Norton
Conyers is a mid-14th Century house in
North Yorkshire, England with Tudor,
Stuart and Georgian additions. The home has been owned and occupied by
the Graham family continuously since 1624. In the midst of a major
renovation several years ago, the current Grahams discovered sizable
fragments of this
large scale paper in the Head Housemaid’s Room.
Tax stamps on
the back of
several sheets can be used to date the paper between 1715 and 1786, but
the style and character of the pattern suggest a date close to
mid-century. Though more formally structured
than Adelphi's West St. Mary’s
pattern, (circa 1765) it does share some
similarities. Their first colors are printed as rather amorphous
patches of color; the subsequent colors, more delicately rendered,
delineate the overall format in straight lines or meandering ribbons.
Though the majority of the document had
long since settled into shades of grey and murky red, a small section
had been covered with a border and therefore retained
the remarkable mid 18th century colors which
Adelphi has accurately reproduced in the historic colorway.
Repeat 42 inches
Width 21 inches
Straight match
The historic colorway image above shows two widths of the
pattern installed.