Clavering Castle

Description

The main defensive work comprises a strong, rectangular enclosure 150m east-west x 100m north-south, with part waterfilled arms about 26m wide x 5m deep. The interior of the enclosure is at the same level as the surrounding ground level and contains building robber trenches though these have been disturbed by later digging. Morant speaks of castle walls "not long since in being" but no evidence survives today. An original entrance crosses the south east angle but has been disturbed by a later trackway. Associated with the northern retaining bank of the enclosure ditch is a series of earthen banks, channels and two pond bays associated with a former water mill. Identification and dating of these works is uncertain. A dam is associated with the mill. The RCHM noted slight remains of earthworks east and west of the main work but too imperfect to allow any estimate of their use. According to OS card the moat is in fairly good condition, as are earthworks of castle and mill. Earthworks east and west of the main work, mentioned by RCHM, too slight to be mapped. Those on the east side are so irregular they suggest gravel digging operations many years ago. The castle is of interest as it may have been one of the castles to which the French party at Edward's court fled in 1052. Therefore, it could be a pre-conquest castle. (Unlocking Essex's Past)

Clavering Castle consists of an oblong mound 300ft x 185ft raised some 16 or 17ft above its surrounding moat. On the north side there is a strong counterscarp bank to the moat. Further earthworks towards the east are the suggested remains of a water mill. The moat, now partly waterfilled, is about 18ft deep and 75ft wide and has the eastern arm partly filled in. VCH quoting Morant speaks of castle walls 'not long since in being' but no masonry is visible and none has been excavated, although RCHM considers that irregularity of the surface may represent foundations. The historian J.H Round, identified Clavering Castle with 'Robert's Castle', to which, according to the Saxon Chronicle, certain Normans fled in AD 1052, suggesting a pre-Norman date for this work. The main defensive work comprises a strong rectangular enclosure 150.0m E-W by 100.0m N-S with part waterfilled arms about 26.0m wide by 5.0m deep. The interior of the enclosure is at the same level as the surrounding ground level, and contains building robber trenches, though these have been disturbed by later digging. No evidence of walling as mentioned by Morant survives today. An original entrance crosses the SE angle but this has been disturbed by a later trackway. Associated with the northern retaining bank of the enclosure ditch is a series of earthern banks, channels and two pond bays associated with a former watermill. Identification and dating of these works is uncertain. (PastScape)

Comments

The attribution of this castle to the documented Robert's Castle is sometimes rebutted and is certain open to question. It is not a motte and bailey but a rectilinear enclosure arguably like early-mid C11 Saxon fortified manorial sites. Thus it is possible a Norman was occupying and/or building a 'castle' which was identical to Saxon built 'fortifications' - i.e. The term 'castle' (certainly as used by R. Allen Brown) is an artificial construct often reflecting C20 concerns and not a statement of a C11/C12 'reality' of a difference between Saxon and Norman lordly residential house defences.