 A motte and bailey castle is, as the name suggests, made up of two parts: the motte and the bailey.  The motte is a raised mound or earthwork with a stone or wooden keep (a fortified tower) on top.  The bailey is an courtyard enclosed and protected by a ditch and a wall made from large wooden stakes.

 Motte and bailey castles were first used in England by the Normans and had stopped being built by the late 1200s  Motte and bailey castles were used all over Europe. They could be found in: England, Wales, Normandy, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark.  Mottes could be either man-mad or natural. Sometimes an existing mound would be added to.  Mottes were flat on top and they varied quite a bit in terms of height and diameter. In some places, the motte could be 30 metres high, but this wasn’t normal. Most mottes were between 5 and 10 metres in height.

 There was usually a keep and wall on top of the motte. Wood was often used to construct the keep, but they were also constructed from stone. Just as with the motte, the size of the keep varied from castle to castle.  Wooden keeps were often covered with animal hides to make them less easy for attackers to set on fire.  The bailey contained many different types of buildings including kitchens, chapels, barracks, stables, workshops, forges, stores, halls.  The motte and bailey were linked by a bridge or by steps on the side of the motte.

 Castles also evolved over time and they often underwent frequent stages of development and modernisation.  Many of today’s castles started out as motte and bailey designs, but don’t look  like this today as they have grown and changed over time.  Almost no motte and bailey castles are still used today – Windsor Castle is the exception, but many still stand.

 It did not take a great deal of skill to consruct the simplist, wooden motte and bailey castles. If a big enough labour force was available, they could be completed in a matter of weeks.  About four fifths of the castles constructed by the Normans in England used the motte and bailey design.

 Castle Keeps were built in many different designs. Commonly, timber was used to build towers, which could be used to shoot arrows at intruders.  Where time and money allowed, stone keeps began to be built. These stone buildings offered much greater protection and defensive capability.

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