Archaeological Excavations at Clare Castle, Clare, Suffolk, 2013
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Archaeological Excavations at Clare Castle, Clare, Suffolk, 2013 Carenza Lewis and Catherine Ranson Carenza Lewis & Catherine Ranson 2 Archaeological excavations at Clare Castle, Clare, Suffolk, 2013 Carenza Lewis and Catherine Ranson Access Cambridge Archaeology McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research University of Cambridge Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER 01223 761518 [email protected] www.arch.cam.ac.uk/aca 3 4 Contents 1 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 9 2 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 THE MANAGING A MASTERPIECE PROJECT ............................................................................ 10 2.2 ACCESS CAMBRIDGE ARCHAEOLOGY .................................................................................... 10 3 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND DESIRED OUTCOMES .................................................................. 12 3.1 AIMS ................................................................................................................................... 12 3.2 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................ 12 3.3 OUTCOMES .......................................................................................................................... 12 4 METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................................ 13 4.1 TRIAL TRENCH EXCAVATION ................................................................................................. 13 4.1.1 On-site finds identification and retention ...................................................13 4.1.2 On-site archaeological supervision .............................................................14 4.1.3 Trench closing and backfilling .....................................................................14 4.1.4 Recording ......................................................................................................14 4.1.5 Finds processing and recording ..................................................................14 5 LOCATION ................................................................................................................................. 16 6 GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 19 7 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CLARE CASTLE ................... 20 7.1 PREHISTORIC AND ROMAN.................................................................................................... 20 7.2 ANGLO-SAXON .................................................................................................................... 20 7.3 HIGH MEDIEVAL .................................................................................................................... 21 7.4 LATE MEDIEVAL AND POST-MEDIEVAL .................................................................................... 22 7.5 THE CASTLE LAYOUT ............................................................................................................ 22 7.6 PREVIOUS ANTIQUARIAN AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ........................................... 24 8 RESEARCH AIMS OF THE 2013 EXCAVATIONS ................................................................... 26 9 RESULTS OF THE 2013 EXCAVATIONS AT CLARE CASTLE .............................................. 28 9.1 TRENCH A ........................................................................................................................... 28 9.2 TRENCH B ........................................................................................................................... 32 9.3 TRENCH C ........................................................................................................................... 35 9.4 TRENCH D ........................................................................................................................... 38 9.5 TRENCH E ........................................................................................................................... 42 10 DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................... 56 10.1 TRENCH A ........................................................................................................................... 56 10.2 TRENCH B ........................................................................................................................... 57 10.3 TRENCH C ........................................................................................................................... 58 10.4 TRENCH D ........................................................................................................................... 59 10.5 TRENCH E ........................................................................................................................... 59 11 PERIOD OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................. 62 11.1 PREHISTORIC ....................................................................................................................... 62 11.2 ROMAN AND EARLY/MIDDLE ANGLO-SAXON .......................................................................... 62 11.3 LATE ANGLO-SAXON ............................................................................................................ 62 11.4 HIGH MEDIEVAL ................................................................................................................... 63 11.5 LATE MEDIEVAL / EARLY POST-MEDIEVAL ............................................................................. 63 TH 11.6 19 CENTURY / MODERN ..................................................................................................... 63 12 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 65 5 13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 67 14 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 68 15 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 72 15.1 POTTERY REPORT – PAUL BLINKHORN ................................................................................. 72 15.2 FAUNAL REMAINS – VIDA RAJKOVACA ................................................................................. 80 15.3 HUMAN BONE – CATHERINE RANSON ................................................................................... 85 15.4 LITHICS – LAWRENCE BILLINGTON ....................................................................................... 91 15.5 SMALL FINDS – MARY CHESTER-KADWELL .......................................................................... 94 15.6 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT – RACHEL BALLANTYNE ....................................................... 95 15.7 RADIOCARBON DATES – UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW ............................................................. 100 15.8 FLOOR AND ROOF TILE – PAUL DRURY (WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY SUE HOLDEN) ................... 102 15.9 WINDOW GLASS – DAVID KING ........................................................................................... 106 15.10 OTHER FINDS - CATHERINE RANSON .............................................................................. 113 List of Figures Figure 1: Map of England with close up insert of East Anglia and the small town of Clare highlighted in red ................................................................................................................16 Figure 2: Extent of the parish of Clare with the location of Clare Castle circled in red (Map Copyright Edina Digimap). .................................................................................................17 Figure 3: Clare Castle Country Park showing 2013 trench locations (Map Copyright Edina Digimap) ............................................................................................................................18 Figure 4: Early engraving of Clare Castle ...........................................................................24 Figure 5: Plan of Trench A .................................................................................................29 Figure 6: South facing section through Trench A ................................................................30 Figure 7: Plan of Trench B .................................................................................................33 Figure 8: East facing section through Trench B ..................................................................34 Figure 9: Plan of Trench C .................................................................................................36 Figure 10: South facing section through Trench C..............................................................36 Figure 11: South facing section through the bank F.1, Trench C ........................................38 Figure 12: East facing section through F.2, Trench C .........................................................38 Figure 13: Plan of Trench D ...............................................................................................39