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A quick scan through the visitor's book shows that I am not alone in these thoughts with many a reference to a church peopled by ghosts and spirits. Memorials to The Paston family after whom the village has been named can be found everywhere. This family whose day to day life is known after the publication of thousands of letters spanning the years between 1422 and 1509.
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 Acquired
by John Fenn of East
Dereham who published a selection of them in 1787 with the complete
collection being published in the late 19th century.
The letters reveal life during the Wars of the Roses and after the Black Death. It details how the family rose from the lower classes to the aristocracy in a frank and detailed way. The huge memorial to Katherine Paston(1603-1627 -
Aged 24) sculpted in black white and pink alabaster with pillars arches
a coroneted skulls and mourning figures dominates the chancel. The monument cost £340.00 a staggering sum in its day. A Norfolk phrase still used today 'there was never a Paston poor, a Heydon a coward or a Cornwallis a fool'. |
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The
church of St. Margaret in Paston is by any standards a very atmospheric
church.