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Homepage Homework Help History What Is a Motte and Bailey Castle?
2 min
Updated: 18th January 2023
Motte and bailey was the name given to the first real castles built in England. This unusual name comes from France. Motte means 'mound' and bailey means 'closed/fenced-in' land. They have a French name because the Normans first built them after they had won the Battle of Hastings in AD 1066.
The motte was a huge mound with a castle, or keep, built on top. It would have been easy to defend, as people would have had to climb up it slowly to reach the keep. Most mottes were surrounded by a deep ditch to stop attackers.
The bailey was a large area of ground, surrounded by a tall, wooden fence. Inside the fence would be houses and buildings for all the people who would have worked for and protected the family who owned the keep. There would be storehouses, bakeries, barracks (buildings for soldiers) and kitchens to prepare food. It was like a village inside a large fence.
The Normans stopped using wood and started using stone to build castles. They kept the design the same and often replaced the wooden keep and fence with stone ones. Some motte and bailey castles are still around today, but others are just ruins or simply large mounds.
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