Yelden / Chivelden / Evelden / Giveldene / Gweldene / Gyueldene / Yealdon / Yeilden / Yeldon / Yeveldene / Yielding / Yueldene

There is an entry for Yelden [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL0166/yelden/] [accessed 15 September 2015], but it mentions niether cleric nor church in it. The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "Yelden Church was given by Geoffrey de Trailly to Abbot Gunter and the monks of Thorney [...] early in the 12th century. [...] The church was confirmed to them by a charter of Pope Alexander III in 1162. [...] The font, at the west of the middle column of the south arcade, is octagonal and quite plain, probably 15th-century work, but has a crocketed conical wooden cover, which is probably coeval with it." Pevsner (1968) mentions only the cover, not the font: "Font cover. Perp[endicular]. Conical and crocketed." There are thin mouldings at either end of the otherwise plain octagonal stem. The font appears to have been re-cut or re-tooled in some places; one of the sides of the basin has a metal staple in it, probably from an old locking mechanism for the cover. [NB: we have no information on the earlier font of the 12th-century church here].