Thoughts on reconstructing Paston Hall

The 3D recreation of Paston Hall was always going to be an exercise of the imagination.

It has been a deeply frustrating process precisely because my imaginings would be driving the build rather than any substantive evidence to the contrary and there have been many occasions when I have changed my mind about certain aspects consigning many hours of work to the bin.

That said, I’m as happy about the end result as I’m going to be and comfortable knowing that there was little else I could achieve with the evidence available. I am reconciled that this is an interpretation and not a rigorous archaeological / architectural understanding.

Ultimately I hope that it conveys the impression of a site of Medieval origins that had undergone changes over the years with rebuilds, additions, blockings, etc, something that had grown organically and was on the wane.

The following is a brief account of my thought processes with Paston Hall and how I have interpreted the scant and sometimes ambiguous evidence available.

THE BOYDELL WATERCOLOUR

I’ve already written in length concerning various issues with the composition in the Boydell watercolour.

To summarise, I believe that he has much reduced the ruins of the main hall buildings (a point supported by contemporary witness Tilney-Spurdens) to accommodate a view of the church. The church itself has been moved a considerable distance to the left so that it is framed by the ruins. I also believe the gatehouse has also been moved from the east and ‘shoehorned’ in front of the barn.

Interestingly, the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey identified the low wall and well seen in the watercolour. When these features were plotted and combined with an overlay of the watercolour viewed in 3D, the barn position is shown to be accurate. By extrapolation I could then guesstimate the eastern range and position of the then smithy. It seems that the smithy building is probably located under

the present cottage in the gardens and the east range of the hall is mainly under and to the east of the present hall.

The biggest assumption I have made with Boydell is the colour treatment in his painting. The question I have been wrestling with is whether the orange of the ruins is representative of brickwork or whether he is defining a difference between the ruins and other buildings such as the church and barn. I plumped for the latter.

My reasoning is that the gatehouse was built from stone and flint as described by Blomefield. His description of ruins seem representative of a Late Medieval arrangement with a buttery hatch and great hall, so I decided that the east range containing the great hall and entrance would probably have been a stone/flint building and contemporary the gatehouse.

OTHER SNIPPETS

There are other snippets of information that have helped my decision making. We know of a ‘Tudor Farmhouse’ that existed on the site well after the Hall was demolished, I have chosen to include a range of buildings to the south of the outer courtyard that represent this.

The gatehouse was described as having two large cellars so I have also added wings to the gatehouse inspired by Baconsthorpe Castle.

In terms of the Hall itself, we know that there was a chapel, but not its whereabouts. We know that the Hall was partly destroyed by fire during the reign of King Henry VIII and was replaced by a ‘great rose-coloured mansion’ that appears in a portrait of Sir William Paston (1528–1610).

The GPR indicated something akin to this building in terms of a ground plan facing south. With this in mind I have built a new brick wing to the south to represent this ‘mansion’ and included various bits a bobs such as blocking of windows to illustrate a complex that has undergone change and rebuild over the years.

The Paston Hall model has been a real tussle and there are things I would change in retrospect, but that would be a Sisyphean undertaking!