This article is about the village. For the parish, see Deanshanger.
Passenham
CountryEngland
Coordinates52.048°N 0.864°W
Civil parishOld Stratford
Unitary englandWest Northamptonshire
Lieutenancy englandNorthamptonshire
RegionEast Midlands
Constituency westminsterSouth Northamptonshire
Post townMilton Keynes
Postcode districtMK19
Postcode areaMK
Dial code01908
Os grid referenceSP780395
Static imageSt Guthlac's church Passenham south chancel wall interior view.jpg

Passenham is a small village in West Northamptonshire,[1] England. It is just north of the River Great Ouse, which forms the boundary with Buckinghamshire, and close to (but separated by the river from) Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes.[2]

The village's name means 'Passa's hemmed-in land'.[3]

Governance

The village parish council is joined with the village of Old Stratford[4] which also administers the village and both are part of West Northamptonshire. It was governed by South Northamptonshire District Council[5] and Northamptonshire County Council[6] until local government changes in 2021.

On 11 November 1948 the civil parish of "Passenham" was renamed "Deanshanger".[7]

Landmarks

The church of St Guthlac has a late 13th-century tower, the upper part rebuilt 1626. The chancel was built in 1626 by Sir Robert Banastre (who died in 1649).[8] Some remarkable furnishings, stalls and misericords date from 1626. There are also original wall paintings[8] which were restored in the 1960s. Also notable are box pews, stained glass and a monument to Banastre.

The Stony Stratford hoard

The Stony Stratford Hoard was found in 1789, possibly near Passenham.[9] It is not known where it originally came from or how it got there. Even the location of the find-spot is somewhat speculative, since the only recorded information is in a Minute of a June 1813 meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of London, which identifies the find spot as "Windmill Field, near Stony Stratford".[10] Historians Brown and Roberts conjectured that the field concerned is the one in nearby Passenham;[11] other Northamptonshire sources concur.[12][9][a] (A 1608 map of the Whittlewood Forest area,[13] shows a windmill on the east side of the road leading south into Passenham, a little to the north of Manor Farm.[b]) Brown and Roberts also identified crop markings at the east end of that field, leading them to conjecture that to be the most likely location.[11][c] An urn was uncovered that contained between 50 and 60 fragments of silver and gilt bronze plaques.[12] "In addition there are two objects sometimes described as ensigns or head-dresses".[12] The fragments include images of the Roman deities Mars, Apollo, and Victoria and inscriptions ascribed to Jupiter and Vulcan, leading to theories that this was a votive hoard at a Roman temple.[12] The hoard is now kept at the British Museum.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ though not the British Museum.[14]
  2. ^ The relevant part of the map is reproduced at "Old Stratford". Milton Keynes Heritage Association and can be matched to the six-inch Ordnance Survey mapping for the same area.[15]
  3. ^ (52.0534°N 0.8626°W)

References

  1. ^ "List of settlements". West Northamptonshire Council. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
  2. ^ Ordnance Survey (1952). OS Six-inch England and Wales, 1842–1952. National Library of Scotland. (Old Stratford, Passenham and Deanshanger with north-west Stony Stratford)
  3. ^ "Key to English Place Names". kepn.nottingham.ac.uk. University of Nottingham.
  4. ^ Old Stratford Parish Council
  5. ^ South Northamptonshire District Council
  6. ^ "Northamptonshire County Council website". Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  7. ^ "Towcester Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  8. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1961). The Buildings of England – Northamptonshire. London and New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 369–70.
  9. ^ "The Stony Stratford Hoard (Roman)". Northamptonshire County Council. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Minutes of meeting, 3 June 1813 (SAL/02/033/056)". Minute book. Vol. 33 (1811-1817). Records of the Society of Antiquaries of London | Minute books of the Society of Antiquaries. 3 June 1813. p. 306.
  11. ^ Brown, O.B. & Roberts, G.J. (1973). "1. The Romans, before and after". Passenham: The History of a Forest Village. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 9780900592638. OCLC 3241834
  12. ^ "Old Stratford". An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire. Vol. 4, Archaeological Sites in South-West Northamptonshire. HM Stationery Office. 1982. pp. 108–110. – via British History Online.
  13. ^ "Whittlebury Forest, Northamptonshire, map/4210". Northamptonshire Archives online catalogue (The forest was called both Whittlewood and Whittlebury)
  14. ^ "diadem; head-dress". British Museum. (object number OA.252)
  15. ^ Ordnance Survey (1883). OS Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952. National Library of Scotland.

Further reading

Brown, O.B. & Roberts, G.J. (1973). Passenham: The History of a Forest Village. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 9780900592638. OCLC 3241834

  • Ordnance Survey (1925). OS 25-inch England and Wales, 1842–1952. National Library of Scotland. (Passenham, Calverton and south-west Stony Stratford)