Clavering Castle
Clavering Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Clavering , 10 km southwest of Bishop's Stortford in the English county of Essex . It is 50 meters north of St Mary and St Clement Church on the south bank of the River Stort .
history
Pre-Norman times
What is unusual about this castle ruin is that the ring and earthworks that are still preserved today are verifiably from the time before the Norman conquest of England .
Ring works are medieval fortifications that were built and used from the time of the Anglo-Saxons to the end of the 12th century. A ringwork was a small, fortified piece of land that contained buildings that were completely or partially surrounded by a large moat and rampart with wooden palisades or, in rare cases, a stone wall. Occasionally was also a slight fortified, mounded enclosure, the outer bailey , connected to a ring work. Ring works served as fortresses for military operations and to defend aristocratic or more important settlements. They are rare; there are only 200 pieces, of which only 60 have an additional outer bailey. Clavering Castle is one of those few examples of Anglo-Saxon and Norman fortifications; his ring works are particularly important for understanding this period.
A number of earth walls, canals and pond bays have not yet been dated, but are believed to be related to the earlier mill. The earthworks extend 200 meters west of the castle along the banks of the Stort River.
The River Stort flows around the north side of the site and has been diverted to fill the trenches. Archaeological excavations have revealed that there was a settlement there before the Norman invasion and the later Norman castle.
The Lords of Clavering
The first known Lord of Clavering mentioned in the Domesday Book was Robert FitzWymarc , whose picture can be seen on the Bayeux Tapestry . It is believed that Robert's Castle from the Domesday Book corresponds to Clavering Castle. FitzWymark was French and one of the closest confidants of Edward the Confessor . The property has been identified as one of the castles to which the French party at Edward's court fled in 1052.
Stone coffin
A stone coffin was found in 1923 and is believed to contain the bones of one of the Lords of Clavering:
“A stone coffin that weighs about 1 ton and contains a well-preserved human skeleton was discovered in Clavering. Workers who were about to set up a fence in the churchyard in a 60 centimeter deep ditch came across a solid stone slab that formed the lid of the coffin. When the coffin was unearthed, it was seen that this slab was 2.1 meters long and 0.6 meters wide. The lid, side walls and bottom of the coffin were 152 millimeters thick and carved from solid sandstone . The skull belonged to an intellectual head and the teeth were in perfect condition. The find was made on the edge of the moat that once surrounded Clavering Castle, presumably on the site of an old chapel that was attached to the castle. The castle has long disappeared, only the mound has been preserved to this day. One could see clearly that the coffin must have been discovered earlier and the peace of the dead must have been disturbed, because one end of the coffin lid was broken ... The coffin was buried again. "
archeology
Archaeologists examined the site together with aerial photographs and classified the castle grounds as early medieval (410-1065). There is evidence of an Iron Age British fort on the site where the Anglo-Saxons and then the Normans later built.
The castle, moat, bridge, buildings, earthworks, dam, pond and water mill all date from between 1066 and 1539 ( High Middle Ages ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Clavering Castle . The Recorders of Uttlesford History. June 2008. ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 17, 2008.
- ↑ Jacqueline Cooper: Clavering . Uttlesford District Council, 2008. ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 17, 2008.
- ↑ Conservation & Heritage . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
- ↑ Unlocking Essex's Past . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
swell
- Plantagenet Somerset Fry: The David & Charles Book of Castles . David & Charles, Newton Abbott 1980. ISBN 0-7153-7976-3
literature
- Jacqueline Cooper, Jamie Oliver: History Walks in Clavering: a journey in time through an Essex village . 2003. ISBN 1-873669-11-9 .
- EM Ludgate: Clavering & Langley the First Thousand Years . 1996. ISBN 0-9510171-1-X .
- EM Ludgate: Clavering & Langley: 1783-1983 . 1984. ISBN 0-9510171-0-1 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 58 ′ 1.3 " N , 0 ° 8 ′ 23.3" E