Yateley () is a town and

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the English county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. It lies in the north-eastern corner of Hart District Council area, and is approximately 33 mi (53 km) southwest of

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. It includes the settlements of

Frogmore Frogmore is an estate within the Home Park, Windsor, Home Park, adjoining Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. It comprises , of primarily private gardens managed by the Crown Estate. It is the location of Frogmore House, a royal retreat, and ...

and Darby Green to the east. Yateley's population was 20,334 at the 2021

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

.
Yateley Town Council
is one of the few local councils recognised under the national 'Quality Council' award scheme.Quality Council Award
/ref> In 2011, Hart district was named the UK's most desirable place to live, and Yateley was mentioned in a

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

article as one of its towns. Yateley is known for hosting a family music festival every summer
Gig on the Green
and a beer and wine festival every autumn.

History

The name ''Yateley'' derives from the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

'Yate' meaning 'Gate' (into Windsor Forest) and 'Lea', a 'forest clearing'. In historical records, spelling variations include Hyatele, Yateleghe, Yatche, Yatelighe, Yeatley, Yeateley and Yatelegh.

Amenities

The parish church is St Peter's. It was badly damaged in a fire in 1979 and subsequently restored. Its outstanding feature is an early 16th-century wooden bell tower, housing a ring of eight bells. The tower survived the fire but the bells were cracked and had to be recast. The church is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The White Lion pub, in the centre of Yateley, is also Grade II listed.

Transport

Yateley was never served by the railway network - the nearest station is Sandhurst, away. Sandhurst station is on the

North Downs Line The North Downs Line is a railway line in South East England. It runs for from in Berkshire to in Surrey. It is named after the North Downs, a range of Chalk Group, chalk hills that runs parallel to the eastern part of the route. The name wa ...

which runs from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, Redhill and

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

. The line is operated by Great Western Railway (GWR).

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

operates bus route 3 between Yateley and

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

every 15 minutes except on Sundays. The route goes via

Camberley Camberley is a town in north-west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. It is in the Surrey Heath, Borough of Surrey Heath and is close to the county boundaries with Hampshire and Berkshire. Known originally as "Cambridge Tow ...

Frimley Frimley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath, in Surrey, England. It lies approximately south-west of central London. The town is of Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Saxon origin, although it is not listed in Domesday Book of 1086. Hi ...

Mytchett Mytchett is a village in the borough of Surrey Heath, in Surrey, England. It is approximately south-west of central London and to the east of Farnborough, its nearest town. Much of the village dates from the first half of the twentieth centu ...

, and

Ash Vale Ash Vale is a village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England and the larger, northern settlement of the civil parish of Ash. It is 7 miles (11 km) from Guildford but is closer to the Hampshire towns of Aldershot and Farnborough, t ...

Sport

Yateley United F.C. was formed in 2013, playing their home games at recently developed Sean Devereux Park. Yateley United's first team currently compete in Combined Counties League division one. Yateley Cricket Club was established in 1881, playing originally at the Cricketers pub on Cricket Hill and then on ''The Green'' on Reading Road. In 1999, the club moved to a new purpose-built ground and clubhouse at Sean Devereux Park.

Education

Following the closure and amalgamation of St Peter's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Junior School and Yateley Infant School, a new primary school opened in September 2010. Named Cranford Park CE Primary School. Yateley School is the largest secondary school in north-east Hampshire. It caters for children aged 11 to 16 and has an attached sixth-form college. Frogmore Community College is another secondary school in Yateley. Yateley Manor School is an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

catering for around 500 pupils aged 3 to 13.

Notable people

*Singer Alexa Goddard attended Yateley School. * Flora Thompson, author of the trilogy of novels ' Lark Rise to Candleford' is recorded in the 1901 Census as living and working in the Yateley Post Office. These books have since been adapted for television by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. * Sonny Black a leading UK acoustic guitarist also lives in Yateley. *Contemporary artist James Robert Ford grew up in Yateley and attended Yateley School. A number of his projects, including House Gymnastics, General Carbuncle, and 33 Things to do before you're 10, have taken place in Yateley. * Chris Benham, a Hampshire cricketer, grew up in Yateley and attended Yateley School. *Author Danny King grew up in Yateley and attended Yateley School. * Sean Devereux, a charity worker in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, came from Yateley. He was assassinated and Sean Devereux Park is named after him. * David Copeland, known as the "London Nailbomber" after a 13-day bombing campaign in April 1999 aimed at London's black, Asian, and gay communities, grew up in Yateley, though residing in nearby

Cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

in Farnborough at the time of the attack. * Robert Morgan, stop-motion animation filmmaker, grew up here. * Jed Wallace, a professional footballer playing for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

attended Frogmore Community College. * Aaron Kuhl, a semi-professional former

footballer, lives in Yateley. * Dom Ballard, Southampton FC player and England Youth International, grew up here.

References

External links

*
h2g2 Yateley Edited Guide Entry

Yateley Town Council
{{authority control Towns in Hampshire