What is a Motte and Bailey?

What are Motte and Bailey castles?

Motte and bailey castles were made up of two main parts:

A motte otherwise known as a 'mound' is a raised hill, this was where the keep was built to house the lord of the manor and his family. They would conduct business from the keep. The keep is the castle or tower that sits atop the motte. Most structures were basic in build and complexity, as mottes didn't have much surface area and couldn't support more than one or two rooms. The motte was protected by a wooden wall, responsible for defence. Some parts of the keep were built inside the hill, so inhabitants had a cellar below.

The bailey was a courtyard which surrounded the motte and had a defensive wall to keep out unwanted visitors. The yard typically contained kitchens, stables, a chapel, barracks and workshops.
This is where the soldiers, servants and animals lived. They served the Lord in the motte, servants with special skills such as blacksmiths and cooks would play a vital part in making sure the tower was well stocked.

As well as the motte, bailey and keep, there was a moat surrounding the castle. This was a deep ditch, typically filled with water. This made it very difficult for intruders to attack or get inside.

Who built Motte and Bailey Castles?

Motte and bailey castles were built in England around the Norman conquest of 1066, following the death of William the Conqueror. They appeared in Ireland when the Normans eventually invaded Ireland.

The Normans came from Normandy, in France. They needed a safe place to stay in a new country, so castles were needed that could be built quickly, but still have enough defence to protect those within.

How long did it take to build a Motte and Bailey?

Motte and baileys were designed to be built quickly and efficiently, over 500 were built between 1066 and 1086. This means they built a motte and bailey every two weeks in this duration to keep up with housing Normans in the newly invaded countries. It's believed around 1000 motte and bailey castles were built in England and Wales, this was one of the Normans biggest successes.

Did you know?
The motte and bailey castle built in Dover only took around eight days to build.

However, it's unclear how much time it took the Normans to build each motte and bailey as they ranged in size and complexity. Peasants were employed as labourers for motte and baileys which meant very little skills were required to build one. It also meant that the construction was cheap and it could be built a lot quicker than most castles (normal castle structures took from 2 to 10 years to build!).

This lead to the popularity of these structures for over 200 years, and the reasoning for the Normans conquest of England, Wales and Ireland.

Motte and Bailey Learning Resources

If you’re looking to teach about motte and bailey castles in your lessons, then there are plenty of teaching materials you can choose to use. A PowerPoint is always a good way of introducing a topic to children, so you might want to use this motte and bailey presentation.

You can use this word search as a great lesson opener for children to build up a vocabulary of relevant terms, and this paper craft would be a great thing to do to help children visualise what a motte and bailey castle looks like in three dimensions.

And you’re simply looking for some display options, then you can download this motte and bailey display banner.

Check out the history of one of Wales' greatest buildings on our Caernarfon Castle wiki page.

All of our resources are teacher-made, so you can download them with confidence knowing that they meet curriculum standards. And not only that, but they can cut down hours on the time it’d take for you to plan and prep your history lesson. There are even a few different print options of our resources available, including black and white, super eco colour and standard colour. Some editable versions of our teaching materials are available too.