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Glemsford Local History Society is dedicated to the study and distribution of the details of Glemsford's past. Preserving Glemsford's past for future generations Glemsford Local History Society Glemsford is a village in the county of Suffolk in England. It sits on a small hill above the River Stour and the River Glem, from which it takes its name. Glemsford is an ancient village, dating back to Domesday, and before. Although it may have acquired its nickname only last century, it is possible to trace the history of the village across many more centuries through the huge variety of buildings and fieldnames. Find out more Latest Publication This latest publication by the Glemsford Local History Society is a longoverdue reprint of a book, the text of which was dictated to a schoolboy, Perry Baxter, of what was then Clare Middle School as part of a history project in December 1978. He is a grandson of Ted Hartley, whose memoriesthese are. The resulting tape was then transcribed by his father Terry, Ted’s son-in-law and subsequently published. We are delighted to have since been able to digitize the text and photos belonging to the Hartley family in order to produce this edition. The book is available at our monthly meetings and from Glemsford Library, Hunts Hill Stores and Willow Tree Farm Shop. However, if you live some distance away you can still purchase the book by contacting us. Events Find out more - Current and Previous John Miners Horsehair Tales September 11th 2025 Annual General Meeting Members' Talks October 9th 2025 Kate Jewell O'Donoghue 'By The Moonlight I Must Go To My Bed.' Schools and Education in Medieval Suffolk November 13th 2025 Christmas Social . December 11th 2025 Adrian Tindall 'The Monastery Alone A City.' 1000 years of the Abbey of St Edmunds January 8th 2026 Andrew Mowbray Virtually Colchester February 12th 2026 Julie Whittle A Bulmer Family during World War II March 12th 2026 Pip Wright A Picture History of Margaret Catchpole April 16th 2026 NB Third Thursday Mark Bailey The Impact of Global Climate change on the East Anglian Coast 1100 to 1600 May 14th 2026 A Summer Outing To Be Arranged About Us Find out more Glemsford Local History Society has been active for many years now, and is dedicated to the study and distribution of the details of Glemsford's past. We aim to encourage the better understanding of the past and present through lectures, activities, visits and research. Meetings Find out more The Society meet on the second Thursday of the month in Glemsford Primary Academy Hall at 7.30pm. We have a wide range of speakers, visits to places of local interest and other events to celebrate our life in ‘Glorious Glemsford’. Membership costs just £12 per annum. Visitors £3.00 per time. The People of Glemsford Find out more about the families of Glemsford throughout the centuries from personal accounts to sourced information. Find out more Tracing your family tree? We are not a family history society and do not hold census or similar records. Our secretary will always try to answer general questions about the village, based upon her own personal knowledge and not on formal research. If unable to answer a query herself, she will pass it on to someone in the village, whom she thinks might be able to help. This of course may take some time. You may find the information you require at the Suffolk Record Office . They also run a website for archives found here at Suffolk Archives . There is also a Suffolk Family History website which may be able to help with your enquiries. If you have information on particular people or properties in Glemsford, which you would be willing to have added to the website we would of course be delighted to receive it. Display Cabinet from the Arnold & Gould horsehair factory Link to horsehair factory video on the industry page

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A list of streets of Glemsford, with photographs and details supplied where possible. Streets Heritage Room Pictures You are here: Home : Buildings and Streets: Streets Below is a list of streets of Glemsford, with photographs and details supplied where possible. Egremont Street "My grandmother Hartley lived in one of these cottages. She was widowed at the age of 42 with three young children to support. She earned her living as a silk weaver. She had a silk loom in the large room downstairs at the back and was presumably an out-worker of one of the factories. She had retired by the time I first visited Glemsford so to my regret I never saw the loom." by Fred Hartley A newspaper article , transcribed from the "South West Suffolk Echo", published in Haverhill puts an informed guess at a fire being between 1894 and 1896. More info regarding the family involved is in the People section. Egremont Street Bells Lane Bells Lane This view is of Bells Lane, taken from the corner of Park Lane, very close to the church . All the buildings seen in the picture still exist. The building on the left was owned by Mr Cook of Melford Riot fame. The background has changed a great deal, although the Horsehair factory buildings still exist. Hunts Hill Hunts Hill has changed a lot, but much is recognisable. The Draper's shop on the right is now an estate agent. The building on the left is now the Briars Nursing Home. Just beyond it is the site of the Social Club. More of this site is described in A Walk Through Glemsford.

History of industry in Glemsford Industry You are here: Home : Buildings and Streets : Industry The history of industry in Glemsford is varied. Below you will find the information we have gathered so far. E.W Downs The Flax Industry The Old Wheelwrights Horsehair Factory Matmaking The Silk Mill E.W Downs The place of an engineering company in village history E.W. Downs Ltd, today best known for its products in the area of potato harvesting and grading, the company has been active in Glemsford (just off Fair Green) for over 150 years. The company can be traced back to the work of a blacksmith, using his ingenuity and skill to repair and modify various items crucial to the work of local farmers. Typical of that sort of work, Mr Downs was called upon to carry out other tasks too; several church towers around Suffolk contain bells hung by Mr Downs. Glemsford's own church (of St Mary the Virgin) had its own bells completely re-hung in 1863. Other examples are to be found in Long Melford and Chevington. From the 1840s, the original Edward Walter Downs turned his hand to manufacturing new pieces of agricultural machinery. Suffolk, however, was never a county solely dependent on agriculture, being, as it was, one of the leading cloth manufacturing areas in th e country from the middle ages onwards. Villages like Lavenham and Kersey are world-famous, but Glemsford too had its wealthy clothier community as is witnessed by the number of prosperous hall houses in the village. However, as the Industrial Revolution took hold, and the focus of the cloth industry shifted to the developing towns and cities of Lancashire and Yorkshire, so the traditional weaving centres of East Anglia declined in importance. One of the effects in a village like Glemsford was the concomitant development of the mat-making and silk industries, providing a form of employment for the people of the village, often within their own homes. The mat-making industry used coconut fibre as its raw material, and Downs found new work in the manufacture and repair of the various machines used in the process. (Evidence of the importance of mat-making to the village is further demonstrated by the fact that the original "seal" for the village school, opened in 1874, was a combination of a matloom and a palm tree, and, of course, Richard Deeks famous account of the Long Melford riot of 1885 is called "The Matmaker and the Magistrate".). By referring to company documents and illustrations, Mr Rodger-Brown highlighted this early change in Downs' fortunes. At one time, there were 9 separate mat-making operations in the village. Samuel Downs (son of the original E. W. Downs) developed the work of the company, often demonstrating his skills by creating bespoke pieces of equipment to suit individual customers particular needs. Foreign competition hit the company badly, particularly as native producers of coconut fibre began to get involved in the manufacturing side of the industry. At the end of the Great War, Downs had reached a low ebb, which is when the business was acquired by Mr Rodger-Brown's father. The revised business maintained its interest in the matting industry - in fact, expanding into carding and shearing machines, as well as producing "plantation" machinery such as were needed to remove fibre from husks. A further connection with the past was maintained with the employment of W. H. Playle, a cousin of Samuel Downs, as senior foreman. Upon the death of Mr Rodger-Brown, senior, in 1955, the company was kept going by his wife - Donald's mother - with the help of just 4 employees. The company then began a gradual transition back towards its agricultural origins. In 1967, it produced its first piece of farm machinery since 1860 - a powered hopper for stock feeding, designed by Donald himself, and in 1968, Downs produced the first piece of potato machinery, a line for which the company is now so well known. Despite ups and downs in the agricultural market, and the fortunes of the company, the story continues to develop. Downs now employs 45 people on its site in the heart of the village. Annual sales now exceed £3 million. It has been rewarded with gold and silver medals from the Royal Agricultural Society of England; purchasers have included the former Soviet Union and the present Czech Republic - in fact 40% of its sales are for export. Its products have ranged from the relatively humble potato harvester to giant elevators for grain storage and a "banana tractor", designed to run on an aerial cableway. Most recently, the story has turned full circle, because Downs were again commissioned to re-hang the bells in Glemsford's own church tower. Glemsford Local History Society is most grateful to Mr Rodger-Brown for his contribution to the activity of the Society. It proves just how much the activity of historians is the activity of the present. It also shows quite forcefully the extent to which Glemsford is still a living village. e w downs flax Flax Industry This photo, of the workforce there in the 1950s, gives an indication of just how important British Flax was as an employer in the area. We know quite a lot about the Horsehair, Coconut Fibre and Silk industries in the village but Val Ost's work refers to the old Flax Factory on Lower Road, where the Avent works is now. Together, the photos suggest some sort of continuity of an industry which has left a mark on the village. The traditional view has been that the production of Flax, and Linen, was an irregular occupation, growing in importance in wartime, when extra linen was needed for sheeting, bandages and such-like. Certainly, we know that there was an influx of Land Girls during the Second World War, to work in the Flax Industry. This older photograph on the right, shows employees at another Flax Factory in the village - The Croft, off FLAX Lane. wheelwrights The Old Wheelwrights The old wheelwright's shop on Tye Green, for long the home of the Hartley family. Horsehair factory Horsehair Factory Peter Dickinson's memories of the horsehair factory in Glemsford. The Horsehair Factory by Peter Dickinson A recently discovered video of the horsehair factory. Matmaking Matmaking In 1980, Richard Deeks published The Matmaker and the Magistrate . In many ways, the book broke entirely new ground in the history of Glemsford. It is, specifically, a study of the 1885 Riot, but has broader importance. Before its publication, little had been done to investigate the history of the village in any detail, with the exception of the Reverend Glass' s broad-sweep Ice Age to Now study, A Short History of Glemsford , published in 1962. After The Matmaker and the Magistrate , many, including Richard himself, began to look in something approaching academic detail at this great village, and it is no exaggeration to attribute to Richard the foundation of Glemsford Local History Society and, in turn, this web site. In his opening chapter, Richard talked about the background to the various textile industries - particularly horsehair and coconut fibre - that existed in Suffolk in general, and Glemsford in particular. Matmaking by Richard Deeks The Silk Mill The Silk Mill A wonderful view of Glemsford Silk Mill, with the huge pond apparent. Silk weaving has happened in Glemsford since the 1820s. Back to top

Public Houses in Glemsford and their history Pubs You are here: Home : Buildings and Streets: Pubs This house in Egremont Street is an excellent example of a "Yeoman's House", it was built about the year 1420. It was restored earlier this century and has a wealth of old woodwork. It has an original window of the type made before glass was used which is complete with slots and shutters. For many years it was the Greyhound Inn and the old brew house at the rear still has an old wooden mechanism for the control of ventilation during the brewing process. It lost its licence in 1907 and a fine story is told of the final night at the Greyhound. Apparently a coffin complete had been obtained, and after closing time a procession carried it, and presumably the spirit of the old Inn, to the churchyard. The quantity of free beer consumed on this occasion is still the subject of comment in the village. The Black Lion, opposite the School. The Crown Inn: one of several fine hostelries in the village, it was closed in 2009 by a brewery company, but re-opened by enterprising new owners in 2011.

The history of noteworthy houses in Glemsford Houses You are here: Home : Buildings and Streets : Houses Glemsford has a rich history and with it some very interesting houses. Monks Hall Monks Hall The unmissable beauty of Monks Hall. The Old Rectory The fine early nineteenth century house, formerly the rectory, now Coldhams, a private house. Cobwebs Chequers Chequers Chequers: a 17th Century hall house; one of several in Glemsford. Formerly the old post office but now a family home by the name of Cobwebs. Back to top

Source of information for genealogy in Glemsford Families You are here: Home: People & Memories : Families The Allen Family The Allen family were involved in an alarming fire in 1896 on Egremont Street . Henry Allen (above), who was rescued from the great fire of the 1890s, lived for virtually the whole of the 19th Century, and by the time of his death owned several properties in the area around The Cock and The Angel. History of the Allens Alarming Fire! The Butcher Family A family of weaving and silk work The Watkinson Family Sid Watkinson discusses The Oakley Family Ben Oakley has been sharing some information regarding the Oakley family who lived in Glemsford since at least 1624. Ben has links to Farrance, Humm, Hartley and Theobold in his family tree. Members of the family lived in Old Chequers as well as many other houses around the village. If you would like to get in touch with Ben you can visit his website here or send an email If you have links to the Oakley family and would like to share information. The Brown Family Find out more about the Brown family of Glemsford. The Pearman Family Information regarding the Pearmans. We have been advised the picture below is of the Hart family. If anyone can confirm, please e-mail

History of Glemsford Schools Schools You are here: Home : Buildings and Streets : Schools For well over 100 years, children in Glemsford have been making their way to the village school. Despite many alterations, inside and out, the building is easy to recognise as the three schools which were built as a result of the Education Act of 1870: Infants, Boys and Girls. The story of education which has developed on Lion Road since the 1870s allows many insights into life in the village, for the school has been a focal point for generations of villagers. Articles about Glemsford School Some personal accounts, documents and facts about the Schools in Glemsford, originally compiled and wrtitten by Steve Clarke. Blazes blowing a yard Heating the School Illnesses In the 1890s Logbook Voices from the past The Infants' School Tough conditions The Schoolmistress Undervalued teachers Staffing the School During the 1800s Treats and Holidays Days off School and Health 19th century Visitors and other interruptions Eleanor Bowrey In search of a schoolmistress Back to top

The Glemsford War Memorial The War Memorial You are here: Home: People & Memories: The War Memorial This page correlates the names of the men on Glemsford's War Memorial with the real people listed in the Census documents of 1901. Inevitably, there are some people who remain invisible, and a few who have disappeared. As before it is based on Martin Edwards' immense work on the War Memorial names which has made it possible to peer through the mist and catch a glimpse of the men who gave everything. It is intended as a matter of pride, and as a compliment, that Glemsford should be called “an ordinary village inhabited by ordinary people". There will still be some inconsistencies and a few confusions - some names are quite common. George Bradenham Henry Charles Brewster Walter Brewster George Brown Ernest Brown George Clarke Chatters W William George Clarke Eaton Cross William Debenham Cyril Game Dennis Golding Lambert Goody Albert Hartley Eliazer Hartley George Honeywood Walter Jarmin Lambert Jarmyn Edwin Keefe Harry Lorkings Harry Mizon Frederick Oakley Ben Oakley Edwin Piper Wallace Playle Samuel George Smith Ambrose Suttle Albert Twinn Arthur C and Wallace W Twinn The rest of this page comprises men whose details have emerged from the 1911 Census but for whom there are no details in 1901. ALBRIGHT, Frederick Arthur BROWN, Arthur BYFORD, John JOSSLYN, William W J SLATER, William SPARHAM, William The rest are men whose names, for one reason or another, do not appear on the War Memorial, but who were born or resident in Glemsford. ARBON, Alfred I CLARKE, Arthur COPSEY, Christopher Simon CUTMORE, William FILBY, George William GAME, Jasper GARWOOD, Robert HARDY, Charles MIZON, Walter OAKDEN, William PLUMB, William REYNOLDS, Fred SMITH Victor Albert TERRY, Archie Louis THOMPSON, John THOMPSON Tom TWINN, Reginald Charles Download War Memorial

King Charles III Coronation 2023 A selection of photographs from the Coronation Exhibition at St. Mary’s Church, Glemsford. Celebration with neighbours and friends at Melton House, Hunts Hill, on the afternoon of Sunday 7th May, 2023. Pauline & Patrick Currie(hosts), Pat & George Flinn, Dawn & Bob Crick, Margaret & John King, Janet & Clive Austen, Gillian & Steve Paterson.

Why is Glemsford known as Little Egypt? Why Little Egypt? You are here: Home : People & Memories: Little Egypt Fact, Legend, Urban Myth? An attempt to start unravelling the truth. This question pops up with predictable regularity, and has never been satisfactorily, or at least conclusively, answered. The favourite of the moment is that of the 1885 Melford Riot, the reason the name was adopted by the Morris Men of Little Egypt. That story has been rehearsed many times: It says that, at the time of the first "Working Man's" election, of 1885, the new voters of the village were prevented, by their "betters", from casting their vote in the village, through the simple measure of not providing a polling station. Instead, they were expected to walk to the neighbouring village of Long Melford. This, of course, would have meant the loss of wages. Nevertheless, the men insisted, and marched together to cast their vote. On arrival in Long Melford, the angry men of Glemsford proceeded, in time-honoured fashion, not only to vote, but also to slake their Glemsfordian thirsts at the various hostelries of their host village. As the day progressed, so did the level of inappropriate activity, including the looting of the odd pub or two and the concomitant terrorising of the fair burghers of Melford. In the end the authorities felt obliged to summon law and order assistance, in the form of troops from the garrison in Bury St Edmunds, who duly arrived, by train, in the late afternoon, to be met by the still-drinking and ever-so-slightly disorderly Men of Glemsford. The Riot Act was read, and arrests followed. The legend goes that the troops had lately returned from the Sudan where they had been fighting against the forces of the Mahdi. So fiercely did the Men of Glemsford fight that the troops are reputed to have declared that they fought like "them Egyptians". Since then, Glemsford has been known as "Little Egypt" - at least, that is one of the legends. This is not fully convincing, this possible early version of what we would today call an “Urban Myth”. There are too many inconsistencies: why should troops returning from the Sudan compare the Glemsford men with “Egyptians”? why not “Sudanese”? by the time the troops arrived from Bury late in the day, most of the Glemsford rioters were, apparently, so far and so deep into their looted liquor as to be unable to fight off a cold, let alone the British army; and so on. So, perhaps, we have to look elsewhere. Glemsford has never had a whole History Book devoted to itself. A previous rector of the village, the Rev. Kenneth Glass did publish a “Short History of Glemsford” in 1962, and it is reproduced in full in Andrew Clarke’s magnificent Foxearth website: http://www.foxearth.org.uk/GlemsfordGlass.html Inevitably, some of the research has been left far behind, but Glass does refer to two other possible explanations, although, interestingly, does not refer to the Melford Riot. The first is contained in a somewhat fanciful examination of the possible origins of settlement in the village: It is possible that the hilltop was fortified from early times, as it is known that these three races were continually involved in tribal war. The Iberians, as civilised as their neighbours, were wholly under the influence of Druidism and the locality abounds in references to the Druids and their Groves, It is a popular saying that the nickname of Glemsford, still used incidentally, of 'Little Egypt' dates from these times, 'Egypt' presumably referring to an Egyptian priest system. It is possible that the Romans may have given this name to Glemsford because of the priestly character of the settlement. However, perhaps Glass may get nearer to the point with another observation: Glemsford in medieval times was isolated from the life which passed by along the pack routes from Melford to Clare or Bury. Some have suggested that the nickname "Little Egypt" is a survival of the independent and unfriendly inhabitants of this period who kept very much to themselves as a self-sufficient unit upon their hilltop, viewing all strangers with grave suspicion. A characteristic which may well linger on and certainly was common in those days.

Events - Season 2024-25 A large audience braved a very chilly January evening to hear speaker Terry O’Donoghue’s talk on ‘The English Civil War in Bury St. Edmunds and Suffolk’. A complex subject, emanating from Charles I’s adherence to the Divine Right of Kings; his idea of government was diametrically opposed to that of both Parliament and army. Charles was often in Newmarket being very keen on horse racing and it was here that Parliament asked him to sign a militia bill. His refusal to do so, plus his obstinacy on other matters, meant that the ‘die was cast’ and unrest, rebellion and finally war was inevitable. Suffolk in the 1640s boasted a prosperous, advanced economy; a thriving merchant class which, like the majority of the East, supported the Parliamentarians. In the larger towns such as Bury there were some rich families still loyal to the king, however the area saw little real action – the famous battles being elsewhere. In 1645 General Fairfax and the politically astute Puritan, Oliver Cromwell, set up the New Model Army, a strict and disciplined force which subdued any local aggression and skirmishes around Bury and Newmarket. Fairfax, a man of military action, went on to control the 1648 eleven week siege of Colchester, whilst the Earl of Manchester, another strict Puritan, proceeded to purge the ‘papist’ clergymen. Charles and the Royalists were defeated by 1646. The King became a fugitive in disguise before being taken back to London to face his January 1649 execution. Parliamentarian Puritanism did not sit kindly with the English who were to endure the banning of Christmas, maypole dancing and all kinds of fun, as well as the destruction of much beautiful religious idolatry and stained glass in Suffolk churches by the ‘butcher’ William Dowsing, whilst the hunt for witches by Matthew Hopkins went on unabated! It was not until the 1660 Restoration of King Charles II that some semblance of normality was reinstated. From - https://www.suffolkvillagesigns.co.uk/glemsford The current Glemsford sign was made by Graham Chaplin from Buxhall of painted galvanized steel in 2009 replacing the original sign at the same location. There are three buildings on the sign starting with the church of St Mary on top of the sign, this is connected by a winding road down to the old boarding school which is now the Glemsford Primary Academy. The road to the left leads to the 16th century Monks Hall. Below the school is a horse and cart representing agriculture in the area. In the centre of the sign is a group of Morris dancers, known as the Morris Dancers of Little Egypt set up in 1992. There is also a wig at the top of the post representing Arnold and Gould wig makers which were set up to process horsehair in 1907. On the other side is a guardsman helmet. A teachers mortar board and quill pen are there to represent the old college from the Middle Ages. The gap in the middle is the river Glem. The flowers at the bottom of the sign look like Wood Anemones. Another excellent turnout of 53 members and visitors who were held really spellbound by Bryan Thurlow’s dramatized presentation of the sensational, yet tragic, story of the poor village maiden, Maria Marten, and the Red Barn. We were taken to 1820’s Polstead to meet Thomas Marten, the molecatcher and father to pretty Maria, at that time working at the rectory as a child minder. She soon attracted the attentions of the wealthy Corder boys from the big hall. The eldest, Thomas gave her a child, another babe arrived from one, Peter Matthews, and it was not long before she was pregnant by the youngest, Wiliam Corder. All records show that the young squire William was a thoroughly ‘bad egg’ – a liar, a cheat, a deceiver and a habitual thief (pigs being a speciality!), to name but a few of his endearing qualities. The baby died shortly after birth and William, perceiving the situation as socially unacceptable, saw fit to dispose of the body whilst, to appease Maria, offering to marry her on the day following an evening rendezvous in the Red Barn, one of their romantic venues. The rest is history. Maria was never seen again; William, now in London, explained her disappearance with a fistful of lies. Eleven months later, after her step-mother’s prophetic dream, her bullet riddled body was discovered buried in the Red Barn. William was arrested and duly hung at Bury St. Edmunds jail in front of an enormous cheering crowd enjoying a glorious day’s experience! Ghoulish pursuits and a host of money making schemes to view the dissected corpse and skeleton followed, whilst in later years the story was to become the stuff of legend via books, plays and numerous productions of horrific melodrama. April speaker, Ashley Cooper, kept a very large audience thoroughly engaged with his entertaining talk on ‘Heroes and Villains of our Locality. Part 2’. This was further enhanced by the lively and amusing paintings of Benjamin Perkins. Following a detailed resume of Part 1 starting with the great Roman chieftain, Caractacus and the warrior queen Boudicca, down through the centuries to the martyred King Edmund, the (probably less than sainted) Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, on to the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, one of the most cruel villains of all, we arrived in the days of Oliver Cromwell when a Puritanical obsession reigned. This led to one, William Dowsing and his band of thugs, who systematically ravaged and defaced our churches. Medieval stained glass windows were smashed and every semblance of decorative effigies and carvings were destroyed. Moving on, John Winthrop from Edwardstone migrated to the nascent United States with other Pilgrim Fathers to help found Massachusetts. The 17 th and 18 th centuries saw discovery and identification of flora and fauna led by John Ray whose meticulous drawings of orchids are still revered. Botanists Joseph Andrews and Sudbury born Mark Catesby followed, the latter exploring in Florida, Carolina and the Bahamas. The 19 th century saw a pair of local tight-fisted misers; one, William Jennens from Acton, whose huge wealthy estate took so long to sort that only the lawyers were the beneficiaries, was said to have been the inspiration for Dickens in his darkest novel, ‘Bleak House’. Subsequently, Hardy was inspired to write ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ upon hearing of a local man who had sold his wife! Murderer, William order,from Polstead, he of the Red Barn fame, was another villain, whilst on the plus side, Thomas Clarkson from Wisbech was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade. Ashley concluded his talk by nominating his own 20 th century heroes, namely Fred Pawsey and Sue Ryder (Cavendish residents) and those WWII soldiers sent to Singapore only to be captured and imprisoned in the infamous Japanese camps. The relatively recent excavations at Clare Castle proved a most interesting subject for the last talk of the present season. During 2018 – 2021 speaker, Jo Caruth, worked with Suffolk Archaeology and a large number of local volunteers digging trenches in both the outer and inner baileys of the well-known Clare motte and bailey castle which was built just after the Norman Conquest. Jo itemised the finds from the earlier digs of 1951 and 2013, plus the railway construction dig of 1865 when the gold reliquary cross, the most notable find of all, was discovered. This was possibly dropped by castle visitor and later owner, Cecily Neville, mother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III, in the 15 th century. Probably the most famous resident was Elizabeth de Burgh (b.1295 – 1360) who inherited the castle and spent a great deal of money on it. Evidence from the dig, assisted by the geophysicists, showed thriving occupation, many clay ovens, a large building, kitchens, possible stables, kennels and chapels, also signs that further ramparts once existed. A good number of human remains, male, female and children, were unearthed, some from the Anglo Saxon period which supported the theory of a probable cemetery for the Saxon town. Piles of animal bones confirmed the meat-based diet of the Medieval period. More esoteric finds included beautifully decorated floor tiles, colourful pieces of stained glass, parts of an unusual comb, a 7/8 th century brooch, a very rare Saxon coin and, most strange of all, the claw of a bear; he/she must have been imported for entertainment purposes!