Melchbourne and Yielden is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

Borough of Bedford The Borough of Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based in Bedford, its namesake and principal settlement, which is the county town of Bedfordshire. The borou ...

in the county of

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, England. The two parishes of

Melchbourne Melchbourne is a small village located in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. The village is located west of Swineshead and east of Yielden. Melchbourne forms part of the Melchbourne and Yielden civil parish. Melchbourne Precept ...

and Yelden (also known as Yielden) were combined in 1934. Until 1974 the parish formed part of

Bedford Rural District Bedford Rural District was a rural district in Bedfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It surrounded but did not include the Municipal Borough of Bedford and Kempston Urban District. Evolution The district had its origins in the Bedford Rur ...

. The official name of the parish as recorded by the Office for National Statistics and Ordnance Survey is "Melchbourne and Yielden", but the parish council calls itself "Melchbourne and Yelden Parish Council", using the other common variant spelling for Yelden. Ordnance Survey maps prior to the 1934 parish merger generally used the name "Yelden" for both the village and parish, whereas their maps since 1934 generally call the village "Yelden" but the parish "Melchbourne and Yielden", suggesting that the official use of the spelling "Yielden" in the merged parish name may have arisen from the 1934 North Bedfordshire Review Order which merged the parishes.

References

External links

Melchbourne and Yelden Parish Council homepage
Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Borough of Bedford {{Bedfordshire-geo-stub