Clare has had a Town Trail since the late 1990s, with five posts around town. Each post had 3 faces explaining the nearby buildings and providing historical or architectural details. The Trail has just been expanded to seven posts each with revised information, and with 21 brass markers in the pavements at Clare’s most interesting buildings. An illustrated booklet provides a map of the trail, beginning and ending in Clare Castle Country Park, with images of these 21 marked buildings and many other interesting (but unmarked) buildings along the way. The booklet is meant to provide a self-guided circular walking tour between the posts; booklet and posts contain complementary information. The revision project was made possible by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund made to Clare Castle Country Park in 2018. The Park and the town of Clare are brought together in the tour. Research was undertaken by the staff of Clare Ancient House Museum, which was responsible for the earlier Trail. The booklet was designed by Everything Orange, which has been responsible for branding the developments in the Park, and the new Visit Clare website.
Clare has over 130 listed buildings and two ancient monuments. It is proud of its historical heritage, from its Norman castle and its links to royalty, to its role in the wool trade which was responsible for its grand gothic church and an abundance of timber-framed and pargeted buildings, to its Victorian railway buildings. These were located in the Castle’s Inner Bailey and now serve the Park as a Cafe. Its goods shed has become a town venue, and yet has retained features that reveal how goods wagons travelled through the building, stopping to load and unload goods.