Honor of Clare

“The Norman Earls of Clare were once the baronial owners of lands of Stoke Ferry. The court of the Honor of Clare was a feudal court where petty criminal issues were resolved, and tenants/sub-tenants paid their dues through a receiver, steward or constable. The Honor of Clare’s lands were extensive, and The Eastern circuit consisted of numerous estates within East Anglia including holdings in Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridge, and Norfolk. Lords of the Manor had freehold ownership of the land, which could then be leased long-term to others under a system called copyhold (because the owner had a copy of the court roll recording the conveyance). During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries land was gradually enfranchised to the tenants (converted into freehold, the model of ownership in use today), but certain manorial rights were often retained.”