Cornish Pasty Shop with a Warmcote Pasty!

Joel Endersby Heritage Restorations have just finished this fun little project for Gear Farm Pasty Company.

A pargetted Cornish pasty made using our very own Warmcote Lime Plaster, with a hand crimped edge and by making a couple of different lime washes to give the authentic baked look.

What is Pargetting : The application of ornamental lime plasterwork or stucco relief work to a flat surface. Pargetting is believed to have been introduced to England in the sixteenth century by Henry VIII who imported Italian plasterers to decorate Nonsuch Palace. The craft was referred to as ‘stucco’ in Italy but became known as ‘pargetting’ in England. Initially, patterns were stamped or scratched into the surface of wet plaster, but the most skilled pargetters came to create their own designs which they then modelled directly onto the wall using their fingers and a spatula to create designs in high relief.

However, evidence is beginning to appear which suggests that pargetting may have been started during the Roman occupation, and then died out before being resurrected by Italian stucco plasterers working on Nonsuch palace. It dropped out of favour after Elizabeth I’s reign, became fashionable again during Jacobite period, Victorian era, Arts and Crafts period, and popular again in the last 20-30 years with several people taking an interest in the trade (although some are plaster sculptors doing small panels which aren’t integral to a building, rather than entire elevations).

While the craft is mainly associated with East Anglia and particularly Suffolk and Essex, historically it was much more widely employed and examples can be found in the West Country, Kent (Maidstone), Cheshire (Chester), Wirral peninsular (Port Sunlight) and Staffordshire (Stoke on Trent). Examples of early pargetting also exist in Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire, although in these areas it is much more common to find internal work, which is often easily overlooked.

Pargetting is most frequently seen on the outside of houses, particularly in areas where there is no good building stone. However, pargetting can be found in areas where good building stone is present. It is most commonly found on timber framed properties (more prone to fire damage than brick or stone built) but it was not necessarily a substitute. It can also be found indoors on overmantels and ceilings.

Techniques

Freehand modelling of plaster, either in high or low relief. Pargetting can be found in a number of finishes and is not restricted to lime plaster, although this is the most common. Simple repeating panels can be combed or stamped.

Lime plaster applied and modelled by hand using plastering tools and a variety of home made implements and tools. Specific pargetting tools are not available so home-made versions are the order of the day. Repeat decorative patterns may be made with wooden stamps or by scratching or impressing the wet plaster. The finest pargetting is hand-modelled bas-relief motifs like coats of arms, fruits, animals, green men etc.