Official Guide to North Walsham 2023-2024

Historical North Walsham 117
The Pastons in North Walsham
The Pastons were one of Norfolk’s most
prominent families from about 1380 until
1750. They rose from a rural manor to become
successful and prominent lawyers in Tudor
England, eventually gaining lands and titles as
members of the aristocracy. Today they are best
known as the authors of the Paston Letters –
“the world’s earliest collection of family letters”.
On the 20th June 1381 Clement Paston, father
of Judge William Paston, was charged with
affray in the town and with the theft of Court
Rolls from the Abbot of St Benet’s. This event
took place during the Peasants’ Revolt in protest
against the Poll Tax, an uprising across Norfolk
which was crushed at North Walsham by Bishop
Despenser.
Clement Paston’s feud with the Abbot of St
Benet’s continued, and in 1413 he was charged
with stealing from the Abbot’s fishponds near
Spa Common.
Doublet
‘For I shall make my
doublet all Worsted, for
the glory of Norfolk’
Judge William Paston
Paston school
Nelson studed here!
The Pastons managed their
substantial estates in the
area to produce incomes
from malting barley and
wool. The market at North
Walsham would have been
an important trading location. There are several
references to Worsted cloth in the Paston
Letters, and there was a type of cloth known as
Walsham, though little detail is known of it.
Following the disastrous fire of 1600, which
destroyed much of North Walsham, Sir
William Paston purchased land and created
an endowment to provide the necessary
funding for a new school. For the Paston family,
education had been their route from poverty to
wealth. Members of the Paston family also went
on to become lawyers, courtiers, musicians,
collectors, friends of Kings and Queens and
a founding member of the Royal Society.
The school was officially opened in 1606 and
was later attended by Horatio Nelson and his
brother William. Education for 16-19-year-olds
continues on the site to this day.
Sir William Paston
(1528 - 1610), is shown
here ‘venerable in his
civilian attire of
sober black’.
He was Sheriff
of Norfolk and
Suffolk between
1565 and 1582 and
knighted on 22
August 1578.
A very notable feature inside St
Nicholas Church is the ornate tomb
of Sir William Paston. The monument
shows Sir William full length in armour,
comfortably propped up on his elbow.
A meticulous man, he commissioned
this excellent monument himself
two years before he died. The tomb
is adorned with heraldic shields
depicting the family’s pedigree.