The land where Odell Castle stood was originally owned by Levenot, a thegn of King Edward the Confessor. At the time, the land and village were called Wahull. After the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror gave the lands, manor, and title, to Walter de Flandrensis (circa 1068). Walter was titled the Baron of Wahull, and was thus recorded as Walter de Wahul. De Wahul built a motte-and-bailey castle, with a stone keep, on the land. The family lived here for some 400 years.
In 1542, the title died out with the absence of a male heir and came into the possession of 17-year-old Agnes Woodhall, a descendant of de Wahul's. Upon her death in 1575 it passed to her son Richard Chetwood, who sold it to William Alston in 1633. The family were later created Alston baronets of Odell. By the time of the sale, the castle was already in ruins. Alston built a new residence, incorporating the remains of the keep, the oval motte of the old castle still held up by a retaining wall. Alterations were made by his descendants in the 18th century. It stayed as thus until 24 February 1931, when the manor burnt down. A new manor house was built on the site in 1962; it is currently owned by Lord Luke.
The old stones were used in the construction of the new manor, but otherwise there is little left of the original castle. Only cropmarks and earthworks remain.
Conisbrough Castle is a medieval fortification in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire, England. The castle was initially built in the 11th century by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Hamelin Plantagenet, the illegitimate, parvenu brother of Henry II, acquired the property by marriage in the late 12th century. Hamelin and his son William rebuilt the castle in stone, including its prominent 28-metre (92 ft)-high keep. The castle remained in the family line into the 14th century, despite being seized several times by the Crown. The fortification was then given to Edmund of Langley, passing back into royal ownership in 1461.
South Mimms is a village and civil parish in the Hertsmere district of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It is a small settlement located near to the junction of the M25 motorway with the A1(M) motorway and is perhaps more widely known because of the naming of the service station at that junction.
Clun Castle is a ruined castle in the small town of Clun, Shropshire. Clun Castle was established by the Norman lord Robert de Say after the Norman invasion of England and went on to become an important Marcher lord castle in the 12th century, with an extensive castle-guard system. Owned for many years by the Fitzalan family, Clun played a key part in protecting the region from Welsh attack until it was gradually abandoned as a property in favour of the more luxurious Arundel Castle. The Fitzalans converted Clun Castle into a hunting lodge in the 14th century, complete with pleasure gardens, but by the 16th century the castle was largely ruined. Slighted in 1646 after the English Civil War, Clun remained in poor condition until renovation work in the 1890s.
Restormel Castle lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston, Tintagel and Trematon. The castle is notable for its perfectly circular design. Although once a luxurious residence of the Earl of Cornwall, the castle was all but ruined by the 16th century. It was briefly reoccupied and fought over during the English Civil War but was subsequently abandoned. It is now under the supervision of the English Heritage and open to the public.
Odell is a small village and civil parish in the north of the county of Bedfordshire in England that lies to the north-west of the county town of Bedford, near the villages of Harrold, Felmersham, Sharnbrook and Carlton.
Caldicot Castle is an extensive stone medieval castle in the town of Caldicot, Monmouthshire, in southeast Wales, built near the site of Harold Godwinson's former Saxon castle by the Norman earls of Hereford from about 1100. The castle became a Grade I listed building on 10 June 1953.
Pleshey is a historic village and civil parish in the Chelmsford district, in the county of Essex, England, 6 miles (10 km) north-west of Chelmsford. The Normans built a motte and bailey in the late 11th century; the motte is one of the largest of its kind in Great Britain. It was besieged several times during the Barons' Wars and rebellions in the 13th centuries.
Brough Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Brough, Cumbria, England. The castle was built by William Rufus around 1092 within the old Roman fort of Verterae to protect a key route through the Pennine Mountains. The initial motte and bailey castle was attacked and destroyed by the Scots in 1174 during the Great Revolt against Henry II. Rebuilt after the war, a square keep was constructed and the rest of the castle converted to stone.
Clare Castle is a high-mounted ruinous medieval castle in the parish and former manor of Clare in Suffolk, England, anciently the caput of a feudal barony. It was built shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 by Richard Fitz Gilbert, having high motte and bailey and later improved in stone. In the 14th century it was the seat of Elizabeth de Clare, one of the wealthiest women in England, who maintained a substantial household there. The castle passed into the hands of the Crown and by 1600 was disused. The ruins are an unusually tall earthen motte surmounted by tall remnants of a wall and of the round tower, with large grassland or near-rubble gaps on several of their sides. It was damaged by an alternate line of the Great Eastern Railway in 1867, the rails of which have been removed.
Cary Castle stood on Lodge Hill overlooking the town of Castle Cary, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Castlethorpe Castle stood in the village of Castlethorpe, to the north of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
Deddington Castle is an extensive earthwork in the village of Deddington, Oxfordshire, all that remains of an 11th-century motte-and-bailey castle, with only the earth ramparts and mound now visible.
Tonbridge Castle is the 13th century castle that is situated in Tonbridge, Kent, England.
Clearwell is a village and former ancient manor in the Forest of Dean, West Gloucestershire, England. A recent survey indicated that the population of Clearwell is approximately 350.
Whittington Castle is a castle in northern Shropshire, England, owned and managed by the Whittington Castle Preservation Fund. The castle was originally a motte-and-bailey castle, but this was replaced in the 13th century by one with buildings around a courtyard whose exterior wall was the curtain wall of the inner bailey. As a castle of the Welsh Marches, it was built on the border of Wales and England very close to the historic fort of Old Oswestry.
Trematon Castle is situated near Saltash in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was the caput of the feudal barony of Trematon. It is similar in style to the later Restormel Castle, with a 12th-century keep. Trematon Castle overlooks Plymouth Sound and was built probably by Robert, Count of Mortain on the ruins of an earlier Roman fort: it is a motte-and-bailey castle and dates from soon after the Norman conquest. It occupies a sentinel position one and a half miles south-east of Trematon village.
Stockport Castle was a promontory castle in Stockport, Cheshire. The castle was in the medieval town, overlooking a ford over the River Mersey. It was first documented in 1173, but the next mention of it is in 1535 when it was in ruins. What remained of the castle was demolished in 1775.
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.
Worcester Castle was a Norman fortification built between 1068 and 1069 in Worcester, England by Urse d'Abetot on behalf of William the Conqueror. The castle had a motte-and-bailey design and was located on the south side of the old Anglo-Saxon city, cutting into the grounds of Worcester Cathedral. Royal castles were owned by the king and maintained on his behalf by an appointed constable. At Worcester that role was passed down through the local Beauchamp family on a hereditary basis, giving them permanent control of the castle and considerable power within the city. The castle played an important part in the wars of the 12th and early 13th century, including the Anarchy and the First Barons' War.
Walter of Douai was a Norman knight, probably at the Battle of Hastings, and a major landowner in South West England after the Norman Conquest, being feudal baron of Bampton in Devon and of Castle Cary in Somerset. He is given various names and titles in different sources including: Walter de Douai. Douai is sometimes written as Dowai. He has also been called Gautier de Douai and later Walter the Fleming.
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