What can you see inside...
Exhibitions in the Museum tell the history of the town, of the Lords and Ladies who once lived in Clare, and of the ordinary people who lived and worked here. In 2007 our exhibits featured the Clare Reliquary Cross, a famous medieval artifact which was found in the grounds of Clare Castle, and now belongs to the Royal Collection; it is housed in the British Museum. In 2008-09 we focused on the history of Clare Common with its remains of an Iron Age fort and the medieval farm of Erbury Manor.
For 2010 our exhibition was on how the churches of Clare adjusted to the religious and political upheavals that happened over the centuries.
Our 2011-12 exhibition is on the theme of 'Clare during the Agricultural Depression 1870-1895'.
In 2012 we will also exhibit some of the finds from the recent archaeological test-pit digging that was undertaken in April and May 2011.
See the News & Events page for more information.
The Clare War Memorial. Alison Krohn, a resident of Clare, spent over 10 years studying the histories of Clare people who were killed in action in both World Wars. The details she gathered include their family backgrounds, where they lost their lives and where they are buried. To view these findings, visit the Museum and ask to view our data base.
Rolling display of Museum photographs. A new selection of the Museum's photographs is on display. It features views, buildings and events in Clare's history.
Publications about Clare available from the Museum; out of our season, available from Harris & Harris Books, High Street, Clare.
David Hatton, Clare Suffolk, 2007, 96 pp. £10.00 + p&p £1.50
Walter Perry, The Common at Clare 1870, 2002, 47 pp. £3.50 + p&p
Deborah Ridley, A Clare View: Ten Sketches £1.00 + p&p
David Ridley, Clare: Annals of the Borough 1550-1700, n.d., 32 pp. £2.00 + p&p
David Ridley, Clare: Annals of the Borough 1605-1610 The Land War, n.d., 16 pp. £2.00 + p&p
David Ridley, Clare: Annals of the Borough 1700-1800, n.d. £2.00 + p&p
David Ridley, Clare: Annals of the Borough 1800-1850, n.d. 32 pp. £2.00 + p&p
David Ridley, Clare Baptist Church, the First 200 Years, n.d. £2.00 + p&p
[Peggy Smith], The Clare Reliquary, 2007, 6 pp. £1.00 + p&p
Jan McNelly & Tom Shaw, Clare during the Agricultural Depression 1870-1895, 2011. £4.00 + p&p
Straw-plaiting examples in our exhibit, a beautifully worked handbag on loan from Neil Catchpole, and a corn dollie. The exhibit explains the craft and its importance to the economy of agricultural families, an importance which declined severely at just the same time of the late 19th-century agricultural depression.
Poster for the 1906 re-opening of the Clare Congregational Church
Local printer E. Coe kept a sample book, which is now in the Museum. The Church later became part of the United Reformed Church.
Poster by Coe to raise funds for the Baptist minister's house.
An ancester of the Crows listed on the Committee was Francis Crow, who featured in the 2010 Exhibition.
