A UK village with a name written three different ways on road signs has finally set the record straight on how it’s spelt. Yelden, which is also referred to as Yielden or Yieldon, is located in the civil parish of Melchbourne and Yielden in Bedfordshire and lies on the River Til.
The village itself is tiny, with the whole parish listed as having a population of only around 390 in the 2021 Census put out by the Office for National Statistics. But despite its small size, the remote rural village has been getting a large amount of attention. Ambiguity about the correct spelling of its name has long been a source of amusement among locals, whose favoured way of writing it can vary.
But it’s also said to have caused its fair share of confusion for visitors navigating using sat navs, and unaware of the name’s unusual history.
The ancient settlement first appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086 as “Giveldene” and was known by a string of names similar to its modern forms in the years that followed.
But there has never been firm agreement locally on which variant should be used, meaning the name has appeared in a number of guises.
For example, Royal Mail officially lists it as Yielden, as have the council in social media posts in the past, though it’s refered to as Yelden in the 2021 census, as per The Telegraph.
In a survey was sent to locals in 1998, 44 people said they prefered styling it as “Yelden” with 30 opting for “Yielden”, the outlet reports.
But Bedford borough council have now addressed the matter, in a statement which may finally provide some clarity for bamboozled motorists.
A spokesman for the local authority told The Telegraph the council is “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,” they continued.
“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 spokeperson explained that 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,” they added.