Clare, United Kingdom

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 Community 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. It is now entered into the Atlas of Hillforts. 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 magnetometric 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.

A Roman 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. Some Roman brick seems to have ended up in the Parish Church.

There were substantial settlements to the west at Wixoe and to the east at Long Melford. Archaeological digs and magnetic survey at Wixoe, as part of the Abberton pipeline installation, revealed a small town occupied from 100-400AD. The Via Devana from Chester to Colchester, a military road, passed through this town. Another road led east from Wixoe, on the north side of the Stour, passing through Long Melford, before heading north-east to Baylham and possibly to Dunwich on the coast; this route is associated with a prehistoric road. No clear trace of this road can now be seen between Wixoe and Cavendish: the agger in the form of terrace has either been eroded by ploughing or incorporated into field boundaries, as is typical in East Anglia.

The name first appears in the Domesday Book of 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. In the Domesday Book, it is described as "Always a market. Now 43 burgesses". Hatton describes this as an "astonishingly high number, because at the time very few Suffolk towns had any burgesses, let alone 43". It lists 37 acres (15 ha) 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 128 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 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 in Clare a collegiate church, under Edward the Confessor. William the Conqueror re-granted the land to one of his closest supporters in the Norman Conquest of 1066, Richard fitz Gilbert of Bienfaite, Count of Brionne, the son of one of his cousins, along with 170 other manors, 95 of them in Suffolk. Apart from being related to William, Richard's relationship with the king was further embedded as his father-in-law, Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville was one of the 15 or so known companions of William at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This huge feudal barony became known as the Honour of Clare and Richard became known as "Richard de Clare" (or "of Clare") after he made the castle of Clare the administrative centre, or Caput baroniae, of the honour. He also held a large manor in Tonbridge, Kent where he built a motte and bailey castle of a very similar size to Clare Castle. Clare Castle is first recorded in 1090.

After 1066, William was not only King of England but also Duke of Normandy and spent time in both places. When he was away from England, Richard served as joint Chief Justiciar in William's absence, and played a major part in suppressing the revolt of 1075.

His son Gilbert de Clare gave the church in the castle to the Benedictine Bec Abbey in Normandy. Gilbert and his brother were present with Prince Henry when King William II was shot dead by an arrow fired by Walter Tyrell, Gilbert's steward. Tradition is strong that the Clares had staged an assassination. King Henry I was crowned three days later.

In 1124 Gilbert's son Richard de Clare removed the Benedictines to a new foundation in Stoke-by-Clare, which later became a college of priests and was the site of today's Stoke College.

In 1140 Richard's son Gilbert de Clare was given the title of Earl of Hertford by King Stephen. He joined the revolt against the king but later returned to support him.