How old is the motte and bailey castle

It was connected to the motte by a timber drawbridge, which could be separated from the bailey as a last defence mechanism. There was in many cases another drawbridge at the entrance into the bailey that could similarly be raised for protection. The bailey would typically contain a hall, stables for the horses and cattle, a chapel, and huts for the nobleman's people. There were often shops inside the bailey for local merchants. Motte and bailey castles later evolved into Norman castles that evolved later into even better Concentric castles.

Indeed the concentric design is already latent here, with the keep involving into an inner castle and the bailey an outer castle. Originally a bailey was controlled by an officer called a bailiff. In time his jurisdiction came to known as a bailiwick. Arundel Castle. Cardiff Castle.

Walkworth Castle. Windsor Castle. Clifford's Tower in York was originally the keep of a castle. The bailey is a feature of many later castles. Here it iis clearly visible from the air. The Motte A motte is a mound, either natural or artificial, topped with a tower known as a keep. Was such a feat possible? Building castles then was very labour intensive. William and his men were invaders and his army would have had to be on a constant guard especially in the immediate days after Hastings. This motte took fifty men eighty days to build.

Using this as a guide, the motte at Dover would have needed men to complete in eight days. It is possible that local towns people were coerced into working extremely hard to complete the task.

However, building a motte was a skilled achievement. The mottes were built layer upon layer. There would be a layer of soil that was capped with a layer of stones that was capped with a layer of soil and so on. The stone layers were needed to strengthen the motte and to assist drainage.

William accepted the surrender of the Anglo-Saxon nobles at Berkhamsted Castle, north-west of London — arguably his finest motte and bailey castle. This meant that he did not have to fight for London — and the people of London were spared their city being torched. William started his reign as king of England with uncharacteristic diplomacy. He allowed the Saxon nobles to keep their land and he tried to learn English.

However, for two years up to , he was faced with rebellions throughout his new kingdom. William responded by marching his feared army to a trouble spot and re-asserting his authority. However, this series of castle building did not cause the problem to disappear.

This castle was not heavily defended and the Normans soldiers there were beaten and the castle was burnt to the ground. There were many buildings inside the bailey including stables, storehouses, bakeries, kitchens, houses, and quarters for soldiers. Wooden fence palisade. There were motte and bailey castles all over England and along the frontier of Wales. Many of England's existing castles began as motte and bailey castles.

Windsor Castle in Berkshire, started life as a motte and bailey castle. Windsor Castle - originally a motte and bailey castle. View of Windsor Castle from the River Thames. The bailey was designed so that any point on its circumference outer edge would be within bowshot of the tower. What were the disadvantages of motte and bailey castles?

How and why did Norman castle building material change? From around onwards, people began to build castles in stone.