There is much evidence that the site where Yateley now stands has been inhabited for thousands of years. Stone Age arrowheads together with pottery and other signs of settlement have all been found in the area. The Romans certainly occupied the area; there is a settlement at Bagshot but the village itself is most likely of Saxon origin.

The name Yateley is probably a derivation of the Anglo Saxon Yat (gate) ley (forest clearing) - the gate being one to the Royal Forest of Windsor.

Certainly the village was thriving in 885 when, as part of the Manor of Crondall it was bequeathed by Alfred the Great to his nephew Ethelm. By 940 the lordship had passed to the Priory of St. Swithuns at Winchester. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions the presence of a lined well with healing powers which was destroyed in 1098.

During this time it is reasonable to assume that a Saxon official lived in a wooden hall on the site which Yateley Manor School now occupies, the site being known from antiquity until 1828 as Hall Place.

The Domesday Survey values the village at 100s and reports 14 farms, a mill, a church and a hall. The village had the same value as just before the conquest so the area obviously avoided the vigorous subjugation which William dealt out in less fortunate areas.

By 1237 the Hall was held by Juliana de Aula the widow of a wealthy villein. The holding included 106 acres with 16 sub-tenants and the Hall was large enough to house Juliana along with several servants. A holding of this size is the probable start of a sub-manor and certainly Yateley was a large settlement in the thirteenth century. In 1287 there were 53 tenants which would give an estimated total population of 238 including tenants’ families. This figure rises to around 300 when subtenants and landless serfs are added to the equation (by 1801 the population had only reached 470)

In the 1560's the medieval manor house was replaced with an Elizabethan Hall. Henry Bozeley who died in 1899 lived there when he was a boy. He recalled it as being a "low Elizabethan building with many gables and a fine oak staircase large enough to drive a team of horses up". When this house was demolished in 1828 to make way for the present Manor house the oak panelling from the rooms was removed to Manor Farm House but was lost when this house was knocked down in 1972.

From about the time of the building of the Tudor house a tradition persists of a passage from the Manor to the church presumably for the use of Priests eager to escape the religious oppression of the time. Unfortunately there is no evidence to sustain this romantic legend, although in 1794 a large brick drain leading from the church yard collapsed close to the Manor.

In recent years building work has unearthed a length of Tudor guttering from the site of the Fyson Blum Hall and foundation work on the new wing uncovered some oak beams which bore the marks of working with an adze. Those remnants being all that appears to remain of the Tudor Hall.

The first owner (and presumed builder) of the Tudor hall was Richard Allen, who also owned the Mill (which remained part of the property until 1887). He had 21 subtenants and was obviously an important landowner.

The next notable owner was Sir Richard Ryves (d.1671). Ryves was a Spanish merchant knighted in 1663 by Charles II. He was Sheriff and Alderman of London, and a rich influential man. The Ryves family lived at Hall Place for several years after the death of Richard - these were probably nephews as he died childless. The estate continued to be a considerable one as another Richard Ryves paid rates of £1/9/3 in 1700, a large assessment for the time.

In 1724 Thomas Wyndham came to Hall Place. He was a Jacobite supporter who prudently decided to stay at home when the army of the Young Pretender reached Derby in 1745. Had Wyndham joined Bonnie Prince Charlie he would certainly have lost his property and probably his life in the reckoning that followed the Battle of Culloden.

Wyndham appears to have died without children, as in 1791 Hall Place belonged to the Hon. James Everard, the husband of Wyndham's younger sister Anne.

By now the Tudor building was in decline and was no longer suitable as a gentleman's residence. It was described in 1794 thus

"The Manor House is situated near the Church and is an ancient edifice.... It is now let as a farm."

In 1828 the property was bought by Captain George Mason. He changed the name to Yateley Manor as the ancient title of Hall Place was causing confusion with Yateley Hall, which had recently changed its name from Calcott House. Mason demolished the Elizabethan house and had built the present Manor house building, which forms the core of the school.