England · 11th century
Clare Castle is a high-mounted ruinous medieval castle in the parish and former manor of Clare in Suffolk, England, anciently the caput of a feudal barony. It was built shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 by Richard Fitz Gilbert, having high motte and bailey and later improved in stone. In the 14th century it was the seat of Elizabeth de Clare, one of the wealthiest women in England, who maintained a substantial household there. The castle passed into the hands of the Crown and by 1600 was disused. The ruins are an unusually tall earthen motte surmounted by tall remnants of a wall and of the round tower, with large grassland or near-rubble gaps on several of their sides. It was damaged by an alternate line of the Great Eastern Railway in 1867, the rails of which have been removed.
The remains are a scheduled monument and a Grade II* listed building. They form the centrepiece of a public park.
Text adapted from “Clare Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Clare Castle ranks #4,215 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #277 of the 360 mapped in England. Founded c. 1066, it is older than 88% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 436 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,012 times in the last 60 days, more than 51% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Colchester, 30 km away. See how England compares in the castle statistics.
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