Located in the county of Suffolk, and around 25 miles west of Ipswich, is the town of Clare.
Geographically, Clare is situated along the north bank of the River Stour - a river which defines a large part of the Suffolk-Essex border. The Domesday Book of 1086 records that it was already a thriving settlement at that time, being home to around 40 burgesses, i.e. wealthy citizens. This being the case, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror bestowed the land here to one of his closest supporters, namely Richard fitz Gilbert, making him the 1st Lord of Clare.
Fitz Gilbert built Clare Castle in the Norman motte and bailey style, which would later be fortified in stone. His descendants would later take the family name de Clare. The 8th Lord of Clare was Richard de Clare, who in 1248 established Clare Priory. This became the first house of Augustinian friars in England. The priory was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538 during the Reformation.
In 1295 Elizabeth de Clare was born. She was one of Edward I's granddaughters, and after her brother Gilbert was killed in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn, she became one of the wealthiest heiresses in England. During the 1330s she re-endowed University Hall in Cambridge, from which point it became known as Clare Hall, and later, Clare College, which is the University of Cambridge's second-oldest surviving college of today. Although widowed for a third a final time at the age of 26, Elizabeth lived a lavish lifestyle into her 60s, with Clare Castle being one of her main residences.
Clare Castle would change hands from the House of Clare to the House of York. It eventually fell into ruin from around the time of the Wars of the Roses, when the stone masonry is believed to have been stripped down for use in other buildings.
During the medieval era, Clare became a prosperous town due to the wool trade. Its proximity to the River Stour meant that fulling could be carried out. This is the process of shrinking wool in water in order to eliminate impurities. A series of other local settlements along the same river became known as 'wool towns', including Sudbury, Hadleigh, Lavenham and Long Melford (although the latter two are villages today). The industry was further aided by the arrival of Flemish weavers from the 14th century. This was at a time when the exporting of raw wool was heavily taxed due to the Hundred Years War, providing an incentive to hold onto the raw product and weave it in England instead.
At the heart of the town is the Church of St Peter and St Paul. This dates back to the 13th century, although the nave and chancel were rebuilt in the 15th century with funds from the wool industry. The church is Grade I listed.
In 1865 the railway arrived in Clare. The company responsible was the Great Eastern Railway, who, a few years prior to its opening, dug straight through the Norman bailey of Clare Castle. The station was situated on the Stour Valley Railway, which linked the Great Eastern Main Line (via Marks Tey) to the West Anglia Main Line (via Shelford). In 1967 the station closed as part of the Beeching cuts - a controversial move to promote road travel by closing over 2,000 stations across Britain. The Stour Valley Railway was pared down to a branch line from Marks Tey to Sudbury (known as the Gainsborough Line). Today, public transport to Clare consists of direct buses from Haverhill, Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds and various other nearby settlements. As seen shortly after the 5-minute mark, the former railway station is preserved, retaining much of its original appearance, except that the tracks are covered with grass!
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Filmed: 8th April 2024
Link to the walk on Google Maps: maps.app.goo.gl/bosWrtZu99H44...
Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Clare Castle
5:14 Clare former railway station
12:30 River Stour
14:03 Malting Lane
16:09 Nethergate Street
23:40 Well Lane
24:58 Market Hill
26:31 Church Street
28:23 High Street
32:31 Well Lane
32:56 Market Hill
34:35 Church Lane
35:31 High Street
37:02 Callis Street
39:55 Bridewell Street