Clavering
The castle would seem to have been in existence by 1052 if it is
the Robert's castle mentioned in later chronicles. According to a
chronicle re-written soon after 1118:
When Archbishop Robert and the
Frenchmen learned that [the king and Earl Godwin were making peace]
they seized their horses and some turned west [from London] to
Pentecost's castle, some north to Robert's castle and Archbishop Robert
and Bishop Ulf and their companions turned out the East Gate and killed
and otherwise injured many juveniles and made their way direct to The
Naze (Eadulf's Ness)...
The earlier, contemporary versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle do not
mention the flight to any castles. However, Florence of Worcester
(d.1118), who was probably born in the 1040s and wrote in the early
1100s using a probably lost Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as his source wrote:
All the Normans who had instituted
unjust laws
and given unjust judgements and in many things had influenced the king
to the disadvantage of the English were expelled. However a few
of them, namely Robert the Deacon, and
his son-in-law Richard Fitz Scrope, Alfred, the king's master of horse,
Aufrid, surnamed Ceokesfot, and some others whom the king loved more
than the rest... were allowed to remain... Truly Osbern, surnamed
Pentecost, and his companion Hugh, surrendered their
castles, and had licence from Earl Leofric to pass through his earldom
to Scotland, where they were received by King Macbeth
of the Scots.
His words were later copied verbatim by Roger Hoveden. There
seems little doubt from the 2 more original entries that at least 3 castles existed
in England in 1052, Robert's castle, Pentecost's castle and Hugh's
castle. Most likely these were Clavering, Ewias Harold and Howton.
Robert the Deacon is synonymous with Robert Fitz Wymarch, the friend
and relative of both King Edward the Confessor (d.1066) and William I (d.1087). His name, Deacon,
coming from his holding lay office in Bromfield church, Shropshire.
Robert is first noticed witnessing a document for King Edward
(d.1066) in 1044. This suggests that he may have come over with
the king from Normandy in 1042 when Edward assumed the kingship.
He was next found in 1052, apparently fleeing London, before
being forgiven and allowed to remain in the country and it would seem
keep his castle of Clavering. He obviously remained close to the
king and was pictured at his deathbed on the Bayeau Tapestry. He
then fought at Hastings before dying before 1075. As early as
1052, his son in law was lord of Richards Castle in the Herefordshire
Marches of Wales. He also held Thruxton in the Marches where
there is an early motte and bailey castle.
Robert's heirs continued to prosper in England with his son, Swein
Essex, being lord of Rayleigh in Domesday. His grandson, Henry
Essex, was a powerful baron during the Anarchy and a firm supporter of
King Henry II. However, he fled from the battle of Rhuddlan
in 1157 and in 1163 was defeated by a cousin in judicial combat over
his alleged cowardice. As a result he withdrew from public life
and became a monk, being disinherited of his lands. However,
Clavering passed to his brother in law, Roger Fitz Richard (d.1178),
the lord of Warkworth castle in
Northumberland, possibly as the dower of Henry's sister in law, the
widow of Henry's elder brother, Robert Essex. Clavering may have
briefly passed to their daughter, Alice Fitz Roger, who married John
Fitz Richard (d.1190), the son of Richard Fitz Eustace of Halton castle.
John seems to have adopted the surname of Clavering, but his son,
Roger (d.1211), took the name Lacy when he inherited the Lacy honours
of Clitheroe and Pontefract
in 1193. However, the manor itself stayed with the male
descendants of Roger and Alice and in 1310 was held from the honour of Rayleigh by their second great grandson, Robert Fitz Roger of Warkworth,
on his death. A new manor house called The Bury built in the
early fourteenth century probably marks the abandonment of the site.
Description
Set between St Mary's church and the River Stort, Clavering castle now
consists of a rectangular platform about 280' east to west by
180' north to south and surrounded by a deep moat on all sides about
20' deep by 75' across. The moat was obviously fed from the river
that curves around the castle site to the north. There are
remains to the north-east of a possible mill. The interior of the
castle is irregular which suggests the collapsed remains of former
masonry structures.
Copyright©2021
Paul Martin Remfry