We start our walk from the car park of the attractive stone-built Village Hall. The oldest part of the Hall dates back to 1866 and was originally an Infants’ School. When the present Hackleton School was built in 1877, the building was refitted and opened again in 1879 as a Club and Reading Room for the parishioners. The main part of the Hall was added in 1927 by G.H. Winterbottom of Horton House in memory of his son, Dudley, who died during the First World War.

Walking up Chapel Lane towards the main road we come to a red brick building which was originally a tanning factory servicing a number of shoemakers in the village. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the consequent decline of the cottage shoe industry, the factory became the Parish hall until the construction of the Dudley Winterbottom Memorial hall, when it was sold and became, as it remains today, a warehouse.

Turning left, still on Chapel Lane, we come to the Baptist Chapel, built in 1888 in memory of William Carey (1761-1834), a founder member of the Baptist Church in Hackleton and the first Baptist missionary (see Walk 12). He was also the first person to translate the Bible into some of the Indian and Chinese dialects. Before 1888 some 23 cottages stood on the chapel grounds between the present building and the main road. Before proceeding, visit the Millenium Garden to the rear of the Chapel where you can sit on the ‘2000’ bench and contemplate a peaceful scene.

At the top of Chapel Lane, turn right along the main road. Immediately on our right is the Parish Notice Board, on the grounds where once stood the Village Bakery and the ‘old’ Co-op. Looking down The Jetty, back towards the Village Hall, we see four terraced cottages believed to be about 200 years, once part of a much longer row which housed a cobbler’s shop (one of those since demolished) and shoemakers. It was in one of these cottages that William Carey worked, apprenticed to a cordwainer, Thomas Old.

Carrying on along the main road we come to the Village’s only surviving public house, the White Hart. The first recorded licence was issued to Robert Holt in 1739. Immediately past the pub is Sansome’s Butchers, a traditional butchers’ shop complete with stable type doors open to the elements!

At the end of the row of cottages, attached to the butchers’ shop, stands the Post Office and General Stores, once a bicycle shop with a petrol pump outside. Now the only such shop in the parish, and with no newspaper delivery to homes, this is quite a meeting place!

Almost at the end of the village is Hackleton House, built for Thomas Lyne, owner of the village lands, in 1754. This eventually became the home of Gordon Sansome’s great grandfather. He was, amongst other things, the Village Vet, and ‘Standings’, the house next door, was his stables. The Village Fete used to be held in the grounds of Hackleton House.

Crossing over the main road, we see Great Lane leading to Lyne Walk and the Chase Housing Estate on the right, built in the 1970s. Heading back along the main road, just past Sheppey Lane we come to what used to be the Village Smithy (The last blacksmith, George Longland, died in 1982). Next door used to be a cottage belonging to the local wheel-wright. These buildings have been renovated and a small courtyard constructed, with a carpenter’s workshop to the rear.

Beyond this, a little way back from the road, is the White House, which used to be the Old Police House. Next comes the magnificent farmhouse of Pinetrees Farm, built about 1700 and extended in the early 1800s, dominated by the three enormous Scots Pines which give it its name. This is a Grade 2 listed building and was formerly a coaching inn. Until the construction of the M1 motorway, the Village was on the main route from Northampton to London, and the turnpike road from Northampton to Stoke Goldington (the present road through the Village) opened in 1709. The house is now a private residence and barns and outbuildings of the farm have been converted into houses.

Next comes Lucas Lane, at the top of which is a footpath connecting to Walk 6.

A little further along the main road we come to another small 1960s housing estate, known as ‘The Banks’. The site on the other side of the main road has an interesting history. The New Inn stood here until sold and demolished, along with two other pubs in nearby villages, to raise the money to build the Queen Eleanor Public House on the junction of the B526 and A508. A shop and off-licence was then built, known as the ‘new Co-op’. This ceased to function in the late 1980s, and the site became occupied by ‘Easirider’, providing a showroom for leather and sheepskin products with a factory/work room behind. This has also closed down and some private houses have now been built.

Back on the right hand side of the road is the village telephone kiosk. Carey Road to our right is a post-war Council estate, built on the site of old allotments. On our left, we can see the Old Vicarage, built in 1870 and now a private house. Since 1979 the parish has shared a vicar with the parish of Hardingstone. Vicarage Close, a small new development was built on the grounds which were sold at the same time as the Vicarage.

Just past Carey Road there is a signpost for a footpath leading to Little Houghton (see Walk 6). Next comes the ‘new’ Police House. This stood empty for some time, but we now have a village policeman again. Next door stand the Old School House and the Primary School, both built in 1872. The school’s population is consistently around the 200 mark, and is drawn from Hackleton, Horton, Piddington and Preston Deanery, with some parents from wider afield choosing to send their children here. Behind the school lies the Recreation Ground, regularly used for football matches by the local teams and for a variety of village events. There is a playground for young children in one corner with recently renovated equipment.

Opposite the school is the War Memorial, standing at the top of the road to Piddington. On and around the corner are some houses built originally for farm workers. We go down this road as far as the bridge over the stream. Just past the bridge there is a stile on the left. We go over this and follow the path by the meandering stream. Although often a mere trickle in the summer, during the winter months it sometimes overflows and has been known to flood the Village Hall and cut off the village of Piddington for a short time. Half way along this path, a new cut has been dug out for the stream to alleviate flooding. Various wildlife can be seen along here – rabbits, pheasants, moles, kingfishers, goldfinches, and even whitethroats and a heron. A very old willow tree is situated at the fork of the old stream bed and the new cut. This tree is almost completely hollow, yet manages to come into leaf year after year. From this path we can see the back of Vicarage Close and the Old Vicarage, and the extensive gardens at the back of these and other houses along the main road.

The path emerges on a footpath which takes you over the bridge on the left back to the Village Hall.