General Facts

Clare is a market town on the north bank of the River Stour in Suffolk, England. Clare is 14 miles from Bury St Edmunds and 9 miles from Sudbury. It lies in the “South and Heart of Suffolk”. As a cloth town, it is one of Suffolk’s “threads”. Clare won Village of the Year in 2010 and Anglia in Bloom award for Best Large Village 2011 for its floral displays in 2011. In March 2015, The Sunday Times and Zoopla placed Clare amongst the top 50 UK rural locations, having “period properties and rich history without the chocolate-box perfection – and the coach trips”.

Clare History

The Domesday Book of 1087 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. This huge feudal barony became known as the Honour of Clare. Richard became known as “Richard de Clare” after he made the castle of Clare the caput of his feudal barony, that is to say, his administrative centre. 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.

Tree Surgeon Clare