Clare, Suffolk in the context of De Clare

Pargeting (or sometimes called Wall pargetting) is a decorative or waterproof plastering applied to building walls. The term, if not the practice, is particularly associated with the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. In the neighbouring county of Norfolk, the term "pinking" is used.

Patrick Leigh Fermor describes similar decorations on pre-World War II buildings in Linz, Austria. "Pargeted façades rose up, painted chocolate, green, purple, cream and blue. They were adorned with medallions in high relief and the stone and plaster scroll-work gave them a feeling of motion and flow."

Clare Castle is a high-mounted ruinous medieval castle in the parish and former manor of Clare in Suffolk, England, anciently the caput of a feudal barony. It was built shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 by Richard Fitz Gilbert, having high motte and bailey and later improved in stone. In the 14th century it was the seat of Elizabeth de Clare, one of the wealthiest women in England, who maintained a substantial household there. The castle passed into the hands of the Crown and by 1600 was disused. The ruins are an unusually tall earthen motte surmounted by tall remnants of a wall and of the round tower, with large grassland or near-rubble gaps on several of their sides. It was damaged by an alternate line of the Great Eastern Railway in 1867, the rails of which have been removed.

The remains are a scheduled monument and a Grade II* listed building. They form the centrepiece of a public park.

The Honour of Clare was a medieval English feudal barony centred on the town of Clare in Suffolk. It was established following the Norman Conquest and became one of the most important honours in East Anglia. The caput baroniae, or administrative centre, of the honour was Clare Castle, a motte-and-bailey structure later rebuilt in stone.

The honour was originally granted after the Revolt of the Earls in 1075 to Richard Fitz Gilbert, a companion of William the Conqueror, who as Chief Justiciar had played a major part in suppressing the rebellion. He took the name "de Clare" from the estate. Originally, it consisted of lands in Essex and Suffolk that had previously belonged to Wihtgar Ælfricsson, son of Ælfric, an Essex thegn, and to Phin the Dane. During the twelfth century, the Honour acquired valuable manors in Norfolk.

The Ancient House is a medieval timber-framed and partly pargeted building located in Clare in Suffolk, England. It is a Grade I listed building.