More information : (TL 7679 4578) In September 1993, the Cambridge office of the RCHME carried out a detailed analytical earthwork survey of Clare Camp (TL 74 NE 10) following a request from Suffolk County Council for management purposes. The remains were first noticed by Edward Martin of Suffolk County Council (1a) and subsequent research, both by him and by RCHME suggested that the remains were likely to represent the lost Medieval manor of Erbury (1b, c).
Within the probable IA enclosure, and stratigraphically later than it, a complex of well-preserved building remains was recorded, contained in the western part of the interior by an earthen bank. In the south west corner of the enclosure at NGR TL 7679 4578, the wall-lines of two clearly defined rectangualar structures were recorded, on leveled platforms measuring 32.0m by 12.0m and 40.0m by 14.5m. The two structures, aligned at right angles to eachother, define two sides of a roughly rectangular 'yard' approximately 60m south-east to north-west by 48m. Subsequent geophysical survey by the Ancient Monuments Laboratory confirmed the two clearest buildings and revealed a third adjoining the putative 'manor house' and forming the north-west side of the yard (1d). A possible entrance to the complex lies at the north east corner.
On the north of the enclosure, the inner IA rampart has been modified to form one large building platform, and a second smaller platform has been cut into the outer rampart. These partially enclose a small compound.
On the west of the enclosure, the IA inner ditch appears to have been deliberately modified to form a set of two or three sub-rectangular ponds, possibly fishponds. The water source is unclear, but the depressions are located near the spring line.
It is uncertain whether an apparent 'hollow way' approaching the complex from the probable original IA entrance on the east, is really a hollow way, since it turns to join a quarry/pond, implying that it may be related to water management. There are hints of an ornamental function to some of the quarry/ponds.
The complex was first noted by Martin in 1991, who interpreted it as an outlying compound for the Manor of Clare alias Erbury (1a). Documentary evidence exists from the Court Rolls of 1308-9 onwards, and Erbury is mentioned first in 1295. By 1368 Erbury manor house was in need of repairs and 'valued at nothing' though the identification of this site with Erbury is not absolutely certain. Stray finds of 12th to 13th century pottery from a garden to the north-east of the enclosure attest to activity in the area slightly before the earliest documentary evidence. Subsequent documentary research indicated that the exceptional preservation of the outline of the two principal stuctures is due to the fact that the buildings were refooted with stone in the 17th century.
For further details, see RCHME Level 3 report and plan at 1:1000 scale, held in archive. (1) |