England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Passenham St Guthlac

The Parish

The parish of Passenham lies in the extreme south of Northamptonshire forming a stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Buckinghamshire and lying some 1 1/2 miles southwest of the Buckinghamshire town of Stony Stratford. Passenham sits just over a half mile south of the A422 road which links Old Stratford with Buckingham. Passenham, istelf, is merely a hamlet sitting within a meander of the River Great Ouse, which here forms the county border, it has the church and a couple of farms and little more, the main settlement within the parish lies across the A422 where Deanshanger sits and holds the majority of the parish population in an oval of lanes leaning to the west slightly, much of Deanshanger is modern development with much of that village 19th century and more recent. Passenham sits on the flood-plain of the Great Ouse a position which gave it extensive access to rich pasture such that early gazetteers estimated that 2/3rds was set to pasture. Drier ground held arable and was also exploited for the local building stone. Today Passenham sits on the very northern edges of the vast New Town of Milton Keynes, only the river providing an air-gap between the hamlet and that urban sprawl. Modern developments arrived at the parish but have not survived, the Buckingham Canal connecting that town with the main trunk route of the Grand Union is now closed and little except for some infrastructure remains. The Great Ouse has a way to travel across Bedfordshire and onwards into the Fens before reaching the North Sea through the Norfolk port of King's Lynn and The Wash. Passenham is sited at around 60 metres above the sea with Deanshanger some 20 metres higher, land continues rising northwestwards reaching the 120 metre contour in a few spots in fairly gentle terrain. Passenham parish was almost double the size of a typical southern rural farming parish, covering just over 3,300 acres it would have supported a population of close to 800 parishioners. In Domesday times Passenham was a much smaller settlement, Deanshanger is not recorded and Passenham, held mostly by King William, could only muster 7 ploughs backed by typical meadows & woodland but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Guthlac's church sits in Passenham within the large meander of the Great Ouse and almost sits on the banks of that great river on the western side of the only lane through. Much of the church was rebuilt during what is a rare time for major church building, the 17th century, a tie of great unrest as Tudor passed into Stuart reign and the country lapsed into Civil War and plague. Despite this effort of the 17th century some fabric does remain of the early medieval original church, the nave has lancets from the 13th century Early English Gothic era but a closer look indicates that they are cut into earlier walling possibly of the 12th century Norman Romanesque period, work on restoration done in 1960 revealed further evidence for that period in the chancel so St Guthlac has clearly been here since earliest times. The later medieval period of the 14th century is also represented but only by the basal stage of the western tower. The major changes of the early 17th century financed by Sir Robert Banastre added the topmost stages to the tower complete with pinnacles and faux-lancet styled bell-openings, the chancel was the major piece of work with the area largely rebuilt in what Pevsner terms " a bastardized Perpendicular" with the eastern end completed with a flourish in the form of the rounded gable. Inside the chancel ceilings are gaily painted blue with golden stars. The interior is also remarkable for the extensive fixtures and fittings from the same period especially the stalls with intricate misericords depicting fantastic figures as well as familiar lions and unicorns, the interior is worth its own visit. The lane passing the church carries little traffic and has broad grassy verges allowing safe parking, a few trees dot the churchyard but most are readily avoidable by the photographer.