Artist blends photographs to create ‘new’ views of town’s Rows in set of giant panels
A series of panels tracing the history of Great Yarmouth's Rows includes this one showing the bottom end of Row 85 in Howard Street South Picture: Paul Patterson - Credit: Archant
Heritage panels full of people and pictures from the past are set to entertain visitors to Great Yarmouth.
Artist Paul Patterson has created a series of six panels that are being hailed as "absolutely incredible."They will be going up in Row 85, a busy thoroughfare Picture: Liz Coates - Credit: Archant
Six giant panels are to be installed in one of the town's busiest ancient Rows - the remnants of a unique Medieval streetscape of narrow alleys.
Row 85 which connects the former Divers pub with the Howard Street car park has been selected as one of the busiest - but most unlovely - which could benefit from the adornment.
The panels have been designed by retired artist Paul Patterson, using composite images and illustration, and it's hoped they will pique interest in all things historical.
In some cases the aim has been to build a picture of what life was like during a certain era, in others simply to create a window on the past.
One of the six panels which is going up in Row 85 in Great Yarmouth in a bid to tell their story. The panels are part of a £100,000 project to breathe new life into them with artistic improvements, repairs and lighting Picture: Paul Patterson - Credit: Archant
The project has seen him digitally enhancing often tiny pictures and blending them with others of the same period to produce a convincing view of what the town used to look like.
Darren Barker, head of Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust which is behind the scheme, said the striking panels were part of a £100,000 project to bring the Rows back to life and encourage people to enjoy them again.
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Only around half of the original 160 remain, the Luftwaffe wiping out many in the Second World War.
Most have been given back their old names and some will be re-lit with bulk-head nautical lamps.
This panel begins the story of Great Yarmouth's Medieval Rows. It is blend of places that still exist in the town Picture: Paul Patterson - Credit: Archant
Mr Patterson said the six panels followed a time-line starting from their Medieval origins, through to the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods.
One focuses on a day-in-the-life in around 1900, and another on the devastation during the war.
Another shows the view from Row 85 along King Street before it was bombed, the buildings sweeping along the street in an unbroken curve.
Mr Patterson, who is also a director of the trust, said the 7ft by 5ft panels were around four months' work.
A series of six panels charting the history of Great Yarmouth's Rows features this one showing a bygone view along King Street from Row 85 where the panels will be displayed Picture: Paul Patterson - Credit: Archant
Coordinator Rachel Harrison said the diligence of volunteer researchers was crucial in mining the past for stories, snippets of information, and quotes that were right for the aluminium panels.
The panels will be put up in the disused window recesses in Row 85 by the end of March as part of wider improvement works.
A series of panels has been created to tell the story of Great Yamouth's Medieval Rows. This one is a photo montage showiing the post-war devastation Picture: Paul Patterson - Credit: Archant
This panel depicts life in Great Yarmouth's Rows and includes a ghostly picture of the artist's grandparents who lived in the ancient narrow walkways Picture: Paul Patterson - Credit: Archant
