The Ancient House is one of the best known houses in Suffolk, situated on the High Street in Clare opposite the main entrance to the parish church of St Peter and St Paul. Its chief glory lies in the rich, boldly moulded pargeting - the plaster decoration that covers its north facade. Supporting the chamber window is a finely carved oak bracket containing the arms of the Hamelden family, supported by two leaf-clad woodwoses (wild men of the woods).
The Hameldens probably built the house and they may have installed a chantry priest or perhaps lived here themselves. It has been known as the Ancient House since about 1810 when an engraving with that title appeared in the Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet.
No one can be sure about the original form of the Ancient House. It seems likely that a 14th century house, possibly incorporating a shop, lay along the High Street. At the north end of this there was a cross wing (now the front room of the Museum). At the end of the 15th century an architectural show piece was added behind the cross wing and the orientation of the house changed so that it faced the church rather than the street. The newer part comprised the massive front door and hall, the parlour with its very fine ceiling and a chamber above, each with a room behind. The carved leaf stops on the ends of the floor joists are similar to ones in Clare Priory and the Bell Hotel, and may have all been carved by the same family. Access to the first floor chamber was probably by a steep staircase winding down from the archway immediately to the south of the present bedroom door.
The older part along the High Street was probably replaced in the 17th century with a two-storey wing incorporating the chimney. Later on, certainly before 1810 and possibly about 1767, the original staircase serving the chamber was removed; a new door was made into the chamber, the front door was blocked up, and a new staircase serving the first floors of both parts of the house was inserted.
There are two types of pargeting - raised and incised work and the Ancient House has both. The craft was particularly popular in the 16th and 17th centuries and it was often used to cover timber-framed buildings in Suffolk. Alec Clifton-Taylor, in The Pattern of English Building, mentions watching two elderly pargeters working on repairs there with a compound of lime and sand, horsehair and horsefat. The nature of lime plaster means that eventually it has to be renewed and as a result the designs and date on the Ancient House have changed over time. On the west gable there is the date 1473, but it had read 1672 at the beginning of this century. The shield of three chevrons is that of the de Clare family.
In the 1920s an American offered to buy the Ancient House with the intention of shipping to the USA, but Charles Byford pre-empted this offer and subsequently presented the house to Clare Parish Council. In 1978 the ground floor of the Ancient House opened as a local history museum, with the curator’s flat abov