A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to build with unskilled labour, but still militarily formidable, these castles were built across northern Europe from the 10th century onwards, spreading from Normandy and Anjou in France, into the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century. The Normans introduced the design into England and Wales. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland, Ireland, the Low Countries and Denmark in the 12th and 13th centuries. Windsor Castle, in England, is an example of a motte-and-bailey castle. By the end of the 13th century, the design was largely superseded by alternative forms of fortification, but the earthworks remain a prominent feature in many countries.
Sandal Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Sandal Magna, a suburb of the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, overlooking the River Calder. It was the site of royal intrigue and the setting for a scene in one of William Shakespeare's plays.
Fulking is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The parish lies wholly with the South Downs National Park.
Shotwick Castle is a Norman medieval fortification near the village of Saughall, Cheshire, England. Construction began in the late 11th century. Its purpose was to control a crossing point on the River Dee between England and Wales. The site is a scheduled monument. No masonry features remain above ground except for earthworks.
Elsdon Castle is a castle in the village of Elsdon about 10 miles (16 km) to the southwest of Rothbury, in Northumberland, England, and also known as Mote Hills. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Hen Domen Welsh, meaning "old mound", is the site of a medieval timber motte-and-bailey castle in Powys, Wales. It is the site of the original Montgomery Castle, and was built by Roger de Montgomery in 1070. From 1105 the castle was the home of the de Boulers (Bowdler) family, and it is from Baldwin de Boulers that Montgomery gets its Welsh name, Trefaldwyn "The Town of Baldwin". When the castle was rebuilt in stone (1223–1234), it was decided to rebuild it on a rocky promontory a mile to the south-east – the location of the current town of Montgomery, Powys. The Hen Domen site has been extensively excavated.
Watch Hill Castle is an early medieval motte-and-bailey on the border of Bowdon and Dunham Massey, England. It is a scheduled monument. As the only Scheduled Ancient Monument in Trafford, it is arguably the most important archaeological site in the borough. The castle is located north of the River Bollin and south of a deep ravine.
Pilsbury Castle was a Norman castle in Derbyshire near the present-day village of Pilsbury, overlooking the River Dove.
While there are many castles in South Yorkshire, the majority are manor houses and motte-and-bailey which were commonly found in England after the Norman Conquest.
Wakefield Castle, Lowe Hill or Lawe Hill was a castle built in the 12th century on a hill on the north side of the River Calder near Wakefield, England. Its name derives from the Anglo Saxon hlaew meaning a mound or cairn, possibly a burial mound or barrow. The mound, situated a quarter mile from the river, was separated from the town by flat swampy land and was seen as a good site for a fortification.
Buddugre Castle was a motte and bailey defensive fortification overlooking the River Ithon, located in the community of Llanddewi Ystradenny, in Radnorshire, Wales. It is believed to have been built as a defensive measure in the medieval period, during the 12th century, as a timber castle.
Locking Castle was a castle that once stood on Carberry Hill near the site of RAF Locking in Locking in the North Somerset district of Somerset, England. It has been scheduled as an ancient monument.
Whorlton Castle is a ruined medieval castle situated near the abandoned village of Whorlton in North Yorkshire, England. It was established in the early 12th century as a Norman motte-and-bailey associated with the nearby settlement. The castle is an unusual example of a motte-and-bailey that remained in use throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period.
Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire in England. The fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a list entry identification number of 1005698. Castle Rings has been dated to the Iron Age and is situated at an altitude of 228 metres (748 ft) upon Upper Greensand sandstone beds. The main bulk of the fort enclosure lies within the boundaries of Donhead St Mary parish but some of the outlying earthworks are situated in the neighbouring Sedgehill and Semley parish. In the mid-1980s a metal detectorist unearthed a hoard of stater coins of the Durotriges tribe within the hill fort.
St Illtyd's Motte is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Llanhilleth, Blaenau Gwent, Wales. It was probably destroyed by Llywelyn the Great in the early thirteenth century and not rebuilt. The remnants are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Granard Motte is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle and National Monument in Granard, County Longford, Ireland.
Beeding Hill to Newtimber Hill is a 321-hectare (790-acre) biological and geological Downland Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) north of Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, and it includes Devil's Dyke Geological Conservation Review site.
Dungeon Hill is an Iron Age hillfort, about 1+1⁄4 miles north of the village of Buckland Newton in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Thundersbarrow Hill is an archaeological site in West Sussex, England. It is on a chalk ridge, aligned north-west to south-east, on the South Downs north of Shoreham-by-Sea.
Twmpath Castle, also known as Twmpath Motte, is a medieval motte on the southern slope of Wenallt Hill near Rhiwbina in Cardiff, Wales, which is a scheduled monument.
