Preston Capes

"PRESTON-CAPES, a parish in the hundred of Fawsley, county Northampton, 5½ miles S. of Daventry, its post town, and 6 from the Weedon station on the London and North-Western railway. The village, which is of small extent, is wholly agricultural. The parish includes the hamlet of Little Preston. A portion of the land is in pasture. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough, value £426. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an ancient, ivy-covered structure, with an embattled tower containing a clock and five bells. The church was thoroughly restored in 1853. There are schools for both sexes; the boys' school has an endowment for the education of 20 pupils, and the girls' school is supported by Lady Knightley and the Rev. N. Knightley, M.A., by whom a Sunday-school is also supported. Preston Capes had formerly a Cluniac priory, founded by Hugh de Leycester in 1090, but which was subsequently removed to Daventry. Sir Rainald Knightley, Bart., of Fawsley Park, is lord of the manor."[From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868). Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]