Historically Nocton fell within the Langoe Wapentake of Kesteven until the wapentakes were abolished by the Local Government Act of 1888.
The earliest archaeological evidence of settlement in Nocton Parish are finds of the Neolithic and the Iron Ages. A possible early Neolithic flint core was recovered in 2011 from Nocton Fen from which flint blades had been napped. A Neolithic polished stone axe was discovered close to the future site of Nocton Hall in its grounds opposite Manor Farm, in 1909,
There is some limited evidence of Bronze Age occupation. A negative cropmark indicates the presence of a Bronze Age round barrow approximately 500 metres south of Abbey Hill. Two Deverel-Rimbury urns dating from 1600 – 1100 BC were found locally in 1882, possibly in Nocton Fen.
There is archaeological evidence of Iron Age (800 BC - AD 44) settlement and activity in Nocton that was then in the territory of the Brythonic Celtic tribal federation of the Corieltauvi. Iron Age scored pottery sherds containing animal bones were found both at the Neolithic site and to the south-western edge of the village along the bridleway to Dunston. The Archaeological and Historical Sites Index also records the presence of an Iron Age settlement and rectilinear enclosures to the north-east of the village although Iron Age Britons lived in round houses with conical thatched roofs of straw or heather that left few archaeological remains.