# Passenham

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This article is about the village. For the parish, see [Deanshanger](/source/Deanshanger).

**Passenham** is a small village in [West Northamptonshire](/source/West_Northamptonshire),[1] England. It is just north of the [River Great Ouse](/source/River_Great_Ouse), which forms the boundary with [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire), and close to (but separated by the river from) [Stony Stratford](/source/Stony_Stratford) in [Milton Keynes](/source/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](/source/Old_Stratford)[4] which also administers the village and both are part of [West Northamptonshire](/source/West_Northamptonshire). It was governed by [South Northamptonshire](/source/South_Northamptonshire) District Council[5] and [Northamptonshire County Council](/source/Northamptonshire_County_Council)[6] until [local government changes in 2021](/source/2019%E2%80%932023_structural_changes_to_local_government_in_England#Northamptonshire).

On 11 November 1948 the [civil parish](/source/Civil_parish) of "Passenham" was renamed "Deanshanger".[7]

## Landmarks

The church of [St Guthlac](/source/St_Guthlac) has a late 13th-century tower, the upper part rebuilt 1626. The [chancel](/source/Chancel) was built in 1626 by Sir Robert Banastre (who died in 1649).[8] Some remarkable furnishings, [stalls](/source/Choir_stall) and [misericords](/source/Misericords) date from 1626. There are also original wall paintings[8] which were restored in the 1960s. Also notable are [box pews](/source/Box_pews), [stained glass](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Roman_mythology) [Mars](/source/Mars_(mythology)), [Apollo](/source/Apollo), and [Victoria](/source/Victoria_(mythology)) and inscriptions ascribed to [Jupiter](/source/Jupiter_(mythology)) and [Vulcan](/source/Vulcan_(mythology)), leading to theories that this was a votive hoard at a Roman temple.[12] The hoard is now kept at the [British Museum](/source/British_Museum).[14]

## Notes

1. though not the British Museum.[14]

1. The relevant part of the map is reproduced at ["Old Stratford"](https://www.mkheritage.org.uk/os/doc/property/hor.html). *Milton Keynes Heritage Association* and can be matched to the six-inch Ordnance Survey mapping for the same area.[15]

1. ([52.0534°N 0.8626°W](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?params=52.0534_N_0.8626_W))

## References

1. ["List of settlements"](https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/neighbourhood-planning/list-settlements). [West Northamptonshire Council](/source/West_Northamptonshire_Council). Retrieved 18 February 2026.

1. Ordnance Survey (1952). *OS Six-inch England and Wales, 1842–1952*. National Library of Scotland. (Old Stratford, Passenham and [Deanshanger](/source/Deanshanger) with north-west Stony Stratford)

1. ["Key to English Place Names"](http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Passenham). *kepn.nottingham.ac.uk*. University of Nottingham.

1. [Old Stratford Parish Council](http://www.oldstratford.org.uk/)

1. [South Northamptonshire District Council](http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/)

1. ["Northamptonshire County Council website"](http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/). Retrieved 26 July 2009.

1. ["Towcester Registration District"](https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/towcester.html). UKBMD. Retrieved 6 December 2025.

1. Pevsner, Nikolaus (1961). *The Buildings of England – Northamptonshire*. London and New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 369–70.

1. ["The Stony Stratford Hoard (Roman)"](https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MNN26090&resourceID=1044). [Northamptonshire County Council](/source/Northamptonshire_County_Council). Retrieved 20 October 2020.

1. ["Minutes of meeting, 3 June 1813 (SAL/02/033/056)"](https://collections.sal.org.uk/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.

1. 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](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3241834)

1. ["Old Stratford"](https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/northants/vol4/pp108-110). *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.

1. ["Whittlebury Forest, Northamptonshire, map/4210"](https://nro-apw.adlibhosting.com/Details/archive/110160324). *Northamptonshire Archives online catalogue* (The forest was called both Whittlewood and [Whittlebury](/source/Whittlebury))

1. ["diadem; head-dress"](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_OA-252). British Museum. (object number OA.252)

1. 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](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3241834)

## External links

- Ordnance Survey (1925). *OS 25-inch England and Wales, 1842–1952*. National Library of Scotland. (Passenham, [Calverton](/source/Calverton,_Milton_Keynes) and south-west Stony Stratford)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Passenham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenham) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenham?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.