John Paston's petition was successful and the family
took up residence again on 6 October.Margaret, who
was a strong and resourceful woman, also came under
attack when she lived at
Caister Castle near Yarmouth. The Paston family inherited
this property via Sir John Fastolf's disputed will and
it was besieged by Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk for a
whole year. The account of the siege is wonderfully
documented by Margaret in The Paston Letters.
'Chaucer's Farm' still exists today and is one of a
number of Norfolk Chaucer links. Walter Rye, the Norfolk
antiquarian, wrote a book entitled Chaucer, A Norfolk
Man (1915) in which he suggests that Chaucer's
father came from King's Lynn.
The poet must also have been familiar with
Bawdeswell (Baldeswell)
because it appears in The Reeve's Tale.
Gresham church contains a splendid Seven Sacraments
font.
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