden Castle, the site of a Norman motte-and-bailey castle. This is now a complex of grassed-over earthworks dominated by a central mound. Other notable features include the church of St Mary, a Wesleyan Chapel built in 1884, the Chequers Public House (closed since December 2016) and the Yelden Village Hall. It has a present population of roughly between 150 and 200 adults and between 50 and 100 children living in about 90 residences.

Yelden has its own book under the title Yelden Past and Present produced by the Yelden Parish Study Group and first printed in 1972. It has been updated and reprinted in 2001 and is the definitive source of historical information about the village. Much of the information in this article has been made with reference to this publication.

Neighbouring villages include Melchbourne, Newton Bromswold, Upper Dean and Shelton.