YIELDEN

THE PARISH REGISTER OF YIELDEN
(1602-1812)

YIELDEN is probably best known historically on account of the two rectors who held the benefice during the upheaval in the middle of the 17th century. Both were graduates of Cambridge; the first became chaplain to the king, the second chaplain to the parliamentarian army. Their doctrines were the very antithesis of each other. Dr. John Pocklington, the high church divine, suffered sequestration in Feb. 1640/1; owing to his "idolatry, superstition, and publishing pamphlets wherein he defends those innovations unhappily introduced into Church" He died in 1612, and was buried at Peterborough Cathedral.(1) William Dell, his nonconformist and antinomian successor, was in turn ejected soon after the Restoration. His unorthodox action in allowing Bunyan, "a tinker from Bedford", to preach at Yielden church on Christmas Day had, amongst other offences, caused Dell to be brought before the House of Lords in 1659. Both Pocklington and Dell were men of character, preachers and writers of controversial literature: consequently, they are given a place in the standard biographies. Our only task is to state in what respect the Register enlarges or corrects existing accounts. Unfortunately, there is no record from 1641 to 1652 inclusive, as the "Bishop's Transcripts" are missing. It is difficult to judge from the Transcripts before 1641 to what extent Pocklington resided at Yielden. A number between 1619 (2) and 1634 are certified in handwriting certainly not his own, while those for 1635-1636 and 1639-1640 (3) are signed by curates, suggesting the rector's absence. Four of his children were however baptised (or born) at Yielden between 1623 and 1627, and William Pocklington, "late parson of Pickwell, com: Leic.", buried here in 1634, was probably his father. Dell was instituted in the same month as his predecessor was deprived of all his preferments. Three of his children were born at Yielden between 1653 and 1656/7, the last of whom was Mercy, not Mary.(4) One of his successors has struck through the offending word "rector" in the burial entry of Dell's son, 1655. A more important error has found its way into the Dictionary of National Biography, which states: "He [Dell] was ejected in 1662. He survived his ejection only two years, and was buried at his own desire in unconsecrated ground, the site being a 'spinny' or small copse, on his own estate "at Samshill in the parish of Westoning." But the entry in the "Bishop's Transcript" is 1669, not 1664 (which contains no entry relating to Dell), and reads: "William Dell dyed November the fifth & interred in his owne ground the seaventh." There can be no doubt whatever about the reading of the year in the Transcript, but is likely that the last figure was misread for '4' if the date were drawn from the Register.(5) Further, no specific source is given for the date of Dell's ejection, and it may be only an assumption that Dell, as with numerous other nonconformist ministers, quitted his benefice on 24th August 1662. Be this as it may, Josiah Lamplough's institution is dated Jan., 1660/1.(6)

Yielden Register from 1653 to 1662 is the work of no less than seven different scribes. It was begun presumably by the civil registrar appointed in Oct., 1553 (page D27); this first hand extends to April, 1654. A neat scholarly hand (perhaps Dell's) records the entries from Dec., 1654 to Feb., 1655/6, and is followed by an illiterate one from March, 1655/6 to March, 1657/8. The other hands are in no way remarkable.

(1)     Dict. Nat. Biog.
(2)     He was instituted in April,1618 (Pub. Beds. Hist. Rec. Soc., viii, 164), not, as is suggested, in 1621 (Vict. Co. Hist. Beds., iii, 179).
(3)     Those for 1636-39 are either missing or uncertified.
(4)     The illiterate spelling 'Marcy' would be easily misread.
(5)     The editor has not been able to consult the original Register; but the vicar of Westoning kindly searched it for 1664-69, and stated that, after careful scrutiny of the very difficult writing, no entry of Dell was found. It is a strange coincidence that Samsell was the place where Bunyan was arrested for holding an illegal religious meeting in 1660.
(6)     Lincoln Epis. Reg.

 The Register now commences with the second volume, the first having possibly been lost at the time of Pocklington's or Dell's ejection. It possesses no unusual point of interest, but in general includes a fair amount of detail and is neatly kept throughout. The mother's name is given almost continuously from as early as 1606 in the Baptisms and from 1654 in the Burials. Occupations are stated frequently (though irregularly) from 1700 in the Burials and the Marriages. The millers can thus be traced through the greater part of the long period 1679-1800. Yielden windmill stood high and isolated in the "open fields" to the south of the village, and its destruction through gale and fire in 1877 is described elsewhere.(1) The burial of a "Welsh drover" in 1729 rather suggests that the green lanes near Yielden formed part of a through route, of which other evidence is occasionally seen. The recording of the witnesses to marriages, 1653-55, is a rare feature, as is also the parson's illuminating series of comments on some of his parishioners' clandestine marriages in 1671-73 and 1700-03, with a similar note under 1704. Yielden was evidently served by dutiful servants of the Church, whether rectors or curates.

Yielden was a single-manor parish. From shortly before 1400 the manor belonged to the Hampdens (a branch of the renowned Buckinghamshire family) from whom it descended, though passing thrice through daughters, to the wife of Oliver St. John of Bletsoe in 1602. The presentation of Dell to Yielden is the natural outcome of the sympathies of its manorial lord and patron, Oliver St. John, Earl of Bolingbroke, who was a strong supporter of Parliament. The St. Johns (who are described in the Introductory Note to Melchbourne Register) owned Yielden for a little over a century, when they sold it to Sir Jeremiah Sambrook, who was member of parliament for Bedford from 1730 until his death in 1740, when one of his sisters brought the manor by marriage to the rapidly rising family of Crawley of Stockwood, near Luton, at the opposite end of the County. The Crawleys remained lords until the beginning of this century. Yielden was therefore without a resident lord throughout our period.

The village is one of those whose spelling still hesitates between two forms: Yelden is the more usual, but Yielden is also recognised, and has been adopted as representing more closely the original name - Giveldene or Yeveldene, the dene on the Ivel, which was undoubtedly the stream now called the Kym. (2) A late survival of the ancient spelling is found in the Transcript for 1603-04 (page D18), which is also headed "Evelden". The village can boast of quite a number of families whose abode remained at Yielden over long periods; of these we find Barnes (1622-1791), Basse (1654-1812), Burge (1620-1781), Cloridge (Claridge) (1604-1810), Pentloe (1612-1793), Samworth (1624-1810) and Wildes (Wiles) (1606-1811).

The population of the parish in 1201 was 209, and in 1931 was 160; its area is 1950 acres. The adjoining parishes are Shelton, Dean, Melchbourne and Knotting, in Bedfordshire, and Newton Bromswold and Chelveston, in Northamptonshire. There are no hamlets in the parish.

The "Bishop's Transcripts" are incomplete for the period 1602-52, as noted below. The Register is contained in the following volumes:-

 The following Transcripts supply some of the deficient periods in the Register:-

Baptisms, Marriages & Burials
1602-17, 1619-32, 1634-35, 1638-40, 1684, 1686, 1688, 1693-97

No record is therefore extant for the following years (those for which no Transcripts exist):-

Baptisms, Marriages & Burials
1618, 1633, 1663-37, 1641-52

Arrangement of Entries
I.      Bap.,1653-92; Bap., Mar.& Bur. (mixed)1699-1752; Mar., 1653-92; Bap., Mar.& Bur. (mixed), 1753-54; Bap. & Bur. (mixed), 1754-59; Bap. & Bur. (mixed), 1755-59; Bap., 1759-1812; Bur., 1653-92.
II.     Mar. at beginning; Banns in middle.

Other Parish Records
There are no other Parish Records of earlier date than 1812.

The editor is indebted to the Rector (the Rev. R. Paddick) for permission to publish the Register
(1)     Pub. Beds. [list. Rec. Soc., xiv, 45. Ditchford Mill (p. D26) is presumably a local name for this windmill, but seems otherwise unknown.
(2)     Mawer & Stenton. Place Names of Beds. and Hunts., 22. (Til is another name for it).

Comment from Mark Hunter (Mark[at]Hunter27[dot]fsnet[dot]co[dot]uk
The record above that Ditchford mill possibly being a local name for the Yelden windmill is unlikely, as Ditchford mill was a watermill on the river Nene at the former hamlet of Ditchford, nr Irthlingborough, Northants (consiting of the mill, the bridge & the railway station!)  Rushden Historical Society did a fairly good book about Ditcford a couple of years ago.