St. Guthlac’s Church, Passenham
A church is recorded at Passenham as early as 912 AD, when King Edward encamped with his army in the village. It would have been a wooden structure with a burial ground and at the time Passenham must have been a sizeable hamlet for it to have been worthy of mention.
The church is again mentioned in records of 1136 again of wooden construction. "Although the general area is likely to be much the same the present position of the church and its burial ground may therefore not correspond exactly with previous ones and the Rectory, which is just a. few yards south of the churchyard wall, could conceivably be standing on the site of an early church or part of the burial ground." Dr O F Brown.
Listed as among the 1000 best churches in England the Parish Church of St Guthlac’s has served the community since the 13th century. It was dedicated to the 7th century saint Guthlac, a former warrior who repented, dedicated himself to God, became a hermit and who died in 714 AD.
The tower, added during the 14th century, was originally surmounted by a spire that later collapsed. Sir Robert Banastre, when residing at Passenham Manor, undertook a period of refurbishment of the church in the early 1600s from which fixings and fittings still exist today.
The church was closed and placed on the disused churches list after the Second World War. A campaign to reopen it began in 1951 and exterior restoration work was carried out until enough funds were raised by local people with support from the Pilgrims Trust in 1955-6 to start on the interior. During the restoration of the Gothic Chancel, stalls and the barrel-vaulted ceiling two murals of life-sized figures were discovered, said to be without precedent in England. Other figures were also eventually uncovered - all thought to be painted in 1626 -1628 as part of Sir Robert Banastre’s refurbishment works and covered up by the Puritans around the time of the English Civil War (1640s).
North Wall: Prophets - Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Isaiah
East Window is flanked by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimthea
South Wall: Evangelists - Matthew, Luke and John (St Mark is thought to have been where Banastre’s Memorial now stands)
The Church was classified as a Grade I Listed Building in 1960 and work to remove the multi-layers of distemper and restore the paintings was begun in July 1961 by conservator Clive Rouse.
