Passenham, Northamptonshire
Historical Description
Passenham, a village and a parish in Northamptonshire. The village stands on the river Ouse, at the boundary with Bucks, 1 mile WSW of Stony Stratford, and 3 miles WSW of Wolverton station on the L. & N.W.R. It was known to the Saxons as Passanham, and was the place where Edward the Elder baited in his expedition against the Danes and raised an entrenchment while fortifying Towcester. The parish contains also the hamlet of Denshanger and parts of Puxley and Old Stratford, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office at Denshanger. Acreage, 3253; population, 1149. There is a parish council consisting of eleven members. The manor belongs to the Maynard family. The parish includes great part of Whittlewood Forest. Lace-making is carried on, and there are some agricultural engineering works and an iron foundry at Denshanger. The living is a rectory, united with that of Old Stratford, in the diocese of Peterborough; net value, £400, in the gift of Lady Brooke. The church, which is a building of stone in the Early Decorated style, is old and ivy-clad; consists of nave and chancel, with a tower; and contains a finely carved pulpit, fourteen richly carved stalls, and a handsome monument to Sir R. Banastre, who died in 1649. A new church was built in 1853 at the W end of the village of Denshanger at a cost of £3000, and is a building of stone in the Early English style. There are Baptist and Primitive Methodist chapels and some small charities. B. Willis the antiquary was a resident.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Northamptonshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Passenham St. Guthlake | |
Hundred | Cleley | |
Poor Law union | Potterspury |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with the Northamptonshire Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts for Northamptonshire online.
Churches
Church of England
St. Guthlac (parish church)
The church of St. Guthlac is a building of stone, in the Early Decorated style, consisting of chancel and embattled nave and a western tower with pinnacles, containing 5 bells: in the chancel are seven stalls on each side richly carved with niches supported by Ionic pillars at the back of each stall, each niche bearing the name of an apostle or saint in gilt letters: the stained east window was the gift, in 1867, of Miss Day, of Stony Stratford: the pulpit is finely carved: on the south wall of the chancel is a marble monument, painted and gilt, with bust, to Sir Robert Banastre kt. ob. 15 December, 1649.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Passenham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Passenham (St. Guthlake))
- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Northamptonshire, 1914
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Northamptonshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Passenham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Northamptonshire papers online: