ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



the two baileys, which were situated on the southern side of the mount. In 

 its present debased state this vallum rises from loft. to 1 8 ft. from the base 

 court, and has an escarpment of nearly 30 ft. 



Clare (Ixxi, 7). — Clare Castle, 6 miles east from Haverhill, is situated 

 in the angle formed by the junction of the Rivers Stour and Chilton, on the 

 northern bank of the former, the course of which has been diverted from its 

 original bed, which passed slightly more to the south. The plan of the 

 earthworks was a mount, and two baileys side by side ; the former is intact, 

 but the latter have been mutilated by the buildings of the town, a road, 

 and the railway. 



The mount is a truncated cone 850 ft. in circumference at the base and 

 1 00 ft. in height, with a level summit 63 ft. in diameter, upon which are the 

 remains of the shell keep of the Clares. The fosse of the mount — excepting 

 a small piece containing water at the south-east — has been partially filled up 

 for cottage gardens, but the houses are built to a circuit preserving the 

 course of the original cincture ; at the south-east it is quite obliterated by 

 the railway-station yard. The original lines of the northern bailey apparently 

 swept around in a wide curve from the north of the mount to the eastern 

 side, whence it returned westwards to the mount ; the southern base-court is 

 bounded by a vallum running easterly from the mount ; bending to the south 

 for over 600 ft. it returned westwards and curved in a northerly direction 

 on to the fosse of the mount, forming a court approximating to an oblong 

 plan. In the northern court there remains the eastern quadrant of a heavy 

 vallum, rising 12 ft. from the interior with an escarpment of 14 ft., increasing 

 to 19 ft. at the north. On the oouth an inlet is cut resembling a false 

 entrance in a prehistoric work, which is emphasized by the presence of an 

 adjoining mound with a scarp of 14 ft. into a fosse 8 ft. deep. It is not 

 improbable that the defences of this court were earlier fortifications preceding 

 the mount type and incorporated into a later work. The southern court is 

 certainly of a later period than that already described, and by the remaining 

 fragments of masonry it is evident that the vallum was surmounted by a 

 strong wall which descended the mount and surrounded the whole bailey. 

 This vallum, beginning at the mount, is very broad and 20 ft. high, rising 

 to over 22 ft. with a very steep scarp ; it is separated from the northern 

 bailey by a very broad and shallow fosse — or sunken road — with a counter- 

 scarp of 6 ft. South of the north-east right angle the vallum is destroyed 

 by the railway, but on the southern side of the line it may again be followed, 

 though in a mutilated state, 9 ft. wide at the top with a scarp of 18 ft. ; the 

 south side is a scarp with indications of a rampart, 10 ft. to the river bank. 

 Without the eastern side of these works are other embankments to keep the 

 land from inundation by the rivers, possibly for the accommodation of horse; 

 these broad banks are 3 ft. and 5 ft. in height, and in the midst of the 

 shallow trench which yielded the earth for the banks, a low plateau has 

 been left. 



A portion of another vallum lies to the south of the present river ; this 

 was possibly raised for the protection of the Priory of Austin Friars, 

 founded here in 1248. 



Eye (xxxvi, 3). — Eye Castle, 1 1 J miles north-north-east from Stowmar- 

 ket. Despite the violent usage meted out to this strong fortification its original 



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