Clare, Suffolk
Encyclopedia
Clare is a small town
on the north bank of the River Stour
in Suffolk
, England.
Clare is 14 miles (22.5 km) from Bury St Edmunds and 9 miles (14.5 km) from Sudbury
. It lies in the 'South and Heart of Suffolk' . As a cloth town, it is one of Suffolk's 'threads'. Clare is the current holder of Village of the Year and has won the Anglia in Bloom award for Best Large Village 2011 for its floral displays. It has a cultural exchange relationship with Chatillon-sur-Indre
. Clare and its vicinity reveals evidence of man's long habitation throughout prehistory. The historical record demonstrates a community which changes and yet persists across centuries, from the Norman Conquest through religious strife, agricultural upheaval and industrial revolution
to the present day.
The town hosts one of the very first free schools
established by the government , opened in September 2011.
As part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Managing a Masterpiece scheme, in April and May 2011 Access Cambridge Archaeology (ACA) gave residents, school pupils and members of the public the chance to carry out their own small archaeological 'test pit' excavations throughout Clare to find out how the town developed over hundreds - even thousands - of years in the past. Early results indicate the presence of Saxon pottery across many sites - the first evidence of Clare's importance before the Normans.
period, containing some of the youngest rock in the British Isles. Like the vast majority of Suffolk, the surface 'rock' is the very fertile boulder clay
or clay loam, lying on top of layers of chalk. The landscape surrounding the Stour Valley is the result of the joint effects of past glaciation and the agricultural alteration of the land. Originally the area was under the sea; the shells of the sea creatures dropped to bed of the ocean and formed into chalk about 140 million years ago. Another mineral, silica, filled the sponges and other similar animals in the sea. As this was left behind it formed nodules of hard flint. A ridge of Cretaceous
chalk left by the ancient sea juts into Suffolk from Cambridgeshire
. This ridge is never more than 140 metres above sea level but it makes what is called High Suffolk. This chalk layer forms the so called solid rock layer. This chalk was originally quarried where it came to the surface, and was either burned to produce agricultural lime or was mixed with sand, quarried locally, for mortar used in building (hence the presence of cream bricks ('Suffolk whites') for houses in the area). Chalk in the water makes it 'hard' (classified as 'very hard; 511 mg/l as calcium carbonate).
During the Ice Age, the sea level was some 200 metres lower than it is today. Melt water carried debris and flowed beneath the glacier under high pressure, to produce tunnel valleys, deeply incised water routes. At Clare it is as far as 110 metres below our present sea level. The valley was subsequently filled with boulder clay and gravel. The ice sheet, which produced the chalky boulder clay, rolled upon a bed of glacial sand and gravel, and formed the flattened character of the area today.
The main river running through the country park is not the Stour. This is a mill stream called the 'new cut', established to operate a mill belonging to the priory, in use in the 14th century. It is joined at the eastern end of the country park by the Chilton stream. This itself is fed by the Hawedych, and by another stream coming down from Poslingford. The smaller Stour now runs south of the country park, meandering around the priory and meadows.
implements were discovered within the Priory grounds. A Mesolithic
quartzite pebble macehead was found in the same location. A Neolithic
stone axe was retrieved from the River Stour; a polished flint axe in a gravel pit to the east and a flint head in a meadow just off the Ashen Road. A Neolithic arrowhead was found in a garden on Bridewell Street. A Neolithic long mortuary enclosure and three Bronze Age barrows were located across the river towards Ashen. Evidence of a barrow together with 200 worked flints were found near Chilton Street. A Bronze Age socketed gouge was unearthed from plough soil on the Common. An Iron Age
pot was found embedded in the river bank, half a mile east of Clare. Together with an iron spearhead, they are held in The Ancient House. Iron Age coins have also been found, one from the Belgic Trinovantes
tribe. In 2009 during a recent rebuilding programme at Clare Primary School, postholes of a late Bronze/Early Iron Age structure were located, with an associated ring ditch. This supports the view that Clare Camp (OS TL768458, at the north end of the town, just behind Bridewell Street) with its double ditches, one of the most impressive of its kind in Suffolk, is from that period; with an area of 2.9 hectares, it is second only to Burgh Castle
. The north side is most complete, with an inner rampart 9 ft high and counterscarps 12 and 14 ft high. In 1993 a field survey and magnometric scan revealed the possibility of entrances on the east and south sides. Clare was on the outer borders of the Trinovantes territory, just south of the Iceni
. The camp probably marks the first permanent settlement in the area.
boundary ditch and posthole has been found just off Nethergate Street; a strap fitting, coins, sepulchral urns and a bronze figurine of Mercury or a dancing boy have been unearthed in various locations. There were substantial settlements to the west at Wixoe
and to the east at Long Melford
. The Via Devana
from Chester
to Colchester
probably passed through Cavendish, on the north side of the Stour. There may have been a fort at Wixoe, possibly a staging post. This was a military road, but located along an ancient road running from Dunwich
in East Anglia
into the Midlands
. Some Roman brick seems to have ended up in the Parish Church.
A Google map pinpointing all of the archaeological finds within 5km of the town may be found here. Of 50+ finds shown on the map, only two are Anglo-Saxon. The majority of finds are centred on Clare and along the Stour Valley.
as 'Clara'. It possibly derives from the "clear" nature of the Chilton Stream as it flows through the town, but from a Latin word rather than a Celtic one as was previously thought. Another clue to its origin is a nearby 'Rombrigge' or Roman bridge. In the Domesday Book, it is described as "'Always a market. Now 43 burgesses' - an astonishingly high number, because at the time very few Suffolk towns had any burgesses, let alone 43". It lists 37 acres (149,733.8 m²) of meadow, woodland for 12 swine, a mill, 5 arpents of vineyard (an arpent was 4-6 acres) and 400 sheep. The manor included Stoke-by-Clare and the hamlet of Chilton Street, totalling 108 households. Improbably it has been suggested that the word claret is derived from Clare and its extensive vineyards. There is a Claret Hall towards Ashen, but that could simply mean 'Little Clare'.
. William the Conqueror re-granted the land to one of his closest supporters in the Conquest, the son of one of his cousins, Richard fitz Gilbert
de Bienfaite, Count of Brionne along with 170 other manors, 95 of them in Suffolk. This huge estate became known as the Honour of Clare. Calling himself de Clare, Richard established his administrative centre in Clare; he also owned a large estate in Tonbridge, Kent where he built a motte and bailey castle
of a very similar size to Clare. Clare Castle is first recorded in 1090.
His son Gilbert gave the church in the castle to a Benedictine monastery in Bec, Normandy. Gilbert and his brother were present with Prince Henry when William II
was shot dead with an arrow fired by Walter Tyrell, Gilbert's steward. Tradition is strong that the de Clares had staged an assassination; Henry I
was crowned three days later.
In 1124 Gilbert's son Richard removed the Benedictines to a new foundation in Stoke-by-Clare, the origin of today's Stoke College
.
In 1140 Richard's son Gilbert was given the title of Earl of Hertford by Stephen
. He joined the revolt against the king but later returned to support him.
The Third Earl, Richard was one of 25 barons appointed as guardians to the Magna Carta
. He married the heiress to the Earl of Gloucester, whose sister married King John.
The fourth Earl, Gilbert inherited the title and vast estates of the Earl of Gloucester. It was his son, Richard who brought the Augustinian Friars to Clare to found the mother house in England in 1248.
The wealthiest Clare was Gilbert ('the Red'), the 7th Earl of Gloucester. He sided with Simon de Monfort
, attended the first English Parliament, but then fell out with de Monfort and fought alongside Prince Edward at the battle of Evesham when de Monfort was slain. He seized London and held it against Henry III
. After Edward I
's accession, he married Joan of Acre
in 1290, the king's daughter. He surrendered his lands to the king and was given them back. He held land in 26 English counties and as well as estates in Wales: Caerphilly, Usk, Tintern.....the high point of the family as a major force in English history.
On his death in 1295, Joan remarried one of his household knights and began new works at Clare Priory. She was buried in the Chapel of St Vincent which she herself had founded in 1307. The funeral was one the major public events in Clare's history: a number of royalty and nobility attended, including her brother Edward II. “Fifty-two years after her burial the grave was opened and her body found to be incorrupt......of the many miracles 'wrought by God's grace through her, especially in the cure of toothache, back-ache and fever.'”
Her son Gilbert
was the last male de Clare. At the battle of Bannockburn
in 1314, he was accused of cowardice and treason when he recommended holding the better ground rather than attacking Bruce's densely packed pike walls. Against his better judgement he led the charge and was killed.
The story does not quite end there. One of Gilbert's daughters, Elizabeth de Burgh eventually came into the property of Clare. Widowed three times by the age of 28, she could be described as a 'modern-day multimillionare'. It is through the records of her estate that we know so much about the running of the castle. She is also known as Elizabeth de Clare
.
William de Burgh
was Elizabeth's son by her first husband, the Earl of Ulster. He was assassinated in Carrickfergus in 1333 by his Irish cousins. His infant daughter, Elizabeth was married to the third son of Edward III
, at the age of four. Her husband Lionel thereby came into the Clare inheritance and became the Duke of Clarence
as well as the Clarenceaux King of Arms. Chaucer
the poet was at one time a page to him. After Elizabeth's death in 1363, he married the Count of Milan's daughter. There were wild rumours he was about to become King of Italy, but he died near Pavia a few months after his marriage. Following his last wish, his heart and bones were brought back to Clare for burial beside his first wife.
The estate passed into the hands of the Mortimers, the Earls of March. The castle began to fall into disrepair from this time. The last descendant was Edward V
, one of the two Princes in the Tower
. Henry VII
took over Clare borough and manor. Henry VIII
gave them to each of his wives in turn, Katherine of Aragon granting the common to the poor of Clare. Under Queen Mary, the lands of the Honour of Clare were transferred to the Duchy of Lancaster
(which is why today Prince Charles will technically appoint the Vicar). The title of Duke of Clarence was last held by Albert Victor, the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
(later King Edward VII) and Alexandra, Princess of Wales
(later Queen Alexandra), and the grandson of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria
. From the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the throne
, but he did not become king because he died before his father and his grandmother, the Queen. He had agreed to be the patron of the Royal Clarence Lodge of the Freemasons in Clare but died in 1892 before he could attend the opening ceremony.
At its height in Elizabeth de Burgh's time the castle offered substantial employment, perhaps 250 persons not counted amongst the townspeople. Elizabeth regularly went on annual visits to her properties, particularly Great Bardfield, Anglesey Abbey and Usk, taking with her a large entourage of wagons, horses, other animals and multiple officers and servants - one visit to Usk involved 130 horses, 28 carriages and 22 oxen. She might have sworn a vow of chastity in 1343 after the death of her third husband, but she did stint on her luxuries.
From her household records we can piece together the activities of the castle. Erbury was the manor's home farm providing the bulk of basic foodstuffs from the pastures and meadows plus fruit from the orchards of pear, apple and cherry. Within the castle grounds, there were fishponds, a horse driven mill, woodyard, a vineyard, kennels, a dovecote and a swannery (the birds were not kept for their aesthetic qualities!). There were forges, both for weaponry and farming implements. She had her own potters, carpenters, goldsmiths and embroidery studio. She hired copiers to create masterpieces on vellum. Above all there were the brewhouses and bakeries producing great quantities of ale and bread. On one day 290 loaves of bread, 100 gallons of ale and 488 herrings were supplied. In one year the accounts show wheat for 106,248 loaves and malt for 40,682 gallons of ale. On May 28, 1340, she entertained her cousin King Edward III - they dined on boar, veal, various poultry, five swans, six herons and three bittern.
The castle had one principal gateway, a substantial buildings in its own right, now gone - only the name Nethergate or Bottom Gate survives. There were several towers aside from the keep; we know their names: Auditor's, Constable', Oxenford and Maiden's, but not their locations. Beautiful gardens were laid out. There were flint paths, seats, a glass aviary, fountains, a deer enclosure and a lion house (keeping exotic animals was the fashion). After her death in 1360, the castle became increasingly unused. By the 1480s it had been largely abandoned. In the C17, it is described as 'nothing but lamentable ruins upon a most beautiful situation'.
reached East Anglia. 'In the Manorial Court Rolls for March....there are very long lists of the death of tenants.'. The rolls cease in September and do not resume until 1360. Yet the Court Rolls of the Borough do not show the same pattern: court leets continue as before, the number of brewers, bakers, butchers and others accused of sharp practices remains constant. The Wentford fair was held as normal. Elizabeth de Burgh's castle records have no mention of the plague nor show any fall in the day-to-day activities. Everything suggests the town was little affected.
, the Fraternity of the Clerks, founded around 1020. The name Corpus Christi dates from the 1340s when that feast day was introduced from the continent; it soon became the most popular holy day in the calendar – see the mystery plays of Norwich and Ely, and all across England. The eponymous college
in Cambridge was founded by a guild, in response to the decimation of the Black Death. This event seems to have concentrated people's minds on their heavenly prospects. By prayer and acts of charity (carried out in the guild's name rather than personally), a guild member hoped to ensure a swifter passage for himself and his family through purgatory
to heaven.
By the time of Henry VIII, most areas of England had as many as 50 public holidays (holy days) a year on which no one worked. The guild whose feast day it was would hold a solemn procession and celebrate mass in the church. They would then provide entertainment such as mummers
or miracle plays and food for the poor of their community. The Guild of St John put out casks of ale: 'fyve hockepottes or drinkinges in v stretes or places, namelye, market strete one, nethergate strete kepte another, challice strete a third, higherowe a fourth, and Chilton strete alwayes kepte the fifte'.
There was a guildhall in the town, opposite the church, probably shared by different guilds. Elsewhere, as in Lavenham
, each guild had its own building, but Clare seems less well endowed. The C14 building still stands, now a doctor's surgery; fine old beams may be seen in the waiting room.
As elsewhere there are scanty records as all religious guilds were suppressed under an Act of Parliament in 1547 and their properties and assets seized. This Act also forbad the worship and representation of saints and masses for the dead. Public holidays (holy days) on which a guild would provide food for the poor and entertainment such as mummers or miracle plays all stopped at the same time, along with feast day markets. The annual market at Wentford, a noted regional event held on the Feast of Nativity of the Virgin Mary (September 8) disappeared. This suppression and its effect on the social and religious life is described as the Stripping of the Altars
.
was the main product, somewhat coarser than Harris Tweed
, prickly to the skin, odorous when wet. Flowing water was essential for the purpose of fulling
– so production concentrated on locations along rivers such as Clare, Cavendish, Glemsford and Sudbury. Many houses in Clare had cellars through which culverts were led.
Merchants gathered in convoys for safety to convey the goods to Calais
(then an English possession). Several locations in Suffolk were known as collection points – one of these is Callis Street in Clare, just north of the parish church, variously named Calais or Chalyce Street.
Clothiers organised and financed the industry, putting out work across the town, supporting road maintenance, providing alms
to the poor, embellishing the priory and church, building substantial houses for themselves.
At the same time as the major disruption to the social and religious life of the townspeople took place in the 1540s, the introduction of the spinning wheel
and the importation of newer fabrics from the continent led to a fall in the manufacture of broadcloth. Clare recovered some of its industry in the late C16, by taking up what is called the 'New Draperies', lighter and cheaper cloths called 'bays and says'. 'A bay was lighter and finer than modern baize.... A say was a fine durable cloth, made entirely of wool with a texture resembling serge'. By the C18 this industry was in decline, becoming concentrated in the larger towns, Ipswich and Colchester. At the close of the C16, Sir Robert Jermyn described Clare as '... a populous market town [which] requires an able, painful and discreet teacher ...' in a letter to Robert Cecil
requesting the appointment of a 'Mr Colte' as the town's new pastor.
Most involved stolen or stray animals, but some lost items are more amusing to us: 'September 7, 1694: a warming pan found on the road between Stoke and Clare. September 11, 1701: Thomas Sparrow apprentice to John Barnard of Sudbury, who did run away from his master. April 30, 1709: an iron door stolen out of Mr Henry Smith's brewhouse. February 2, 1710: Sarah Wordeley, the wife of old Mr Wordely of Glemsford, for wasting and making away her husband's estate.'
From the relative boom of the C16, Clare suffered a gradual decline as a leading town in West Suffolk. For a while in the C17 Clare had status as a transport and distribution hub, lying on a major highway into London. Hostelries were set up and warehouses occupied a key role in the economy. Trade was diverted as the Stour became navigable as far as Sudbury in 1709. The handloom weaving industry was gone by the 1800s; the last weaver died in 1825, aged 83. Straw-plaiting for ladies' bonnets, a local cottage industry, disappeared as fashions changed.
After an agricultural boom in the Napoleonic wars, farmers were hit by falling prices; many labourers were laid off. Opposition to newer technology appeared in Clare: 'Jacob Halls, Samuel Gridley, Rhinaldo Bareham and Henry Atherton were convicted of burning a threshing machine at Clare, 13 months gaol to the former three and the latter 9 months.'. Harvests were terrible in 1828 and 1829, followed by the Swing Riots
. The Long Depression
(1870-1895) brought further misery and distress; many families moved to towns to seek work or emigrated. The effects on Clare society may be viewed in the 2011 exhibition in the Ancient House Museum.
The coming of the railway had been greeted with enthusiasm, including performances by the town's brass band, but it was a false hope – farmers sent their produce elsewhere. The centuries old market faltered - today the weekly appearance of the fresh fish van is the sole vestige.
in his 'Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland' (1610) wrote: 'On the South side wee saw the river Stour, which immediately from the verie spring head spreadeth a great Mere called Stourmmere, but soone after, drawing it selfe within the bankes, runneth first by Clare, a noble village which had a castle, but now decaied, and gave name to the right noble familie of the Clares'.
Daniel Defoe
in 'A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain' (1724–27) said that Clare was "a poor town and dirty, the streets being unpaved. But yet the civil and spiritual courts are held at it and it has a good church; it shows still the ruins of a strong castle, and an old monastery. It has a manufacture of says…". He also describes great droves of turkeys being taken to Colchester from Clare, 300 to 1,000 birds at a time.
There are 131 listed buildings in Clare, a number only exceeded by Bury St Edmunds and Lavenham within Suffolk. A online map is available, with links to each building. Grade 1 are three religious buildings: the Priory, the Chapel to the Priory and the Parish Church of Ss Peter and Paul. There are three domestic grade 1 houses: Cliftons and Nethergate House in Nethergate Street and the Ancient House in Church Street. The Ancient House with florid pargeting
is now a museum. It is available as a holiday let through the Landmark Trust. A rare 13th century flint-lined well has been found in the garden behind the No 1 Deli Cafe . There are fine examples of timber-framed houses throughout the town, from the 14th to the 16th century, plus Georgian and Victorian houses. Most of the later houses are constructed in Flemish bond, but there is one example of a rat-trap bond in Station Road. Some of the weavers' cottages had cellars through which water ran for fulling
the cloth. The heart of the town is a conservation area, one of 35 recognised by St Edmundsbury Council.
Suffolk has no natural building stone. Buildings are mainly of timber, usually oak beams with wattle and daub
infill, or brick. Brickyards abounded in Suffolk. Clare had its own brickyard in the 19c, run by the Jarvis family. Examples of brick from Gestingthorpe and Ballingdon can also be found, both Suffolk whites and reds. Flint is used as an infill or in walling. Where stone is found it was largely imported from Barnack, near Peterborough. This was transported along the Fenland waterways and brought into Suffolk, either overland from Cambridge or possibly by sail to Manningtree and then up the Stour
.
The 13th century flint-stone castle keep sits upon a 70 ft high motte overlooking the town on the banks of the Stour
. Parts of the inner and outer baileys still exist. The castle is part of the Clare Castle Country Park which has the distinction of containing the only (now decommissioned) railway station built within a castle in the UK. The station was built by the Great Eastern Railway on the Stour Valley Railway
and closed in 1967. The park has 25 acres (101,171.5 m²) of landscaped parkland, interlaced with water in the old moats. The Stour Valley Path crosses the park.
Crossing the Stour en route to Ashen is a three span cast iron bridge, built when Clare was on a main highway between London and Bury St Edmunds. It was Sir William Cubitt
's second design for a bridge. The date of completion 1813 can be seen above the central arch, making it Suffolk's oldest iron bridge. The iron was almost certainly cast at Ransomes
of Ipswich, a foundry mostly known for agricultural machinery for whom Cubitt worked. Later they supplied the new railways across East Anglia. In good condition, the bridge remains in use today.
]
In the past, Quakers were strong in the area and had their own building by 1686, a cottage at the north foot of the castle motte. The then owner of the castle and priory, Captain Charles Barnardiston was a Quaker. He and his fellows were prosecuted for his beliefs and 'was debarred of the use of their meeting-house, and obliged to meet in the street during the cold winter, where they received much personal abuse'. What is left of the burial ground is now part of 3 Cavendish Road. The nearest Meeting Houses are now Bardfield, Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury.
The oldest religious building in Clare still existing is the Norman chapel of St Mary Magdalene, dated c1190. Built as a wayside chapel just ½ mile north of Clare, close to a confluence of the Chilton stream at Wentford, it fell into disrepair by 1403 but was later granted to the Guild of St John the Baptist in Chilton. At the time of the dissolution of guilds and chantry chapels in 1547, the priest worked in Clare parish church and also in the grammar school. It was converted for domestic use. In the Civil War it was used as a powder magazine. Today it is called Chapel Cottage; remains of Norman windows, a bellcote, timber framing and an arched doorway are visible.
Chipley Abbey, just to the west of Poslingford, is a Grade II listed farmhouse incorporating part of the cloisters and moat of Chipley Priory, an Augustinian Canons foundation created before 1235.
Other public houses and hostelries existed in the past, all buildings still standing, except the last: the Old Red Lion 17c, the Old Bear and Crown Hotel 16c, the White Hart Inn 19c (later the Temperance Hotel!), the Half Moon 15c, the Clare Hotel 19c, the Castle 19c, the Boar and Griffin 16c, the Old Angel.
On the High Street, where numbers 10 A & B now stand, the Nethergate Brewery
was created in 1986. In 2004, it moved across the river to Pentlow.
The majority of agriculture around Clare is arable. Crops grown include winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, oilseed rape and broad beans for fodder, with smaller areas of rye and oats. The sugar beet is taken to the British Sugar factory in Bury St Edmunds.
In the Tudor period, the area is described as: "Wood-pasture region, mainly pasture, meadow, engaged in rearing and dairying with some bee-keeping, horse-breeding and poultry. Crops mainly barley with some wheat, rye, oats, peas, vetches, hops and occasionally hemp."
Because of the Stour there were mills in Clare, four reported in 1295. Malting Lane marks one, Mill Lane another. At least one mill was for fulling. The last corn mill, an 18c timber-framed structure together with a 19c brick boiler house and steamm engine, known as Waymans Mill, was destroyed by fire in the late 1970s. Windmills also existed - there is a ruinous stack near Chilton Street.
The market that had run in Market Hill from before the Norman Conquest shrank after the arrival of the railway in 1865. Farmers preferred to take their produce to the bigger markets of Ipswich, Sudbury or Cambridge. The Corn Exchange of 1838 eventually closed and was later replaced by a town hall.
There have been dramatic changes to farming and the agricultural landscape, particularly in the last century. Just north of Stoke-by-Clare is an example. Hull's Farm of 750 acres (3,035,145 m²) was divided into 67 fields, bounded by hedges and elm trees, with 30 farm workers and many horses. Pressure on farmers to increase food production during and after World War II, resulted in removal of a wood of 40 acres (161,874.4 m²), grubbed up to control the rabbit population, leaving 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) of Lord's Wood. Hedgerows were cut down. Dutch elm disease then decimated the tree population, leaving a wide open landscape. Now the farm buildings have been replaced by a nature reserve and the land incorporated into Stonard's Farm, with 5 farm workers and four tractors. The crop trebled between 1955 and 1996.
, the London Olympics park
, coming into London by the M11
. An alternative route is to take the train from Sudbury via Marks Tey
which stops at Stratford station - warning: while there are frequent buses (no 236) back and forth to Sudbury from Clare, they do not run after 6pm or on Sundays (Haverhill-Clare-Sudbury bus timetable). Many locals prefer to drive to Witham
and pick up the direct line into London, thus avoiding changing trains at Marks Tey (National Express map and timetable).
, later making bay and say cloth. It became a key staging post on a main highway to London, with warehouses and hostelries. Trade declined when the Stour
became navigable as far as Sudbury in 1709. Weaving ceased and the town became a small agricultural centre, trade shrinking further when the railway arrived. The Parish Council was created in 1894. The population has remained consistently below 2000 across the ages. The number of houses has increased from 152 (including Wixoe and Chilton Street) in 1674 to 852 in 1991; living space standards increased dramatically in the last century. Unusually for a settlement of less than 2000, it has a full range of services: bank, butcher, baker, doctors, library, co-op, off-licence, ironmonger, cafes, 3 public houses - all serving food; one a hotel, restaurant, take-aways (Chinese, fish & chips), 4 antique shops - one a large emporium, pharmacy, hairdressers and barber, post office, news & stationery, clothes, 4 churches, wedding dresses, physiotherapy, health food, art gallery, architect, gift shops, optician, solicitor, computer repairs, florist, electrical, greengrocer, pet supplies, sandwich shop, estate agents, bed & breakfasts, bookshop, many trades......and the Nuttery, a community woodland, winner of the Best Conservation Project in the Anglia in Bloom competition 2011.
In modern terms, Clare is a large village, hence its award as Suffolk Village of the Year 2010, but the people still like to think of themselves as living in Suffolk's smallest town.
, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001
, Clare had a population of 1,975 with 873 households.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
on the north bank of the River Stour
River Stour, Suffolk
The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England.
Clare is 14 miles (22.5 km) from Bury St Edmunds and 9 miles (14.5 km) from Sudbury
Sudbury, Suffolk
Sudbury is a small, ancient market town in the county of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour, from Colchester and from London.-Early history:...
. It lies in the 'South and Heart of Suffolk' . As a cloth town, it is one of Suffolk's 'threads'. Clare is the current holder of Village of the Year and has won the Anglia in Bloom award for Best Large Village 2011 for its floral displays. It has a cultural exchange relationship with Chatillon-sur-Indre
Châtillon-sur-Indre
Châtillon-sur-Indre is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
. Clare and its vicinity reveals evidence of man's long habitation throughout prehistory. The historical record demonstrates a community which changes and yet persists across centuries, from the Norman Conquest through religious strife, agricultural upheaval and industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
to the present day.
The town hosts one of the very first free schools
Free school (England)
A Free school is a school in England funded by the taxpayer, non-selective and free to attend but not controlled by local authorities. The concept of free schools is based upon a similar model found in Sweden as well as US charter schools....
established by the government , opened in September 2011.
As part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Managing a Masterpiece scheme, in April and May 2011 Access Cambridge Archaeology (ACA) gave residents, school pupils and members of the public the chance to carry out their own small archaeological 'test pit' excavations throughout Clare to find out how the town developed over hundreds - even thousands - of years in the past. Early results indicate the presence of Saxon pottery across many sites - the first evidence of Clare's importance before the Normans.
Geology
This area of the country was formed during the TertiaryTertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
period, containing some of the youngest rock in the British Isles. Like the vast majority of Suffolk, the surface 'rock' is the very fertile boulder clay
Boulder clay
Boulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America...
or clay loam, lying on top of layers of chalk. The landscape surrounding the Stour Valley is the result of the joint effects of past glaciation and the agricultural alteration of the land. Originally the area was under the sea; the shells of the sea creatures dropped to bed of the ocean and formed into chalk about 140 million years ago. Another mineral, silica, filled the sponges and other similar animals in the sea. As this was left behind it formed nodules of hard flint. A ridge of Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
chalk left by the ancient sea juts into Suffolk from Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
. This ridge is never more than 140 metres above sea level but it makes what is called High Suffolk. This chalk layer forms the so called solid rock layer. This chalk was originally quarried where it came to the surface, and was either burned to produce agricultural lime or was mixed with sand, quarried locally, for mortar used in building (hence the presence of cream bricks ('Suffolk whites') for houses in the area). Chalk in the water makes it 'hard' (classified as 'very hard; 511 mg/l as calcium carbonate).
During the Ice Age, the sea level was some 200 metres lower than it is today. Melt water carried debris and flowed beneath the glacier under high pressure, to produce tunnel valleys, deeply incised water routes. At Clare it is as far as 110 metres below our present sea level. The valley was subsequently filled with boulder clay and gravel. The ice sheet, which produced the chalky boulder clay, rolled upon a bed of glacial sand and gravel, and formed the flattened character of the area today.
The main river running through the country park is not the Stour. This is a mill stream called the 'new cut', established to operate a mill belonging to the priory, in use in the 14th century. It is joined at the eastern end of the country park by the Chilton stream. This itself is fed by the Hawedych, and by another stream coming down from Poslingford. The smaller Stour now runs south of the country park, meandering around the priory and meadows.
Prehistory
PaleolithicPaleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
implements were discovered within the Priory grounds. A Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
quartzite pebble macehead was found in the same location. A Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
stone axe was retrieved from the River Stour; a polished flint axe in a gravel pit to the east and a flint head in a meadow just off the Ashen Road. A Neolithic arrowhead was found in a garden on Bridewell Street. A Neolithic long mortuary enclosure and three Bronze Age barrows were located across the river towards Ashen. Evidence of a barrow together with 200 worked flints were found near Chilton Street. A Bronze Age socketed gouge was unearthed from plough soil on the Common. An Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
pot was found embedded in the river bank, half a mile east of Clare. Together with an iron spearhead, they are held in The Ancient House. Iron Age coins have also been found, one from the Belgic Trinovantes
Trinovantes
The Trinovantes or Trinobantes were one of the tribes of pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in current Essex and Suffolk, and included lands now located in Greater London. They were bordered to the north by the Iceni, and to the west by the Catuvellauni...
tribe. In 2009 during a recent rebuilding programme at Clare Primary School, postholes of a late Bronze/Early Iron Age structure were located, with an associated ring ditch. This supports the view that Clare Camp (OS TL768458, at the north end of the town, just behind Bridewell Street) with its double ditches, one of the most impressive of its kind in Suffolk, is from that period; with an area of 2.9 hectares, it is second only to Burgh Castle
Burgh Castle
Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, near Great Yarmouth, some 6 km west of Great Yarmouth and within the Broads National Park.-Roman Fort:...
. The north side is most complete, with an inner rampart 9 ft high and counterscarps 12 and 14 ft high. In 1993 a field survey and magnometric scan revealed the possibility of entrances on the east and south sides. Clare was on the outer borders of the Trinovantes territory, just south of the Iceni
Iceni
The Iceni or Eceni were a British tribe who inhabited an area of East Anglia corresponding roughly to the modern-day county of Norfolk between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD...
. The camp probably marks the first permanent settlement in the area.
Roman
A RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
boundary ditch and posthole has been found just off Nethergate Street; a strap fitting, coins, sepulchral urns and a bronze figurine of Mercury or a dancing boy have been unearthed in various locations. There were substantial settlements to the west at Wixoe
Wixoe
Wixoe is a village and civil parish in the St Edmundsbury district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the northern bank of the River Stour, two miles south-east of Haverhill, in 2005 its population was 140....
and to the east at Long Melford
Long Melford
Long Melford is a large village and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour, approximately from Colchester and from Bury St. Edmunds...
. The Via Devana
Via Devana
The Via Devana was a Roman Road in England that ran from Colchester in the south-east to Chester in the north-west. Both were important Roman military centres and it is conjectured that the main reason the road was constructed was military rather than civilian. The Latin name for Chester is Deva...
from Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
to Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
probably passed through Cavendish, on the north side of the Stour. There may have been a fort at Wixoe, possibly a staging post. This was a military road, but located along an ancient road running from Dunwich
Dunwich
Dunwich is a small town in Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia 1500 years ago but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. Its decline began in 1286 when a sea surge hit the East Anglian coast, and...
in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
into the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
. Some Roman brick seems to have ended up in the Parish Church.
A Google map pinpointing all of the archaeological finds within 5km of the town may be found here. Of 50+ finds shown on the map, only two are Anglo-Saxon. The majority of finds are centred on Clare and along the Stour Valley.
Norman
The name first appears in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as 'Clara'. It possibly derives from the "clear" nature of the Chilton Stream as it flows through the town, but from a Latin word rather than a Celtic one as was previously thought. Another clue to its origin is a nearby 'Rombrigge' or Roman bridge. In the Domesday Book, it is described as "'Always a market. Now 43 burgesses' - an astonishingly high number, because at the time very few Suffolk towns had any burgesses, let alone 43". It lists 37 acres (149,733.8 m²) of meadow, woodland for 12 swine, a mill, 5 arpents of vineyard (an arpent was 4-6 acres) and 400 sheep. The manor included Stoke-by-Clare and the hamlet of Chilton Street, totalling 108 households. Improbably it has been suggested that the word claret is derived from Clare and its extensive vineyards. There is a Claret Hall towards Ashen, but that could simply mean 'Little Clare'.
The Lords of Clare
The Domesday Book records that the lands around Clare belonged to a Saxon thane, Aluric (or Aelfric), son of Wisgar (or Withgar) and that he gave them to St John, probably creating a collegiate church in Clare, under Edward the ConfessorEdward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
. William the Conqueror re-granted the land to one of his closest supporters in the Conquest, the son of one of his cousins, Richard fitz Gilbert
Richard Fitz Gilbert
Richard fitz Gilbert , was a Norman lord who participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066. He was also known as "de Bienfaite", "de Clare", and "de Tonbridge".-Biography:...
de Bienfaite, Count of Brionne along with 170 other manors, 95 of them in Suffolk. This huge estate became known as the Honour of Clare. Calling himself de Clare, Richard established his administrative centre in Clare; he also owned a large estate in Tonbridge, Kent where he built a motte and bailey castle
Tonbridge Castle
Tonbridge Castle is situated in the town of the same name, Kent, England.-Early history:Following the Norman Conquest, Richard Fitz Gilbert was granted land in Kent to guard the crossing of the River Medway. He erected a simple Motte-and-bailey castle on the site. To dig the moat and erect the...
of a very similar size to Clare. Clare Castle is first recorded in 1090.
His son Gilbert gave the church in the castle to a Benedictine monastery in Bec, Normandy. Gilbert and his brother were present with Prince Henry when William II
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
was shot dead with an arrow fired by Walter Tyrell, Gilbert's steward. Tradition is strong that the de Clares had staged an assassination; Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
was crowned three days later.
In 1124 Gilbert's son Richard removed the Benedictines to a new foundation in Stoke-by-Clare, the origin of today's Stoke College
Stoke College
Stoke College near Haverhill, Suffolk is a co-educational day school for children aged 3 to 16, with boarding for children aged 9 to 16. It is built on the site of a major medieval monastic college.- History of the site :...
.
In 1140 Richard's son Gilbert was given the title of Earl of Hertford by Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
. He joined the revolt against the king but later returned to support him.
The Third Earl, Richard was one of 25 barons appointed as guardians to the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
. He married the heiress to the Earl of Gloucester, whose sister married King John.
The fourth Earl, Gilbert inherited the title and vast estates of the Earl of Gloucester. It was his son, Richard who brought the Augustinian Friars to Clare to found the mother house in England in 1248.
The wealthiest Clare was Gilbert ('the Red'), the 7th Earl of Gloucester. He sided with Simon de Monfort
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...
, attended the first English Parliament, but then fell out with de Monfort and fought alongside Prince Edward at the battle of Evesham when de Monfort was slain. He seized London and held it against Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
. After Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
's accession, he married Joan of Acre
Joan of Acre
Joan of Acre was an English princess, a daughter of the King Edward I of England and queen Eleanor of Castile...
in 1290, the king's daughter. He surrendered his lands to the king and was given them back. He held land in 26 English counties and as well as estates in Wales: Caerphilly, Usk, Tintern.....the high point of the family as a major force in English history.
On his death in 1295, Joan remarried one of his household knights and began new works at Clare Priory. She was buried in the Chapel of St Vincent which she herself had founded in 1307. The funeral was one the major public events in Clare's history: a number of royalty and nobility attended, including her brother Edward II. “Fifty-two years after her burial the grave was opened and her body found to be incorrupt......of the many miracles 'wrought by God's grace through her, especially in the cure of toothache, back-ache and fever.'”
Her son Gilbert
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford
Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester was a powerful English noble. Also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare, probably because of his hair colour.- Lineage :...
was the last male de Clare. At the battle of Bannockburn
Bannockburn
Bannockburn is a village immediately south of the city of Stirling in Scotland. It is named after the Bannock Burn, a burn running through the village before flowing into the River Forth.-History:...
in 1314, he was accused of cowardice and treason when he recommended holding the better ground rather than attacking Bruce's densely packed pike walls. Against his better judgement he led the charge and was killed.
The story does not quite end there. One of Gilbert's daughters, Elizabeth de Burgh eventually came into the property of Clare. Widowed three times by the age of 28, she could be described as a 'modern-day multimillionare'. It is through the records of her estate that we know so much about the running of the castle. She is also known as Elizabeth de Clare
Elizabeth de Clare
Elizabeth de Clare was the heiress to the lordships of Clare, Suffolk in England and Usk in Wales. She was the youngest of the three daughters of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre, and sister of Gilbert de Clare, who later succeeded as the 7th Earl...
.
William de Burgh
William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster
William de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster and 4th Baron of Connaught , was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland.-Background:...
was Elizabeth's son by her first husband, the Earl of Ulster. He was assassinated in Carrickfergus in 1333 by his Irish cousins. His infant daughter, Elizabeth was married to the third son of Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
, at the age of four. Her husband Lionel thereby came into the Clare inheritance and became the Duke of Clarence
Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence
Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Ulster and 5th Baron of Connaught, KG was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault...
as well as the Clarenceaux King of Arms. Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
the poet was at one time a page to him. After Elizabeth's death in 1363, he married the Count of Milan's daughter. There were wild rumours he was about to become King of Italy, but he died near Pavia a few months after his marriage. Following his last wish, his heart and bones were brought back to Clare for burial beside his first wife.
The estate passed into the hands of the Mortimers, the Earls of March. The castle began to fall into disrepair from this time. The last descendant was Edward V
Edward V of England
Edward V was King of England from 9 April 1483 until his deposition two months later. His reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded him as Richard III...
, one of the two Princes in the Tower
Princes in the Tower
The Princes in the Tower is a term which refers to Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. The two brothers were the only sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville alive at the time of their father's death...
. Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
took over Clare borough and manor. Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
gave them to each of his wives in turn, Katherine of Aragon granting the common to the poor of Clare. Under Queen Mary, the lands of the Honour of Clare were transferred to the Duchy of Lancaster
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
(which is why today Prince Charles will technically appoint the Vicar). The title of Duke of Clarence was last held by Albert Victor, the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
(later King Edward VII) and Alexandra, Princess of Wales
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
(later Queen Alexandra), and the grandson of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. From the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the throne
Line of succession to the British Throne
The line of succession to the British throne is the ordered sequence of those people eligible to succeed to the throne of the United Kingdom and the other 15 Commonwealth realms. By the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, the succession is limited to the descendants of the Electress Sophia of...
, but he did not become king because he died before his father and his grandmother, the Queen. He had agreed to be the patron of the Royal Clarence Lodge of the Freemasons in Clare but died in 1892 before he could attend the opening ceremony.
Life in the Medieval Castle
]At its height in Elizabeth de Burgh's time the castle offered substantial employment, perhaps 250 persons not counted amongst the townspeople. Elizabeth regularly went on annual visits to her properties, particularly Great Bardfield, Anglesey Abbey and Usk, taking with her a large entourage of wagons, horses, other animals and multiple officers and servants - one visit to Usk involved 130 horses, 28 carriages and 22 oxen. She might have sworn a vow of chastity in 1343 after the death of her third husband, but she did stint on her luxuries.
From her household records we can piece together the activities of the castle. Erbury was the manor's home farm providing the bulk of basic foodstuffs from the pastures and meadows plus fruit from the orchards of pear, apple and cherry. Within the castle grounds, there were fishponds, a horse driven mill, woodyard, a vineyard, kennels, a dovecote and a swannery (the birds were not kept for their aesthetic qualities!). There were forges, both for weaponry and farming implements. She had her own potters, carpenters, goldsmiths and embroidery studio. She hired copiers to create masterpieces on vellum. Above all there were the brewhouses and bakeries producing great quantities of ale and bread. On one day 290 loaves of bread, 100 gallons of ale and 488 herrings were supplied. In one year the accounts show wheat for 106,248 loaves and malt for 40,682 gallons of ale. On May 28, 1340, she entertained her cousin King Edward III - they dined on boar, veal, various poultry, five swans, six herons and three bittern.
The castle had one principal gateway, a substantial buildings in its own right, now gone - only the name Nethergate or Bottom Gate survives. There were several towers aside from the keep; we know their names: Auditor's, Constable', Oxenford and Maiden's, but not their locations. Beautiful gardens were laid out. There were flint paths, seats, a glass aviary, fountains, a deer enclosure and a lion house (keeping exotic animals was the fashion). After her death in 1360, the castle became increasingly unused. By the 1480s it had been largely abandoned. In the C17, it is described as 'nothing but lamentable ruins upon a most beautiful situation'.
The Black Death
Early in 1349 the plagueBlack Death in England
The pandemic known to history as the Black Death entered England in 1348, and killed between a third and more than half of the nation's inhabitants. The Black Death was the first and most severe manifestation of the Second Pandemic, probably caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria. Originating in...
reached East Anglia. 'In the Manorial Court Rolls for March....there are very long lists of the death of tenants.'. The rolls cease in September and do not resume until 1360. Yet the Court Rolls of the Borough do not show the same pattern: court leets continue as before, the number of brewers, bakers, butchers and others accused of sharp practices remains constant. The Wentford fair was held as normal. Elizabeth de Burgh's castle records have no mention of the plague nor show any fall in the day-to-day activities. Everything suggests the town was little affected.
Guilds
Local people organised themselves into guilds, not for mercantile or craft purposes, but as religious fraternities, dedicated to assisting the poor, praying for dead members, contributing to the church and priory. We know of five in Clare: St Augustine, St Peter, St Mary, Corpus Christi and St John the Baptist, the latter based on Chilton Street. Guilds began before the Normans; one of the oldest recorded was in GlemsfordGlemsford
Glemsford is a village in the Babergh district in Suffolk, England, near the town of Sudbury. Glemsford is located near the River Glem and the River Stour also flows nearby...
, the Fraternity of the Clerks, founded around 1020. The name Corpus Christi dates from the 1340s when that feast day was introduced from the continent; it soon became the most popular holy day in the calendar – see the mystery plays of Norwich and Ely, and all across England. The eponymous college
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
in Cambridge was founded by a guild, in response to the decimation of the Black Death. This event seems to have concentrated people's minds on their heavenly prospects. By prayer and acts of charity (carried out in the guild's name rather than personally), a guild member hoped to ensure a swifter passage for himself and his family through purgatory
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
to heaven.
By the time of Henry VIII, most areas of England had as many as 50 public holidays (holy days) a year on which no one worked. The guild whose feast day it was would hold a solemn procession and celebrate mass in the church. They would then provide entertainment such as mummers
Mummers Play
Mummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers , originally from England , but later in other parts of the world...
or miracle plays and food for the poor of their community. The Guild of St John put out casks of ale: 'fyve hockepottes or drinkinges in v stretes or places, namelye, market strete one, nethergate strete kepte another, challice strete a third, higherowe a fourth, and Chilton strete alwayes kepte the fifte'.
There was a guildhall in the town, opposite the church, probably shared by different guilds. Elsewhere, as in Lavenham
Lavenham
Lavenham is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is noted for its 15th century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walk. In the medieval period it was among the 20 wealthiest settlements in England...
, each guild had its own building, but Clare seems less well endowed. The C14 building still stands, now a doctor's surgery; fine old beams may be seen in the waiting room.
As elsewhere there are scanty records as all religious guilds were suppressed under an Act of Parliament in 1547 and their properties and assets seized. This Act also forbad the worship and representation of saints and masses for the dead. Public holidays (holy days) on which a guild would provide food for the poor and entertainment such as mummers or miracle plays all stopped at the same time, along with feast day markets. The annual market at Wentford, a noted regional event held on the Feast of Nativity of the Virgin Mary (September 8) disappeared. This suppression and its effect on the social and religious life is described as the Stripping of the Altars
The Stripping of the Altars
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580 is a work of history written by Eamon Duffy and published in 1992 by Yale University Press.-Summary of the book's argument:...
.
Wool Town
During the medieval period Clare became a prosperous town based on cloth making. The trade was already present by the C13, steadily expanding as demand grew. 3000 local fleeces were sold from Clare Manor alone in 1345. By the 1470s Suffolk produced more cloth than any other county. BroadclothBroadcloth
Broadcloth is a dense woollen cloth. Modern broadcloth can be composed of cotton, silk, or polyester, but traditionally broadcloth was made solely of wool. The dense weave lends sturdiness to the material....
was the main product, somewhat coarser than Harris Tweed
Harris Tweed
Harris Tweed is a cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, using local wool....
, prickly to the skin, odorous when wet. Flowing water was essential for the purpose of fulling
Fulling
Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...
– so production concentrated on locations along rivers such as Clare, Cavendish, Glemsford and Sudbury. Many houses in Clare had cellars through which culverts were led.
Merchants gathered in convoys for safety to convey the goods to Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
(then an English possession). Several locations in Suffolk were known as collection points – one of these is Callis Street in Clare, just north of the parish church, variously named Calais or Chalyce Street.
Clothiers organised and financed the industry, putting out work across the town, supporting road maintenance, providing alms
Alms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...
to the poor, embellishing the priory and church, building substantial houses for themselves.
At the same time as the major disruption to the social and religious life of the townspeople took place in the 1540s, the introduction of the spinning wheel
Spinning wheel
A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or synthetic fibers. Spinning wheels appeared in Asia, probably in the 11th century, and very gradually replaced hand spinning with spindle and distaff...
and the importation of newer fabrics from the continent led to a fall in the manufacture of broadcloth. Clare recovered some of its industry in the late C16, by taking up what is called the 'New Draperies', lighter and cheaper cloths called 'bays and says'. 'A bay was lighter and finer than modern baize.... A say was a fine durable cloth, made entirely of wool with a texture resembling serge'. By the C18 this industry was in decline, becoming concentrated in the larger towns, Ipswich and Colchester. At the close of the C16, Sir Robert Jermyn described Clare as '... a populous market town [which] requires an able, painful and discreet teacher ...' in a letter to Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
requesting the appointment of a 'Mr Colte' as the town's new pastor.
Cries of Clare Market
From 1612 to 1711 we have records of what the town crier was paid to announce across the town. It was very irregular work, perhaps nineteen proclamations a year. He was paid for each announcement: 'And that people may not plead ignorance, Wee doe order and give ye Cryer four pence to give persons notice in all convenient places of ye said parish.'Most involved stolen or stray animals, but some lost items are more amusing to us: 'September 7, 1694: a warming pan found on the road between Stoke and Clare. September 11, 1701: Thomas Sparrow apprentice to John Barnard of Sudbury, who did run away from his master. April 30, 1709: an iron door stolen out of Mr Henry Smith's brewhouse. February 2, 1710: Sarah Wordeley, the wife of old Mr Wordely of Glemsford, for wasting and making away her husband's estate.'
Into the modern age
After an agricultural boom in the Napoleonic wars, farmers were hit by falling prices; many labourers were laid off. Opposition to newer technology appeared in Clare: 'Jacob Halls, Samuel Gridley, Rhinaldo Bareham and Henry Atherton were convicted of burning a threshing machine at Clare, 13 months gaol to the former three and the latter 9 months.'. Harvests were terrible in 1828 and 1829, followed by the Swing Riots
Swing Riots
The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising by agricultural workers; it began with the destruction of threshing machines in the Elham Valley area of East Kent in the summer of 1830, and by early December had spread throughout the whole of southern England and East Anglia.As well as the attacks on...
. The Long Depression
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...
(1870-1895) brought further misery and distress; many families moved to towns to seek work or emigrated. The effects on Clare society may be viewed in the 2011 exhibition in the Ancient House Museum.
The coming of the railway had been greeted with enthusiasm, including performances by the town's brass band, but it was a false hope – farmers sent their produce elsewhere. The centuries old market faltered - today the weekly appearance of the fresh fish van is the sole vestige.
Historic Travel Writing
William CamdenWilliam Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
in his 'Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland' (1610) wrote: 'On the South side wee saw the river Stour, which immediately from the verie spring head spreadeth a great Mere called Stourmmere, but soone after, drawing it selfe within the bankes, runneth first by Clare, a noble village which had a castle, but now decaied, and gave name to the right noble familie of the Clares'.
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
in 'A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain' (1724–27) said that Clare was "a poor town and dirty, the streets being unpaved. But yet the civil and spiritual courts are held at it and it has a good church; it shows still the ruins of a strong castle, and an old monastery. It has a manufacture of says…". He also describes great droves of turkeys being taken to Colchester from Clare, 300 to 1,000 birds at a time.
Architecture
]There are 131 listed buildings in Clare, a number only exceeded by Bury St Edmunds and Lavenham within Suffolk. A online map is available, with links to each building. Grade 1 are three religious buildings: the Priory, the Chapel to the Priory and the Parish Church of Ss Peter and Paul. There are three domestic grade 1 houses: Cliftons and Nethergate House in Nethergate Street and the Ancient House in Church Street. The Ancient House with florid pargeting
Pargeting
Pargeting is a decorative plastering applied to building walls.Pargeting derives from the word 'parget', a Middle English term that is probably derived from the Old French 'pargeter' / 'parjeter', to throw about, or 'porgeter', to roughcast a wall...
is now a museum. It is available as a holiday let through the Landmark Trust. A rare 13th century flint-lined well has been found in the garden behind the No 1 Deli Cafe . There are fine examples of timber-framed houses throughout the town, from the 14th to the 16th century, plus Georgian and Victorian houses. Most of the later houses are constructed in Flemish bond, but there is one example of a rat-trap bond in Station Road. Some of the weavers' cottages had cellars through which water ran for fulling
Fulling
Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...
the cloth. The heart of the town is a conservation area, one of 35 recognised by St Edmundsbury Council.
Suffolk has no natural building stone. Buildings are mainly of timber, usually oak beams with wattle and daub
Wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw...
infill, or brick. Brickyards abounded in Suffolk. Clare had its own brickyard in the 19c, run by the Jarvis family. Examples of brick from Gestingthorpe and Ballingdon can also be found, both Suffolk whites and reds. Flint is used as an infill or in walling. Where stone is found it was largely imported from Barnack, near Peterborough. This was transported along the Fenland waterways and brought into Suffolk, either overland from Cambridge or possibly by sail to Manningtree and then up the Stour
River Stour, Suffolk
The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the...
.
The 13th century flint-stone castle keep sits upon a 70 ft high motte overlooking the town on the banks of the Stour
River Stour, Suffolk
The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the...
. Parts of the inner and outer baileys still exist. The castle is part of the Clare Castle Country Park which has the distinction of containing the only (now decommissioned) railway station built within a castle in the UK. The station was built by the Great Eastern Railway on the Stour Valley Railway
Stour Valley Railway
The Stour Valley Railway is a partially closed railway line that ran between , near Cambridge and in Essex, England. The line opened in sections between 1849 and 1865...
and closed in 1967. The park has 25 acres (101,171.5 m²) of landscaped parkland, interlaced with water in the old moats. The Stour Valley Path crosses the park.
Crossing the Stour en route to Ashen is a three span cast iron bridge, built when Clare was on a main highway between London and Bury St Edmunds. It was Sir William Cubitt
William Cubitt
Sir William Cubitt was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of windmill sail and the prison treadwheel, and was employed as chief engineer, at Ransomes of Ipswich,...
's second design for a bridge. The date of completion 1813 can be seen above the central arch, making it Suffolk's oldest iron bridge. The iron was almost certainly cast at Ransomes
Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies
Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries was a major British agricultural machinery maker producing a wide range of products including traction engines, ploughs, lawn mowers, combine harvesters and other tilling equipment. They also manufactured aeroplanes during the First World War...
of Ipswich, a foundry mostly known for agricultural machinery for whom Cubitt worked. Later they supplied the new railways across East Anglia. In good condition, the bridge remains in use today.
Churches
There are four churches in Clare today, ordered below by date of building.- The Clare Priory Chapel - Mother of Good Counsel. Just across the river is the first house of the Augustinian FriarsAugustiniansThe term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
in England, founded at the behest of Richard de Clare, Earl of GloucesterRichard de Clare, 6th Earl of HertfordRichard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester was son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and Isabel Marshal. On his father's death, when he became Earl of Gloucester , he was entrusted first to the guardianship of Hubert de Burgh. On Hubert's fall, his guardianship was...
: Clare PrioryClare PrioryClare Priory is a modern English house of the Augustinian order, established 1248 near Clare Castle on the banks of the River Stour in Suffolk. It was one of the first English monastic houses suppressed in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but the Irish Augustinian Friars purchased...
, established in 1248. The friars were dependent on local people for their daily needs; they would have been familiar figures in the streets of Clare in their black habits as they ministered to the spiritual and welfare needs of their parishioners. The priory was suppressed in 1538. Many of the priory buildings, including the large church, fell into disrepair; just as happened to the derelict castle, the townspeople helped themselves to a source of materials. The property changed hands a number of times until it was re-acquired by the Augustians in 1953. The former infirmary had become a barn and was restored to create a chapel for worship. The site remains in use today as both a parish and a retreat centre. A Craft Fair is held in July, attracting 10,000 visitors over two days, proceeds going to charity. - The Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (Church of England). This is the main church of the Stour Valley Group, which share a common ministry. The other churches are in the group are St Mary the Virgin in Cavendish, St Leonard in Poslingford, St John the Baptist in Stoke-by-Clare and St Leonard in Wixoe.
- This parish church is one of the largest and most beautiful in East AngliaEast AngliaEast Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
: "A large and handsome church...within a spacious churchyard." Simon Jenkins includes it in his 'England's Thousand Best Churches'. It is principally of the 14th and early 15th century, with 13th century work in the west tower, in the perpendicular style. The list of past priests goes back to 1307. "The tower is unfortunately a little short for the church.....all the windows of the aisles and clerestoryClerestoryClerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
are slender and closely set, the effect has the same erectness as Long MelfordLong MelfordLong Melford is a large village and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour, approximately from Colchester and from Bury St. Edmunds...
and LavenhamLavenhamLavenham is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is noted for its 15th century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walk. In the medieval period it was among the 20 wealthiest settlements in England...
. The remodelling of the interior made it very airy." 'Seen from any angle it floats on the skyline like a great ship, with a small tower for a fo'c'stle and two turrets for masts.....The interior is ablaze with light.'
]
- The church has an excellent ring of eight bells. The 7th bell is unusually inscribed 'Trintas Sancta Campanum Istam Conserva' (Holy Trinity conserve this bell) and was probably cast in the early C15. The church possesses an 18th century bell-ringer’s “gotch” (beer jug), and a late C15 brass lectern in the form of an eagle with three dogs as feet rather than lions; this may have served as a collection-box, money posted at the beak exiting at the tail. There are two fine private pews, one with the emblems of Henry VIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
and Catherine of AragonCatherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
, the other an ostentatious Stuart gallery pew with scroll-sided poppyheads "so like those at Little Thurlow that they may have been carved by the same man". In the chancel there are rare Jacobean carved choir stalls. The motto above the sundial over the south porch reads: 'Go about your business', not a mercantile admonition but a peremptory version of St Paul's advice: "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies". Around the doorway may be seen carved ten faces of the Green ManGreen ManA Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...
, a somewhat pagan image to be seen on a church, but widely used across Christian Europe.
- The greatest disaster to befall the church was the visit of William DowsingWilliam DowsingWilliam Dowsing was an English iconoclast who operated at the time of the English Civil War. Dowsing was a puritan soldier who was born in Laxfield, Suffolk...
in 1643. The Puritan Parliament decreed the demolition of altars, removal of candlesticks, and defacement of pictures and images. 'Basher' Dowsing, a fanatical anti-Romanist, was appointed as 'Parliamentary Visitor for the East Anglian counties for demolishing the superstitious pictures and ornaments of churches'. 'Cromwell's iconoclast' kept a journal of his visits. On 6 January 1644, he visited six churches, including HaverhillHaverhill, SuffolkHaverhill is an industrial market town and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England, next to the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire. It lies southeast of Cambridge and north of central London...
. As for Clare, he wrote: "We brake down 1000 pictures superstitious: I brake down 200; 3 of God the Father, and 3 of Christ, and of the Holy Lamb, and 3 of the Holy Ghost like a Dove with Wings; and the Twelve Apostles were carved in wood, on top of the Roof, which we gave order to take down; and 20 Cherubim to be taken down; and the Sun and the Moon in the East window, by the King's Arms to be taken down". Bullet holes in the roof suggest one inaccurate method; the rest being done with arrows, stones, poles and whitewash. The Sun and Moon still survive.- The United Reformed Church. In 1645 a group of non-conforming dissenters appointed their own minister. As numbers grew, licences were issued for houses as places of worship. A third of the East Anglian established clergy left to become presbyterian or independent. In 1710 a large meeting place was built behind Nethergate Street, replacing a smaller presbyterian conventicle. In 1841 this was rebuilt as the plain but attractive church it is today. An ancient graveyard adjoins the church.
- The Clare Baptist Church. In 1801 some independents broke away and formed a baptist group. In 1802 twelve of them went to Halstead to be baptised as adults: “A Mr Slater lent them a wagon to go in. It is said that on their return they met on the road, roughly treated and pelted, so that they had to take refuge in a house and let the wagon go back without them. In 1805 they built the first Baptist Church on Cavendish Street. This was rebuilt in 1821 to accommodate a bigger congregation. In 1859 this was demolished and the building material taken to the High Street to help create a new church which stands today.
In the past, Quakers were strong in the area and had their own building by 1686, a cottage at the north foot of the castle motte. The then owner of the castle and priory, Captain Charles Barnardiston was a Quaker. He and his fellows were prosecuted for his beliefs and 'was debarred of the use of their meeting-house, and obliged to meet in the street during the cold winter, where they received much personal abuse'. What is left of the burial ground is now part of 3 Cavendish Road. The nearest Meeting Houses are now Bardfield, Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury.
The oldest religious building in Clare still existing is the Norman chapel of St Mary Magdalene, dated c1190. Built as a wayside chapel just ½ mile north of Clare, close to a confluence of the Chilton stream at Wentford, it fell into disrepair by 1403 but was later granted to the Guild of St John the Baptist in Chilton. At the time of the dissolution of guilds and chantry chapels in 1547, the priest worked in Clare parish church and also in the grammar school. It was converted for domestic use. In the Civil War it was used as a powder magazine. Today it is called Chapel Cottage; remains of Norman windows, a bellcote, timber framing and an arched doorway are visible.
Chipley Abbey, just to the west of Poslingford, is a Grade II listed farmhouse incorporating part of the cloisters and moat of Chipley Priory, an Augustinian Canons foundation created before 1235.
Public Houses
There are four public houses in the town, all of them occupying historic buildings.- The Swan in the High Street occupies the oldest premises: one owner died from the Black Death in 1349. The central chimney stack with four orthogonal shafts predates the main structure from around 1600. Above the main doorway is a carved solid block of oak - possibly the oldest inn sign in England. It seems to be the base of an oriel windowOriel windowOriel windows are a form of bay window commonly found in Gothic architecture, which project from the main wall of the building but do not reach to the ground. Corbels or brackets are often used to support this kind of window. They are seen in combination with the Tudor arch. This type of window was...
taken from Clare CastleClare CastleClare Castle is a medieval castle in the small town of Clare in Suffolk, England. Built shortly after the Norman conquest of England by Richard Fitz Gilbert, the motte and bailey castle was later improved in stone. In the 14th century the castle was the home of Elizabeth de Clare, one of the...
. The central figure is of a chained swan with a crown round the neck - the badge of Henry IVHenry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
. Other symbols link it to Henry VHenry V of EnglandHenry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
, the MortimersEdmund Mortimer, son of the 3rd EarlEdmund Mortimer , was the second son of Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March by his wife Philippa Plantagenet, and is the best-known of the various Edmund Mortimers because of his role in the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr...
and de BurghsElizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of UlsterElizabeth de Burgh, Duchess of Clarence, suo jure 4th Countess of Ulster and 5th Baroness of Connaught was a Norman-Irish noblewoman who married Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence.- Family :...
. A grape vine suggests a link with Clare's fame as a wine producing area. - The Bell on Market Hill occupies a small alehouse site and was extensively altered to become the Green Dragon around 1580. In the 1780s it became a post house (providing changes of horses and gigsGig (carriage)A gig, also called chair or chaise, is a light, two-wheeled sprung cart pulled by one horse.-Description:Gigs travelling at night would normally carry two oil lamps with thick glass, known as gig-lamps. Gig carts are constructed with the driver's seat sitting higher than the level of the shafts. ...
for hire) when the beautiful interior carved beams and ceilings were added. It was a wholesale trading house with brew house and bar. Early in the 19th century it specialised in chandleryChandleryA chandlery was originally the office in a medieval household responsible for wax and candles, as well as the room in which the candles were kept. It was headed by a chandler. The office was subordinated to the kitchen, and only existed as a separate office in larger households...
- oil, ropes and candles were made on the premises. At the rear the cattle market was held till the mid 1850s. In the 1970s 18th century stables were converted to 23 hotel bedrooms. - The Cock in Callis Street may date from the 15th century but the first reference as an inn is in 1636. In its time various parts of the current building were used as a barn, then as a schoolroom, later a family butcher's with its own slaughterhouse.
- The Globe, a few houses away from the Cock, dates from 1695, re-fronted in Suffolk white brick early in the 19th century - this was a common practice in those days, giving a building a new respectable front, while retaining the old timber frame behind. It probably opened as a pub in the 1880s. It is currently up for sale and is not open.
Other public houses and hostelries existed in the past, all buildings still standing, except the last: the Old Red Lion 17c, the Old Bear and Crown Hotel 16c, the White Hart Inn 19c (later the Temperance Hotel!), the Half Moon 15c, the Clare Hotel 19c, the Castle 19c, the Boar and Griffin 16c, the Old Angel.
On the High Street, where numbers 10 A & B now stand, the Nethergate Brewery
Nethergate brewery
Nethergate Brewery was established in 1986 in Clare, Suffolk, England by former Head Brewer Ian Hornsey and his business partner Dick Burge. In 2005 the brewery site was moved across the county border to Pentlow in Essex...
was created in 1986. In 2004, it moved across the river to Pentlow.
Agriculture
An online map (Suffolk Landscape Character Assessment - Suffolk County Council) is available to examine the characteristics of the landscape topology around Clare, which consists of valley meadowlands and undulating farmlands, both ancient and estate.The majority of agriculture around Clare is arable. Crops grown include winter wheat, winter barley, sugar beet, oilseed rape and broad beans for fodder, with smaller areas of rye and oats. The sugar beet is taken to the British Sugar factory in Bury St Edmunds.
In the Tudor period, the area is described as: "Wood-pasture region, mainly pasture, meadow, engaged in rearing and dairying with some bee-keeping, horse-breeding and poultry. Crops mainly barley with some wheat, rye, oats, peas, vetches, hops and occasionally hemp."
Because of the Stour there were mills in Clare, four reported in 1295. Malting Lane marks one, Mill Lane another. At least one mill was for fulling. The last corn mill, an 18c timber-framed structure together with a 19c brick boiler house and steamm engine, known as Waymans Mill, was destroyed by fire in the late 1970s. Windmills also existed - there is a ruinous stack near Chilton Street.
The market that had run in Market Hill from before the Norman Conquest shrank after the arrival of the railway in 1865. Farmers preferred to take their produce to the bigger markets of Ipswich, Sudbury or Cambridge. The Corn Exchange of 1838 eventually closed and was later replaced by a town hall.
There have been dramatic changes to farming and the agricultural landscape, particularly in the last century. Just north of Stoke-by-Clare is an example. Hull's Farm of 750 acres (3,035,145 m²) was divided into 67 fields, bounded by hedges and elm trees, with 30 farm workers and many horses. Pressure on farmers to increase food production during and after World War II, resulted in removal of a wood of 40 acres (161,874.4 m²), grubbed up to control the rabbit population, leaving 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) of Lord's Wood. Hedgerows were cut down. Dutch elm disease then decimated the tree population, leaving a wide open landscape. Now the farm buildings have been replaced by a nature reserve and the land incorporated into Stonard's Farm, with 5 farm workers and four tractors. The crop trebled between 1955 and 1996.
Local Author
'Pashler's Lane: A Clare Childhood' is an illustrated autobiography of life in 1930's Clare by Elizabeth Holdgate, whose grandfather was a local character. The baker's shop she lived in is now the pet shop, on the corner of Pashler's Alley which links Market Hill with the High Street. Below the premises is a C14 century vaulted cellar with a central orthogonal pillar.Olympics and Transport
Clare is roughly 1 1/2 hours by car from StratfordStratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
, the London Olympics park
Olympic Park, London
The Olympic Park in London is a new sporting complex currently under construction, adjacent to the Stratford City development in Stratford, Bow, Leyton & Homerton in East London for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics....
, coming into London by the M11
M11 motorway
The M11 motorway in England is a major road running approximately north from the North Circular Road in South Woodford in north-east London to the A14, north-west of Cambridge.-Route:...
. An alternative route is to take the train from Sudbury via Marks Tey
Marks Tey
Marks Tey is a large village in Essex, England located six miles west of Colchester.Marks Tey railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line, and is a junction for the Sudbury Branch Line to Sudbury...
which stops at Stratford station - warning: while there are frequent buses (no 236) back and forth to Sudbury from Clare, they do not run after 6pm or on Sundays (Haverhill-Clare-Sudbury bus timetable). Many locals prefer to drive to Witham
Witham
Witham is a town in the county of Essex, in the south east of England with a population of 22,500. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the larger towns of Chelmsford and Colchester...
and pick up the direct line into London, thus avoiding changing trains at Marks Tey (National Express map and timetable).
Local issues
There are four issues troubling Clare residents today. The Parish Council's website has updated information on all of them.- Wind farm: BT announced plans last year to erect six wind turbines at Leys Farm Clare. A test mast of 60m has been erected to gather data over a three year period. Since then BT has stated it will be reducing the number to 3-4 and intend to seek planning permission this later this year. Clare Parish Council is keen to hear from BT, campaign groups, experts, and the local community to establish the facts about the proposals as well to find out local feeling. A local pressure group, STOC, have a website.
- Country Park: Suffolk County Council is considering its future role in the running of Clare Castle Country Park as part of the larger review of the future of all council owned country parks and recreation sites The council is proposing that they will no longer be involved in the running of the site and would seek to transfer all assets involved to a local organisation in the near future; discussions continue. The park is 40 years old this year.
- Library: Suffolk County Council is proposing to cut the cost of the library service by 30% over three years, mainly by handing over community libraries such as the one in Clare to alternative providers, whilst maintaining libraries in the major towns (eg Sudbury, Haverhill, Bury St Edmunds). A local petition is run against this proposal. Suffolk Council is now considering three pilot schemes by which libraries may be run in the future.
- Youth Club: Suffolk County Council withdrew funding for a youth worker from April 2011 for the Youth Club which has been running successfully for many years and providing activities for some 50 youngsters.
Town or village?
At the time of the Domesday Book, while several towns in Suffolk had markets, Clare was one of only six towns that had burgesses as well. Its manor was among the largest in the county. The Lords of Clare established it as their administrative centre, the castle itself providing work for scores of people. It was known as a borough by 1262, but no charter survives and no parliamentary seat was established - unlike Sudbury. From the 11th century through to the 16th century there was plenty of employment and prosperity; the wool cloth trade flourished, first making broadclothBroadcloth
Broadcloth is a dense woollen cloth. Modern broadcloth can be composed of cotton, silk, or polyester, but traditionally broadcloth was made solely of wool. The dense weave lends sturdiness to the material....
, later making bay and say cloth. It became a key staging post on a main highway to London, with warehouses and hostelries. Trade declined when the Stour
River Stour, Suffolk
The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the...
became navigable as far as Sudbury in 1709. Weaving ceased and the town became a small agricultural centre, trade shrinking further when the railway arrived. The Parish Council was created in 1894. The population has remained consistently below 2000 across the ages. The number of houses has increased from 152 (including Wixoe and Chilton Street) in 1674 to 852 in 1991; living space standards increased dramatically in the last century. Unusually for a settlement of less than 2000, it has a full range of services: bank, butcher, baker, doctors, library, co-op, off-licence, ironmonger, cafes, 3 public houses - all serving food; one a hotel, restaurant, take-aways (Chinese, fish & chips), 4 antique shops - one a large emporium, pharmacy, hairdressers and barber, post office, news & stationery, clothes, 4 churches, wedding dresses, physiotherapy, health food, art gallery, architect, gift shops, optician, solicitor, computer repairs, florist, electrical, greengrocer, pet supplies, sandwich shop, estate agents, bed & breakfasts, bookshop, many trades......and the Nuttery, a community woodland, winner of the Best Conservation Project in the Anglia in Bloom competition 2011.
In modern terms, Clare is a large village, hence its award as Suffolk Village of the Year 2010, but the people still like to think of themselves as living in Suffolk's smallest town.
Demography
According to the Office for National StatisticsOffice for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Clare had a population of 1,975 with 873 households.
Population change
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Clare from 1801 to 1891 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1881 | 1891 | ||
| Population | 1,033 | 1,170 | 1,487 | 1,619 | 1,700 | 1,769 | 1,704 | 1,657 | ||
| Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time | ||||||||||
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... in Clare from 1901 to 2001 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 2001 | |||
| Population | 1,582 | 1,483 | 1,340 | 1,252 | 1,320 | 1,328 | 1,975 | |||
| Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time | ||||||||||
Location grid
External links
- The Official Website For Clare in Suffolk
- Clare Parish Council
- Clare Photo Gallery
- Views of Clare Castle on www.bbc.co.uk Panoramic view from the motte
- Clare Priory
- Clare, Clere, and Clères A paper on the origin of the name
- Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project
- Geograph: Pictures of Clare & environs
- OS zoomable map to find photos of Clare and environs
- Boundary map of Clare Parish
- Google Map of archaeological finds: Prehistoric to Saxon
- Facebook Clare, Suffolk