England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Paston St Margaret

The Parish

The parish of Paston lies in the extreme northeast of Norfolk forming a stretch of the county's North Sea coastline. Paston is located roughly 4 miles northeast of the market town of North Walsham and sits just over a mile east of the B1145 road which connects North Walsham with the coastal resort of Mundesley. Paston is a small and compact village which lines the winding and narrow lane which forms Norfolk's coast road along this stretch, a row of properties stretch northwards towards Mundesley whilst a major group form around hall & church. This stretch of Norfolk's coast is devoid of safe harbours so Paston's economy was like most in the county dominated by arable farming. Paston's recent past has been dominated by the construction of the nearby Bacton Gas Terminal which covers most of the cliff-top site between Paston and Bacton. Drainage, where such exists, tends away from the low cliffs of this coastline heading inland to meet the River Ant, this heads southwards to joining the other major Broadland rivers in reaching the sea through the port of Great Yarmouth. Paston is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in gentle terrain where land continues slightly rising inland to juts over 40 metres. Paston parish was fairly typically sized for the county, covering close to 1,400 acres it would have supported a population of around 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Paston was an equally modest place, shared between William de Warenne and St Benet's Abbey its assets totalled 7 ploughs, the usual meadows & woodland and there was a mill.

The Church

St Margaret's church sits on the edge of the village by the grounds of Paston Hall and on the southern side of the Bacton Road as it heads eastwards out of the village. The church has its origins in the late 13th to early 14th centuries and is styled almost entirely in the Decorated style. The church shows every indication of having been built through a single campaign albeit it has been extensively restored in the 19th century. What is otherwise a fairly typical Norfolk flint church is topped by its iconic thatched roof which covers the nave and below which sits the original 14th century structure. As mentioned the Victorian restorers had their usual say with 2 significant restorations of 1843 & 1869 to produce today's church. Whilst the exterior may seem to be a simple Norfolk church internally it is the Paston monuments, the Pastons were a prominent local family, in marble and alabaster as well as the 14th century wall paintings notably of St Christopher that make the church worth a visit. The church has a small lay-by to its east for parking and is well-screened from the Bacton Road with only a small wooden board to mark its shaded entrance. Once within the churchyard is open & uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.