CLAVERING
CASTLE - Introduction
Photographs by Wendy Upson
| An exciting new project has
just commenced in Clavering. On Sunday 7 December 2003 we were delighted
to welcome Christopher Taylor, the leading landscape historian in the
country, to talk us through a visit to Clavering Castle and try to explain
its earthworks. Although anxious to stress that all theories on landscape
history must be followed up with documentary research and fieldwork, he
was able to propose a hypothesis based on his long experience of
interpreting earthworks and what little is already known about this most
enigmatic of Clavering historical sites. |
Christopher Taylor
|
Clavering Castle, he emphasised, is not a traditional motte-and-bailey, defended
Norman castle, nor were there any such things as castles in Saxon times. What we
have is a rectangular mound, very uneven, surrounded by a massive ditch (the
moat). The west end of the mound had a number of buildings, and the east end was
perhaps a courtyard. At the courtyard end there is evidence of a rectangular
feature marked by a ditch: this is probably a building edge, possibly a barn,
built three or four hundred years ago. Many of the depressions show where
villagers later took away the foundation materials for their own use. The
present causeway is not the original one – this was nearer to the manor house.
The ditch is an amazing size and like the castle was built for status reasons
rather than defence. This was the administrative centre of Clavering in its
time.
Site of buildings at the west end of the mound |
Site of barn at east end of the mound |
Castle ditch |
Moving to the ‘Humps & Bumps’ area to the west
of the mound, Christopher Taylor thought these earthworks extraordinary. The
largest mound near the kissing gate was particularly interesting – he knew of
only two other places in England, both in Cambridgeshire, where something
similar might be found: these were unfinished castles, with the spoil just
dumped around. But since this mound is flat-topped and higher than the castle
itself, he suggested it might have been a viewing platform to see the castle,
and that indeed the entire Humps area was some kind of ornamental landscape
laid out for aesthetic reasons. Below to the left is a wide, shallow hollow
area where the river used to run, but it had been artificially widened into a
lake, probably used as a fishpond to breed carp for eating.
|
"Humps & Bumps" (with church in the background) |
Viewing from the flat top mound
Photograph by Adrian Gascoyne
|
Site of lake |
|
Site of small lake |
Another narrower lake can
be found to the north side of the castle, between the moat and the river
and below here was probably the site of a watermill. There was not a
mono-causal reason for all this construction. The lake would not only
provide fishing, but also ducks and reeds for domestic use, and equally
important was its aesthetic appeal. Documentary research might uncover
which past owner might want to construct such a designed landscape. Other
humps and hollows in this area were for running water into the moat. It
was altogether a highly skilled and complicated piece of work. The upper
layer of society would have had the time and resources and inclination to
undertake such extensive work. |
The present complex was unlikely to date back as far as the 11th century, as has
been previously thought, since its rectangular form does not fit the period –
but it could be mid-12th century or later. After this a change of ownership
might have meant a change in status of the site. The new owner may have then
have constructed a manor house as a more practical abode, so that the castle and
moat became redundant and fell into disrepair except perhaps for the watermill.
The present Bury house is dated by dendrochronology to 1304.
One further point of interest was that Christopher Taylor thought that, looking
at a large-scale OS map, Middle Street could have originated as a small piece of
planned settlement in the middle of what was otherwise a highly dispersed
parish, built specifically for the tenants or servants of the manor house and
laid out in a regular fashion. He concluded that all his ideas formed a
hypothesis only, and he looked forward to Clavering historians researching the
ideas and to hearing about their findings in due course.
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The Bury |
Cottages at the
end of Middle Street |
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