Welcome to the Hooton Pagnell Parish Council website.
Hooton Pagnell is a rural settlement that is situated on a limestone escarpment and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It is linear in character and stretches along Main Street with a spur along Clayton Lane. Built as an estate village, it originally comprised several farms situated on the main street. Its agricultural characteristics can still be seen by the many yards opening directly from the main road with small or no gardens. Many buildings contain 17th century or earlier elements and there is relatively little modern infill.
Buildings are mainly simple in form. Dwellings comprise mostly of small cottages with gable ends facing the road, or occasional larger buildings with larger frontages, although still retaining cottage style characteristics of two storey and end on to the road. Limestone was the traditional material. Principle roof materials are slate and clay pantiles. Limestone boundary walls are an important and extensive feature of the conservation area. The conservation area is well endowed with mature trees particularly in the grounds of Hooton Pagnell Hall and the churchyard.
Within the conservation area there are 29 listed structures, including the Grade I listed Church of All Saints and Grade II* listed Hall.
Hooton Pagnell, like many other places in the area, was first recorded in the Domesday Book, completed for William 1 of England (William the Conqueror) in 1085. Here it was called 'Hotone' – 'The Town on the Hill' or 'The High Dwelling Place'. The second part of the name was added during the time of the Paganais, a distinguished Norman family into whose hands the manor passed towards the end of the 11th Century. The second part of the name is variously spelt as 'Paynel', 'Painali', 'Pagnelli'. Hence 'Hooton Pagnell' – 'The High Dwelling Place of the Paynels'. From those times onwards the village was important because it occupied an important strategic site overlooking the flat lands of the Dearne and the Don. The present house of Hooton Pagnell Hall, not visible to the public, is largely 14th Century. Earlier buildings were mainly timber. It was heavily modified in Elizabethan times and several times after. The village has many other interesting historical buildings.