Preston Deanery is a hamlet in the civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 of Hackleton

Hackleton

Hackleton is a village located in the south of the English shire county of Northamptonshire in the district of South Northamptonshire, just north of Buckinghamshire. It is south of Northampton town centre, and by road to the M1 London to Yorkshire motorway junction 15 and north of junction 14....

 in South

South Northamptonshire

South Northamptonshire is a local government district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council is based in Towcester.The district is rural and sparsely populated with just over 79,293 people in 2000 and 91,000 in 2008, a 14.8% increase. The largest town in the district is Brackley, which has a...

 Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is 4 miles (6 km) south of Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

 town centre and 1.5 miles (2 km) by road to the M1

M1 motorway

The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...

 London to Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 motorway junction 15. It lies just off the B526 road (former A50

A50 road

The A50 is a major trunk road in England. It runs from Warrington to Leicester; however, it was once a much longer route.-Current route:...

) from Northampton to Newport Pagnell

Newport Pagnell

Newport Pagnell is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes , England. It is separated by the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself, though part of the same urban area...

, between Hackleton and Wootton

Wootton, Northamptonshire

Wootton, Northamptonshire is a village about south of Northampton town centre and now part of the Northampton Borough Council area.The village is separated from Hardingstone by the Newport Pagnell Road the B526, formerly part of the A50 road...

, a former village which has become now a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 of Northampton.

Governance

The village is represented on Hackleton parish council which also covers the nearby villages of Piddington

Piddington, Northamptonshire

Piddington is a village in the south of the English shire county of Northamptonshire. known as Northants in the district of South Northamptonshire, just north of Buckinghamshire. It is south of Northampton town centre, in a cul-de-sac off the main road, at the War Memorial in the village of...

 and Horton

Horton, Northamptonshire

Horton is named from the Old English meaning "muddy farmstead" and lies in the English county of Northamptonshire. It was originally an estate village, serving the now demolished Horton House and it is close to its neighbouring village Hackleton...

. It is an "ancient parish"; a village or group of villages or hamlets and the adjacent lands which originally they held ecclesiastical functions, but from the 16th century onwards they also acquired civil roles. It was abolished as a separate parish in 1935. The 1801 census

Census in the United Kingdom

Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with...

 showed a population of 70. The current population estimate is 51.

Church

The church was dedicated to St Peter circa 1200, then St Peter and St Paul c.1415. It was a parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 for what was at the time a much larger and later abandoned village. The church is now redundant but cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust

Churches Conservation Trust

The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...

. It has a 12th century west tower with a central pilaster

Pilaster

A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....

-buttress on each face, a single nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

, and a square-ended chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

. A small part of the church is early Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

 (11th century) and an even earlier part appears to have an early Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 influence, which is very unusual for the area. The chancel arch is Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

.

Preston Deanery Hall and other houses

Around 1940 Preston Deanery consisted of four semi-detached properties, half a dozen farms and Preston Deanery Hall, once inhabited by monks but since converted to a private residence. During the Second World War one of the houses was occupied by a boy and his mother, who worked as a domestic servant at the Hall. The boy went to school in Hackleton. His experiences are described on the BBC People's War website.

Preston Green

Further urban expansion of Northampton

Northampton

Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

 was being planned in October 2008 with another 13,500 houses and additional infrastructure in the rural areas around Grange Park

Grange Park, Northamptonshire

Grange Park is a large residential housing estate on the edge of the Borough of Northampton but outside the Borough boundary. Some residents refer to its status as a "village", although in reality it is an extension to the Northampton urban area. It is south of Northampton town centre, in the...

, Quinton

Quinton, Northamptonshire

Quinton is a village and civil parish in South Northamptonshire, England. It is about south of Northampton town centre along the road from Wootton to Hanslope, near Salcey Forest.-Geography:...

and Preston Deanery however the incoming Conservative-LibDem coalition government of the 2010 General Election has abolished this expansion proposal.