Clare Castle

Clare Castle stands on a high mound above the Suffolk countryside, a medieval ruin built soon after the Norman Conquest. Its great earthen motte rises nearly thirty metres, topped by broken stone walls and the stub of a round tower. The castle once had two baileys stretching along the north and east, protected by deep ditches and palisades. It was built where an earlier Anglo-Saxon manor had stood, showing how the Normans replaced the old lords. Three deer parks surrounded the castle, and Clare Priory was founded nearby in 1249. The castle became the home of Elizabeth de Clare, one of the richest women in 14th-century England. She spent around £3,500 a year on food, wine and household staff, including falconers, tailors and goldsmiths. The castle had three gates, four towers and a water-garden with a fountain, while vineyards and orchards stretched beyond the walls. After her death the castle passed through royal hands during the Wars of the Roses, then fell into decay. In 1867 the railway cut through the inner bailey, leaving only the motte and fragments of the outer walls. Today the remains form the centrepiece of Clare Castle Country Park. Paths wind through the old moats and across the railway cutting, linking the motte with the park’s grassland. Visitors can still see parts of the inner bailey walls and the keep’s remnants. The park’s waterways echo the castle’s medieval moat, while the Stour Valley Path crosses the site. English Heritage has stabilised the keep and curtain wall, letting the ruins stand clearly against the sky.