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Within the boundaries of Clare Parish lies what appears to be an ancient camp, an earthwork enclosure known variously as Erbury, Clare Camp or the Anglo-Roman fort (OS TL768458), at the north end of the town, just to the west of Bridewell Street. The name Erbury is first seen in an inquest and land valuation in 1295, referring to a house, the land around it and a garden. This seemed to be part of the largest and most profitable pasture land in the area, lying outside the town and forming a part of Clare Manor.〔Gladys Thornton: A History of Clare, Suffolk, Heffer 1928 pp17-20〕 Erbury means 'earthern fort' from Old English. Bury is a common placename across Britain and refers to a fortified place: it turns up in various guises across Western Europe: borough, burgh, bourg, burg. Clare and its manor had been owned by a Saxon thane, Aluric (or Aelfric), son of Wisgar (or Withgar), according to the Domesday Book. He was one of the king's thanes of East Anglia and administered the lands on behalf of Emma of Normandy, Canute's wife. Her great-nephew was William the Conqueror.〔The Archaeological journal, Volume V p230〕 The site is D-shaped, enclosing an area of 12 acres (2.9 hectares). The straightest side is in the south, running roughly west to east. The north side is most complete, with an inner rampart 9 ft high and counterscarps 12 and 14 ft high.〔Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Suffolk, 1974, Penguin 2nd ed. p169, ISBN 0-14-071020-5〕 With its double ditches it is one of the most impressive of its kind in Suffolk, only slightly smaller than Burgh Castle. == Origin of the camp == Its origin has been disputed. Though it resembles the structure of an Iron Age hillfort, its location is not typical: there is rising ground to the west and north. It is simply not on a hill. To the east there would have been marshy ground and water-meadows – from the various streams feeding the Stour, now drained and channelled. It may have had a wooden palisade on the inner and highest ring of earthworks. The sign outside (the Ancient House ) calls it an Anglo-Roman Camp. Yet no Roman traces have been found on the site, in fact, very few throughout Clare, though the Via Devana probably ran through the area and there were significant Roman settlements in Wixoe and Long Melford. The whole shape bears little resemblance to other Roman fortified structures. However recent evidence points to an Iron Age origin. In 1993 a field survey and magnometric scan examining the medieval structures within the site revealed that the ramparts were the oldest part of the site and that there was the possibility of an entrance on the east (follow the footpath from Bridewell Street). The stratigraphy of the earthworks confirms the likelihood of a prehistoric origin.〔Clare Camp: An Archaeological Survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, September to October 1993, Archive Report, p15〕 In 2009 during a rebuilding programme at the nearby (Clare Primary School ), postholes of a late Bronze/Early Iron Age structure were located, with an associated ring ditch.〔Suffolk Institute of Archaeology & History, Vol XLII Part 2〕 Only a proper excavation will reveal a more accurate date of construction. In the Iron Age Erbury was a frontier location on the outer borders of the Trinovantes territory, just south of the Iceni heartland. Erbury would also have been under threat from the expansionary ambitions of the Catuvellauni from their base in modern day Hertfordshire, particularly under the rule of King Cunobeline (Shakespeare's Cymbeline) from circa 5 BC to 43 AD. Erbury could have been a fortified settlement rather than a fort, and probably marks the first permanent settlement in the Upper Stour valley. Belgic and local coins from this period have been found across the area.〔() Google map of archaeological finds]〕 By the time the Romans invaded for the second time, hillforts were out of fashion – the tribes knew they were of little use against the legions. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clare Camp」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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