Preston is a village 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 ...

about south of

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

in Hertfordshire, England. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 425.

History

The village grew up around the

Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the most important military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded in 11 ...

holdings at Temple Dinsley. The first church was mentioned in 1252, when six acres (24,000 m²) of land was given to nuns from

Elstow Elstow is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, about south of Bedford town centre. History The Countess Judith of Lens, niece of William the Conqueror, founded a Benedictin ...

, Bedfordshire. Temple Dinsley passed on to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

after the dissolution of the Templars. When the Hospitallers were in turn dissolved in 1542, the manor went to Sir

Ralph Sadleir Ralph Sadleir (1579 – 12 February 1661) of Standon, Hertfordshire was an English landowner. He was Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1609. He was the only son, and heir, of Sir Thomas Sadleir (c. 1536 – 1607), lord of the manor of Standon, b ...

. The current house at Temple Dinsley dates from 1714, and served as Princess Helena College between 1935 and 2021. In the 17th century the village became linked with

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; 1628 – 31 August 1688) was an English writer and preacher. He is best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', which also became an influential literary model. In addition to ''The Pilgrim' ...

, who used to hold services in a natural

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (American English, U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meani ...

now called Bunyan's Dell. Prior to 1894, Preston and neighbouring Langley were part of the parish of Hitchin, together forming a long salient to the south of the town itself. Preston and Langley became separate civil parishes as a result of the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

, with effect from the first parish meeting on 4 December 1894. Preston civil parish was then included in the

Hitchin Rural District Hitchin Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the north of the county. Evolution The district had its origins in the Hitchin Rural Sanitary District. This had been created unde ...

between 1894 and 1974, when it became part of North Hertfordshire. The parish of Preston was enlarged in 1955 with the addition of territory from the neighbouring parishes of

St Ippolyts St Ippolyts (historically St Ippollitts) is a village and civil parish on the southern edge of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. As well as the village itself, the parish includes the hamlet of Gosmore and southern parts of the Hitchin built up ...

and

King's Walden King's Walden is a civil parish in the England, English county of Hertfordshire. The parish contains several settlements, with the largest village being Breachwood Green. King's Walden itself is a non-nucleated settlement, with several small clus ...

. St Martin's, the local

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, opened in 1900. The ruined

Minsden Chapel Minsden Chapel is an isolated ruined chapel in the fields above the hamlet of Chapelfoot, near Preston, Hertfordshire. Today it is a roofless shell, partly surrounded by a small wood, and accessible only by footpath. It is a Scheduled Monument ...

, reputed to be haunted, is located near the village, though is actually in Langley civil parish. The village pub, the Red Lion, was purchased by the community in 1983.

Governance

There are three tiers of local government covering Preston, at

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

and

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

level: Preston Parish Council,

North Hertfordshire District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, and

Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England. The council was created in 1889. It is responsible for a wide range of public services in the county, including social c ...

. The parish council meets at the Village Hall on School Lane. For national elections, the parish forms part of the Hitchin constituency.

References

External links

Preston Village website
Villages in Hertfordshire Civil parishes in Hertfordshire {{Hertfordshire-geo-stub