Clare Castle is an 11th century earthwork motte and bailey fortress, founded by Richard fitz Gilbert. In the 13th century, the de Clare family founded the stone castle, when they crowned the motte, with a polygonal shell keep, with unusual triangular buttresses. One length of the inner bailey rampart survives to its full height, with an opening where the gatehouse once stood. It supports a long section of curtain wall, which descends from the motte. Beyond this and the wet ditch is the large outer bailey, with a smaller rampart which once supported a timber palisade. In 1865 the Great Eastern Railway built the station, which now stands in the inner bailey. 11 miles south is Hedingham Castle.