Walk through Suffolk’s rural wealth
A late summer walk explores the gentle Suffolk countryside and its prosperous history
Gentle sunlight, infused with the treasured warmth of a late summer day, falls on the mottled red and slate-grey rooftops of Clare. Amid them stands a grand church with crenelated roof and tall arched windows. Its neat, straight lines and balanced architecture are typical of the late Gothic style. From its low tower, a gold and red flag twists and snaps in the breeze. It bears the triple-chevroned crest of this historic market town. Clare is one of several settlements in Suffolk which rose to prosperity from the 13th until the 16th century as a result of the wool industry. The affluence of the time is still evident in the beautifully preserved houses which stand along its streets. Some are timber-framed, some flint-walled, others painted a rich pink, and a few are decorated with ornate plasterwork. In this small
town there are approximately 187 listed buildings. They sit along the northern bank of the young River Stour, which provided Constable with inspiration for some of his most famous paintings. Approximately 2½ miles downstream is the village of Cavendish. Sharing in the wealth generated by the medieval wool towns, it also retains much of the character of the period. This walk begins in Clare, crossing lilting countryside between fields to reach Cavendish, where the village can be explored before returning along the other side of the river.
Station in a castle
The starting point is in Clare Castle Country Park, a large green space between the town and the river. The park is edged with trees, their leaves slowly yellowing, and a railway goods shed,
now an information centre, stands at the entrance. Clare station, which opened on 9 August 1865, is the only railway station to be built within the bailey of a castle. The trains that passed through it were used to carry grain, sugar beet and coal between Sudbury and Shelford, with connections to Bury St Edmunds and Colchester. The railway operated for almost 100 years until transport by road became more popular, and in 1966, as part of the Beeching cuts, freight services stopped. The following spring, the passenger services which had run alongside also ceased, and the railway was finally closed altogether. It is the only GER 1865 type of station in the country to have a complete set of buildings, including the main station with adjoining stationmaster’s house and platform shelter. Atop a 65ft (20m) motte immediately adjacent to the goods shed is the ruined remaining wall of Clare Castle keep. A narrow track twists around the grassy hillock to the top, where the crumbling wall, embedded with flint, can be observed at close hand. There was little good building stone to be mined locally, and this flint can be seen in the walls of many of the houses and on the church, and is still turned up in the ploughed rows of nearby fields. The castle was built in the 11th century by Richard Fitz Gilbert, a Norman lord who, because of this association, was styled ‘de Clare’. The castle passed down the family line, reaching Elizabeth de Clare, one of the richest women in the country, in the 14th century. After her death, it passed through different families, to be eventually handed over to the Crown. It deteriorated over the years, and in 1867, the inner bailey was destroyed to build the train station. The ruin is now also Grade II listed and protected as a scheduled monument. A magnificent view of Clare among trees and the chequered fields can be taken in from the vantage point of these last, determined remains.
Valley way
The walk follows a broad path, crossing the lawn between the goods station and the castle towards the rest of the buildings, including the stationmaster’s office, converted to a café. A bridge spanning part of the old moat, now a small trickle, is crossed and a second bridge soon met over the wider Chilton Stream. A viaduct can be seen directly ahead, but rather than walking towards it, a left turn is taken alongside the stream, through wavering woodland shade. This is part of the 60-mile Stour Valley Path, which will be followed all the way into Cavendish. Waymarkers point the way to a bridge, over a road and beside a playing field. After a short distance, the track slips into a tunnel of trees, the dusty ground scattered with crinkled brown sycamore seeds. The pale trunks and yellow fluttering
leaves of a stand of birch trees can be glimpsed through a gap in the hedgerow. The path soon emerges at a wide field bounded with bramble and elder. It follows the field edge before turning right and starting gradually uphill. The track is taken steadily, and the cusp of the hill is soon reached. Before going on, it is worth turning around to survey the panorama of Clare, 65yds (60m) below. At this point, it would be easy to mistake the route, which heads straight on through trees to join another field. The brown stubbly expanse rises slightly so that nothing can be seen of the other side. The effect is similar to that of standing on the shore beside the ocean, a seemingly endless pasture running on to the horizon. The path turns left, running parallel to this view of an enormous sky. Much of the walk until now has been gradually uphill, but it eases as it runs between recently ploughed fields, chips of flint littering the furrows. Houghton Hall, a 16th century privately-owned farmhouse, stands at the highest point of the walk. The track passes by on the left, a bleached signpost pointing the way. Legs ease up as the broad, sandy track bends downhill.
The path to Cavendish
After turning into a wooded field verge and crossing a narrow brook, the path begins to head uphill for a short time. Ahead, a rooftop and wooden shed come into view, the first signs that Cavendish is near. The path runs behind this house and joins a country lane. A rhythmic downhill stroll on a gentle gradient leads past a small woodland, and rounding a bend, Cavendish comes into view. Though the road leads straight
into the village, a footpath heading south between a couple of small fields provides an alternative route. The school is on the left of a small grassy meadow, and a gate leads onto a path banistered by an iron railing beneath the cool canopy of trees. At the end of the short corridor shines a halo of light. Within a few steps it opens onto the enormous green at the heart of Cavendish. The swathe of grass is interspersed with grand mature trees and encircled by medieval buildings. Cavendish is entered at its most picturesque point. The green hosts many events throughout the year and is a delightful place to rest awhile on benches encircling some of the trees or to picnic on the grass. There is also a café and pub nearby. The houses at the southern end of the green are all listed buildings from the 16th to the 18th century. Some are whitewashed plaster, timber-framed with red-tiled roofs, others are of red brick. One features an eye-catching pargeted Tudor rose, painted in muted pink and green. In the converted living room of a 14th century cottage is the unusually named Duck or Grouse Village Store. The shop is owned by the community and largely staffed by volunteers. Its walls are a deep pink, and the tilted bay window originates from approximately the turn of the 18th century. The gleaming red telephone box outside is also community owned and has been converted into a tiny information booth. Continuing around the green and heading north to circle up towards the church, several striking timber-framed cottages are passed, their beams a warm, natural brown. The neighbouring church cottages are painted in a pale shade of traditional Suffolk pink, capped with neatly thatched roofs.
Signs of wealth
Though not as large as Clare, Cavendish was nonetheless built on wool. As well as building themselves beautiful houses, local merchants poured money into the Church, partly as a way of demonstrating wealth and partly in the hope of securing a place in Heaven. The 14th century Church of St Mary is tucked slightly away from the green, its square tower crowned with a tilted spire. Many of the churches in Suffolk wool communities are of a late Gothic, Perpendicular style. This was at its most popular from approximately 1380-1520, the same period in which the industry was at its peak. The style is characterised by large windows and strong, vertical lines, with flint-and stone-dressed walls seen particularly in this district. Striking flint and stone flush work examples are found on the outer walls of the Church of St Mary. Good quality stone was scarce in this part of Suffolk, and the blocks used here were likely to have been brought in from Barnack, near Stamford in Lincolnshire. The oldest parts of the current building, including the tower, date to 1300, but the Domesday Book records a much earlier Saxon church on the same site. This has been an important place of worship for more than 1,000 years. The church at Cavendish, as with the church at Clare, has a beautiful timber roof, also typical of the style, which can be well appreciated from within. An enormous window in the nave floods the church with light. Its tracery is of lancet, arrow and leaf shapes, all pointing upward, enhancing a sense
“Before all else, live together in harmony, being of one mind and one heart on the way to God” Rule of St Augustine Ch 1.2
of exultation. Next to it are windows of brightly coloured and detailed stained glass. A matching brass eagle lectern spreads its wings in front of the altar. Opposite the door, a gilded altar piece hangs on the wall, showing the Passion of the Christ carved in extraordinary detail. The unexpected item was gifted to the church in 1950, after surviving both world wars in a private London chapel.
Return journey
Stepping from the cool, contemplative interior of the church into bright sunshine, the return to Clare begins. A path leads through the small graveyard to a narrow lane soon joining the main road. This is followed eastwards, past houses and the village pond, known as The Waiver, from the old English waver, meaning wet or boggy ground. At the end of a wall, past the recessed bus stop, a sign points right to a footpath between houses. Guarded by crab apple and cherry trees, it passes between gardens and a narrow stream. The low thunder of a weir can be heard before it is seen. Crossing a stile into a field backing onto the River Stour, the water’s glimmering surface can be spotted for the first time since leaving the country park. The path vanishes briefly in the grass and the riverbank is followed to the arched red-brick Pentlow Bridge. Over another stile, the road leads to a narrow boardwalk beside a small green. An increasingly rural feel infuses the walk as it heads out of the village and back towards the fields. The road is crossed to a path on the left, and at a conspicuous bend and junction, an elegant worn signpost points the way back to Clare. The route now returns to quiet arable fields, lined with rustling hedgerow. After tracing the edges of fields, the path slips into a copse of hazel, ash, maple and hawthorn, thickly entwined with ivy, and continues straight downhill. It emerges onto more fields, edged with tangled bramble and collapsing nettles. These are a little rougher than those on the way in, and insects flit in the long grasses. After passing through a small meadow, the path joins a road through buildings and past a charmingly ramshackle wooden shed.
Glimpses of the river
Much of the walk follows the route of the River Stour, but the still narrow watercourse is seldom seen, more often shrouded from view or simply too distant. At a turn in the road though, it comes very close. An easily-missed wooden post signs a bridleway and the Stour bends to meet the trail. Springing from West Wickham in Cambridgeshire, the 47-mile watercourse forms much of the boundary between Suffolk and Essex, and this return leg is mainly in the latter. The river has been an important working waterway in the Stour valley, and groups are working to restore navigation from Sudbury, approximately 10 miles downriver, to the sea.
Here though, it remains largely the province of ducks and herons. Its silvery gleam can be glimpsed through the trees, wending a slow path through the low-lying land. Hedgerow and grasses spring up closely on either side, and the nettles which had towered over the path have begun to fall back. The walk returns to a patchwork of arable fields on a gentle lilting route. A sharp turn right and downhill is a sign that the end of the walk is near. The path again comes briefly close to the Stour, then leads off to join a road for a short distance, before crossing a field and a footbridge back into the country park. The bridge is perhaps one of the best places to admire the clarity of the water passing beneath. Reeds waver in the current, and stones lying on the riverbed gleam in the rippling sunlight.
Place for contemplation
Back in the country park, the placid turn of the river can be followed to the final landmark of the walk, and one of its most serenely beautiful. Clare Priory is one of the oldest religious houses in the country, established in 1248 as the first house of the Augustinian Friars. After being suppressed in 1538, the priory was bought by the friars in 1953 and restored to its original purpose. The grounds are entered through a heavy wooden door in a flint-and-stone-dressed wall. It leans open onto a neatly- kept garden and trimmed lawn, its privacy guarded by trees. A wall stands along one side, garlanded with ivy and creeping plants. A broken view of another hidden garden can be had through the cracks of an ancient door. The wood and ageing hinges are too fragile to be used, but the garden can be entered through a gateway on the other side. There, tended flower beds line the walls, and occasional wildflowers creep into the spaces between. The house was originally built in the 14th century and is now home to a community of friars and lay people seeking to follow the Augustinian ideal of faith in the community. Members quietly fulfil daily tasks, and visitors sit, absorbing the tranquillity of the house and its grounds. Though the house itself is closed, a shrine to the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Good Counsel, is open to the public. It is found within a timbered cloister in one of the oldest parts of the building. Candles flicker beside wooden prayer benches, and the happy trickle of a fountain can be heard amid birdsong and the occasional murmur of low voices. From here, it is only a few yards’ walk back to the starting point. Two or three bronzed leaves fall softly from the trees to land on the languid river and begin a slow drift downstream. Here, beside the medieval streets, is a timeless haven.