CLAVERING RECORDER’S REPORT 2005

Local history in Clavering in 2005 was dominated by the Clavering Castle Project, which was launched in the spring. Most of our initial effort went on organising an ambitious medieval re-enactment event on Saturday 16 July as part of National Archaeology Week. This event snowballed into a very large event, covering not only a 12^th century re-enactment by a group called Feudal Archers, but also many other attractions including falconry, medieval herbs, history tours of castle and church, magnetometer and theodolite demonstrations, archaeology for children, archery, Morris dancing and many other aspects.

The previous few days had been spent supporting a Medieval Week at Clavering School, at which CLHG members talked about history, taught finger braiding, helped make banners and took the children on a castle tour. The Medieval Event was run in parallel with a Flower Festival in Clavering Church on the same theme, and the weekend ended with a sung Compline service featuring period songs by the Manuden Singers. The entire event, which was blessed with bright sunshine and which was offered to the community completely free, attracted about 2000 people and proved to be a red-letter day in the annals of Clavering. It was co-ordinated by the Local History Recorder, assisted by a working group and supported by the ECC Historic Environment department.

With this excitement over, the Project Castle group were able to concentrate on the main object of the project – carry out geophysics and earthwork surveys of the Castle and its environs. In summer, the ECC archaeologists began with a training course in the use of the magnetometer, after which the group members worked on their own to survey the castle and adjoining field. The resulting geophysics diagram was excellent and showed indications of structures underneath the site. In the autumn the group then received training in earthwork survey techniques prior to doing a survey with their own Topcon level bought with the grant monies.

The other main activity on the history front was the third in a series of evening classes under the umbrella of the Clavering Local Centre, which is supported by the Board of Continuing Education at Madingley. The subject this time was ‘ East Anglia in the Middle Ages’ with the emphasis on timber-framed buildings and their social context. The class was well supported with over 30 people signing up. The tutor Leigh Alston also visited and provided an analysis of about 20 Clavering houses for local records.

As well as running the CHLG and the evening class, I continue to deal with an endless stream of family history enquiries, many of them generated by our village website which has a popular history section: www.claveringonline.org.uk

Jacqueline Cooper Clavering Local History Recorder 3.5.06