The motte, the bailey and the palisade
A mound with a tower, a fenced yard for daily life, ditches outside, and a bridge between them.
Jump to: The motte | The bailey | Defences | Building one | Ringworks | To stone
The motte
The motte is a man-made mound of layers of earth and stone, usually shaped like an upside-down pudding bowl, with steep sides and a flat top. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight Sometimes an existing hill was used, but often the mound was made by piling up earth. Britannica Kids (Students): Castle
On top, the Normans built a rectangular timber tower (the keep, or donjon) and dug a deep ditch around the outside. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight Towers were often made in pieces somewhere else, then put up on the mound like enormous flat-pack furniture. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
The tower was mainly a watchtower, a firing post and a last refuge in an attack. In quieter times, nobles lived in a timber hall nearby. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight English Heritage says the tower would have been decidedly uncomfortable to live in. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
The bailey
The bailey was the fenced outer enclosure, with the buildings of daily life and pens for animals. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight The bailey was the working part of the castle. The Normans were a cavalry army, so secure stabling inside its defences was essential. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
Buildings in the bailey included houses, stables, workshops and storehouses. Britannica Kids (Students): Castle Some castles had more than one bailey: English Heritage gives Castle Rising in Norfolk as an example. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
A raised bridge could cross the ditch from the bailey to the motte. Britannica Kids (Students): Castle
Sources describe the bailey as beside the motte, at its base, or all round it. More on when sources disagree.
Defences
The sides of the motte and the earth banks were topped with timber palisades: wooden posts fitted so closely together that they formed a solid wall. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight The motte was sometimes covered all over with a layer of clay so that attackers could not climb up. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
Most earthwork castles were built in the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, from timber, with deep ditches and earth banks topped by wooden fences and gatehouses. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight Castle ditches are always on the outside of the bank, which made the inside easier to defend. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
Britannica Kids says a ditch called a moat protected the motte, and sometimes the bailey too. Britannica Kids: Castle Ditches were once steeper and deeper. Over 900 or more years, rain and wind have washed soil into them. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
Their weak points: they were easy to attack with fire, and the wood would eventually rot. The National Archives: Medieval castles (education)
Building one
They were quick to build, and could be put up by unskilled forced labourers using basic materials. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight The National Archives says these timber castles were quite cheap and very quick to build. The National Archives: Medieval castles (education)
The first step was a rampart around the edge, dug within a few days. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight The motte itself took a team of about 100 men around forty days. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
The earliest ones were built where the ground was suitable and timber was available. Britannica Kids (Students): Castle Britannica calls the motte and bailey a simple yet very effective type of castle that could be built quickly and inexpensively, though the wooden tower could easily burn or rot. Britannica Kids (Students): Castle
Some hastily built mottes started to slump, and did not survive later attempts to rebuild them in heavy stone. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
No mound? A ringwork
A ringwork castle had no motte. Instead it had another ring of banks, ditches and a timber palisade, with the timber tower inside. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight The earliest ringwork castles were built before 1066, by Anglo-Saxons and Viking settlers. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight
From timber to stone
Often, as at Totnes, the wooden defences were later replaced in stone. English Heritage: Castles Through Time A shell-keep is a circular or oval wall around a courtyard and buildings, on the top of a motte. English Heritage: History of Totnes Castle
The castle-spotting guide says the stone shell-keep follows the line of the original wooden palisade fence. English Heritage blog: How to spot a castle hiding in plain sight At Launceston the buildings and defences were timber at first; later in the 12th century stone was used, including a shell keep on the mound. English Heritage: History of Launceston Castle
In about 1270 Duffus passed to Sir Reginald Cheyne the Elder, who probably built the square stone keep on the motte. Historic Environment Scotland: Duffus Castle, history and stories
Even official sources don’t always give the same date or description for a motte-and-bailey castle: when Totnes was founded, how old the Skipsea mound is, or when the stone keep at Duffus was built. Each fact on this site links to who said it, and things that can change, like opening times, show the date we checked them. See when sources disagree for every difference side by side.
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