The Clare Loop

The Clare Loop Walk has the Town of Clare at its centre. It is the perfect introduction to the rolling hills of West Suffolk, from which there are fine views of the Town.

1 From the car park take the broad path east past Clare Park Centre and the old Railway Station. Cross a wooden bridge over part of the old moat. Turn left and follow the path with the Chilton Stream to your right. At the end of the path turn right onto a small path with an old cemetery on your left.

2 Cross the main road, turning right and then immediately left into Harp Lane. You are now on the Stour Valley Path. Go past the playing field and buildings on your left. Follow the path through a wooded area (care: may be slippery in winter) into a field. At the corner of the field turn left. Leave both barns on your left and then turn left before the double black barns. The track then goes through tall willows.

3 At the main road turn left and walk 200m. Turn right up Sheepgate Lane.

4 Go past the upper common and allotments on the left. At the end of the track enter a narrow path on the right of the old waterworks.

5 After going up a few steps you can turn left for a shorter walk (see map) or head straight across the field and take the path though trees. Keeping the hedge on the right go through
two fields.

6 At the end of the second field turn left leaving trees on the right. In the second field where the trees end head straight ahead to Bench Barn Farm.

7 Skirt left round the first barn and at the brick building turn left onto the path.

8 At the end of the field turn right up the hill.

9 At the end of the field turn right. Follow the track to a large gap in the hedge on the left. Take the track through this and follow it straight down to the main road.

10 Turn left, then right onto Ashen Road. After crossing the river take the signed path back to the car park.

Points of Interest

This walk takes you around central Clare, through the inner bailey of the Castle, alongside fields defined by hedges and trees, along an ancient drover’s track, and around Clare Common, ending through woods on the old railway route. It provides lovely views of the Parish Church, the Castle keep, and town buildings. You cross the Stour and its principal tributary the Chilton Stream. The walk can be muddy in winter so wear suitable footwear.

A Clare Castle began as an earth and timber castle in the late 11th century. It has 2 baileys, a moat and a high motte with the ruin of an early 13C keep. In the 19C a railway station was built through its inner bailey.

B Work on the railway began in 1863, part of the Great Eastern Railway line from Sudbury to Haverhill. It closed in 1967 and shortly afterwards was added to the land of the Castle that was given to West Suffolk County Council to form the Park. The railway buildings, unusual in the survival of a goods shed, are Grade II listed.

C As you leave the Park, you pass the old Baptist cemetery and site of the early chapel. The Chilton Stream is culverted under the A1092, which you cross, but there was once a bridge here, Pysenebregge, and the road was called Puddle Lane. The clarity of the Chilton Stream may be the reason for the place-name of Clare.

D Sheepgate Lane, running on the north side of Clare Common, is an ancient trackway, later a livestock drove. Clare Common is marked as ‘Clare Camp’ on many maps, but the evidence for either Roman or Iron Age connections has not been found. In medieval times, the Lower Common served Clare Castle as its manor and farm, with extensive agricultural buildings. Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) leased out the Common Pastures for the benefit of the poor of Clare. Today they are used for grazing, allotments and arable farming, managed by the Clare Combined Charities.

E Ashen Road crosses a cast-iron bridge that bears the date 1813. It was one of the earliest such bridges in Suffolk, made by Ransome’s of Ipswich, and later improved by Ward’s of Long Melford.

F The railway walk along the Stour (New Cut), allows nice views of the long gardens of Nethergate Street houses. The New Cut was dug in the 14C when the meandering Stour was straightened to power a mill, which finally burned down in the 1970s.

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