Monument record CLA 080 - OUTLINE RECORD: CLARE CASTLE MAM EXCAVATION (C.UNI)

Five trenches were excavated by local volunteers as part of the Heritage Lottery funded Managing a Masterpiece project. All the trenches produced preserved archaeological deposits, despite the presence of extensive engineering works and buildings of 19th and 20th century date associated with the railway. These removed some of the later medieval layers across part of the inner bailey, but earlier deposits did survive intact beneath these, overlain with thick layers of modern ballast and hardcore.
The medieval archaeological remains revealed by the excavations included a large ditch or pit containing domestic refuse dating to the late 12th to 14th century (near the entrance linking the inner and outer castle baileys); five graves dating to the mid-11th to late 13th centuries (in the centre of the inner bailey); one of which was complete, whose head was also resting on a pillow stone, plus fragmentary human remains from a pit. A stone building was also found, originally part of the first phase of the castle in the 11th – 12th centuries, but refurbished with decorated tile and glass in the 13th/14th century while Elizabeth de Burgh was resident and demolished in the later 15th or early 16th century. A number of post holes and remains of mortar are indicative of an earlier structure on site, possibly the remains of the original chapel in use prior to the construction of the priory. A Roman ditch was also recorded running parallel with the River Stour (between the motte and the railway line) (S1)