Motte and Bailey

Motte and bailey were built when a Norman knight defeated a chieftain. The knight built it himself so he and his people could defend themselves from their allies.
A site was picked on a river bend or beside a big town. A large amount of earth was dug up and raised into a great mound. The top was flattened. The mound was called a motte. On the flat top of the motte a wooden house was built. It was a simple building with only two or three rooms.

At the base of the motte was the area known as the bailey. The lord’s workers and soldiers lived in the bailey. A fence made of wooden posts, called a stockade surrounded it. The lord’s cattle may have been gathered into the bailey at night for safety

The motte in Knockbarron is a good example of mottes in Ireland. It has a belt of muck around made by cattle from going around it. It is 20m high and there are whitethorn bushes on the top of it. It was built near the Camcor river and it probably drifted further away from the river. 

The Normans were descendants of Vikings who had settled in a part of Northern France called Normandy .In 1066 a Norman leader William Conqueror, defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings.

Gradually the Norman’s took over most of England and Wales and William became king of England as well as most of France.

The Bayeux Tapestry, a huge piece of embroidery was made within 25 years of the Battle of Hastings.

The site for a castle was most important. The Norman Lord would choose a site that could be easily defended, even during a long siege. Many castles were built near a river or beside the sea. Often they were built on a high massive rock. They dominated the countryside and stood as grim warnings to the local people that the Norman’s were here to stay.

The first Norman castles were very simple. A wooden keep was built on a motte of earth. An outer bailey was added, by digging a trench all round the outside of the castle.