motte-and-bailey 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 ...

is a form of

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, with a wooden or stone

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

. Relatively easy to build with unskilled, often forced 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 following their invasion in 1066. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland, Ireland, the Low Countries and Denmark in the 12th and 13th centuries. By the end of the 13th century, the design was largely superseded by alternative forms of fortification, but the earthworks remain a prominent feature in many countries.

Belgium

* Gravensteen

France

Château de Gisors The Château de Gisors is a castle in the town of Gisors in the department of Eure, France. The castle was a key fortress of the Dukes of Normandy in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was intended to defend the Anglo-Norman Vexin territory from the ...

Ireland

Knockgraffon Motte, New Inn, County Tipperary

*Ardee * Ballymoty Motte * Belturbet * Castleruddery Motte * Clough Castle * Coleraine Castle * Dún Dealgan Motte *Fore Motte & Bailey * Gortlownan Motte * Granard Motte * Greencastle * Greenmount Motte * Knockgraffon * Lemonstown Motte *Lickbla Motte & Bailey * Moybologue (Relaghbeg) Motte & Bailey *Navan Motte * Portlick Motte * Rathgarve Motte & Bailey * Roscrea Castle

South Italy and Sicily

* Specchia Torricella near Supersano (Apulia) *Vaccarizza near Troia (Apulia) * Castle of Arechi (Salerno, Campania) * San Marco Argentano (Calabria) *Spezzano Albanese near

Scribla Spezzano Albanese (Arbëreshë: ''Spixan'') is a municipality in the province of Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy. It is located on a 320 m high hill commanding the plain of Sibari and the Esaro river valley. It originated from Albanian em ...

(Calabria) * Aci Castello (Sicily) *Castle of Adrano (Sicily) *Castle of Paternò (Sicily) * Motta Sant'Anastasia (Sicily) * Petralia Soprana (Sicily) *Ponticelli of Segesta near Monte Barbaro (Sicily)

The Netherlands

* Burcht van Leiden

United Kingdom

England

A study by castellologist

D. J. Cathcart King David James Cathcart King (1913 – 29 September 1989) was a British historian, archaeologist, and school-teacher. While working as a teacher he perused his research in his free time, becoming "one of the leading authorities on the medieval cast ...

published in 1972 listed 473 mottes in England. *

Aldford Castle Aldford Castle is a motte and bailey castle in the village of Aldford in Cheshire. The motte is to the north of St John's Church, and the church stands on the site of an infilled bailey ditch. The origin and dates of construction of the castle ...

* Alnwick Castle *

Arundel Castle Arundel Castle is a restored and remodelled medieval castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England. It was established during the reign of Edward the Confessor and completed by Roger de Montgomery. The castle was damaged in the English Civil War a ...

* Baile Hill * Bedford Castle * Berkeley Castle * Berkhamsted Castle *

Brinklow Castle Brinklow Castle, known locally as the Tump, is a medieval castle in the village of Brinklow in the county of Warwickshire between Coventry and Rugby. History Brinklow seems to have first been used as a prehistoric barrow, hence the old English ...

* Carisbrooke Castle *

Castle Acre Castle Castle Acre Castle and town walls are a set of ruined medieval defences built in the village of Castle Acre, Norfolk. The castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest by William de Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, at the intersection of the ...

Castle Neroche Castle Neroche is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle on the site of an earlier hill fort in the parish of Curland, near Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Location The hill rises to on the northern escarpme ...

* Caus Castle * Chartley Castle * Christchurch Castle * Clare Castle * Clifford Castle * Clitheroe Castle * Corfe Castle *

Cuckney Castle Cuckney Castle was in the village of Cuckney, Nottinghamshire between Worksop and Market Warsop (). It was a motte and bailey fortress founded by Thomas de Cuckney. It was razed after The Anarchy in the reign of King Stephen. There are no ...

Cymbeline's Castle Cymbeline's Castle, also known as Cymbeline's Mound and Belinus's Castle, is the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle in woods north-east of Great Kimble in Buckinghamshire, England. It is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological ...

Dorstone Castle Dorstone Castle was in the village of Dorstone in Herefordshire, England, located 6 miles to the east of Hay-on-Wye. Motte and bailey This was a motte and bailey castle which probably originated in the 12th century when the site was held by the ...

* Dudley Castle * Durham Castle * Eardisland Castle * Eardisley Castle * Edburton Castle Ring *

Ewyas Harold Castle Ewyas Harold Castle was a castle in the village of Ewyas Harold in Herefordshire, England. History The first castle on the site is believed to be one of the very few which were built under the Saxons before the Norman conquest. This structure wa ...

* Eye Castle * Farnham Castle *

Fenny Castle Fenny Castle is the remains of a motte and bailey castle in the parish of Wookey, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, but not accessible to the public. It is sited on a natural hillock of Lias approximately above the surroun ...

* FitzHarris Castle * Fotheringhay Castle *

Hastings Castle Hastings Castle is a keep and bailey castle ruin situated in the town of Hastings, East Sussex. It overlooks the English Channel, into which large parts of the castle have fallen over the years. History Immediately after landing in England ...

* Holwell Castle, Parracombe * Kilpeck Castle * Launceston Castle * Lewes Castle * Leafield Castle * Lincoln Castle * Longtown Castle * Montacute Castle *

Nether Stowey Nether Stowey is a large village in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, South West England. It sits in the foothills of the Quantock Hills (England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), just below Over Stowey. The parish of Nether Stowey c ...

* Norwich Castle * Nottingham Castle * Okehampton Castle * Old Sarum Castle * Ongar Castle * Oxford Castle *

Pickering Castle Pickering Castle is a motte-and-bailey fortification in Pickering, North Yorkshire, England. Design Pickering Castle was originally a timber and earth motte and bailey castle. It was developed into a stone motte and bailey castle which had ...

* Pleshey Castle * Reigate Castle * Sandal Castle * Skipsea Castle * Stafford Castle *

Stansted Mountfitchet Castle Stansted Mountfitchet Castle, also termed simply Mountfitchet Castle, is a Norman ringwork and bailey fortification in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England. The site is currently in use as a Living history museum. History The castle wa ...

* Tamworth Castle * Thetford Castle * Tonbridge Castle *

Totnes Castle Totnes Castle is one of the best preserved examples of a Norman motte and bailey castle in England. It is situated in the town of Totnes on the River Dart in Devon. The surviving stone keep and curtain wall date from around the 14th century. ...

* Totternhoe Castle * Tutbury Castle * Wallingford Castle * Warkworth Castle * Warwick Castle * Windsor Castle * York Castle

Scotland

Canmore Canmore may refer to: * Canmore (database), a Scottish national online database of ancient monuments; *Canmore, Alberta, a town in Canada; *the House of Dunkeld, a royal house that ruled Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, including **Mal ...

has records for 47 motte-and-bailey castles in Scotland. * Doune of Invernochty, Aberdeenshire * Duffus Castle, Moray * Hermitage Castle, Liddesdale *

Liddel Castle Liddel Castle is a ruined castle in Liddesdale, by the Liddel Water, near Castleton in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, in the former county of Roxburghshire. Liddel Castle is a scheduled monument. History A motte and bailey castle was bui ...

, Liddesdale * Motte of Urr, Dumfries and Galloway *

Tibbers Castle Tibbers Castle is a motte-and-bailey castle overlooking a ford across the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. To the east is the village of Carronbridge and to the north west is a 16th-century country house, Drumlanrig Castle. Possi ...

, Dumfries and Galloway

Northern Ireland

* Dromore Castle

Wales

A 1972 study found 268 mottes in Wales. * Aberlleiniog Castle * Buddugre Castle *

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle ( cy, Castell Caerdydd) is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top ...

* Lampeter Castle * Llandovery Castle *

Mold Castle Mold Castle ( cy, Castell yr Wyddgrug), also known as Bailey Hill in the town of Mold, Flintshire, north-east Wales, is a motte-and-bailey castle erected around 1072, probably by the Norman Robert de Montalt under instructions from Hugh d'Avranc ...

* Montgomery or Hen Domen *

Morganstown Castle Mound Morganstown Castle Mound, also known as Morganstown Motte, is a medieval motte in the community of Morganstown in Cardiff, Wales, which is a scheduled monument. History Motte-and-bailey castles date back to the medieval period, from 1066 to 1540 ...

* New Radnor *

Prestatyn Castle Prestatyn Castle is a motte and bailey castle in Prestatyn, Wales, built in 1157 on land granted to the Norman lord Robert Banastre by King Henry II of England. It was built on level ground on the coastal plain and commanded an extensive view. N ...

* The Rofft * Ruperra Motte * St Quentins Castle * Tomen Castell *

Twmpath Castle Twmpath Castle, also known as Twmpath Motte ( cy, Caer Cynwrig), is a medieval motte on the southern slope of Wenallt Hill near Rhiwbina in Cardiff, Wales, which is a scheduled monument. Toponymy Twmpath is a Welsh word literally meaning a hump. ...

Wiston Castle } Wiston Castle ( cy, Castell Cas-wis) is a motte and bailey castle in the Pembrokeshire village of Wiston in south west Wales and is one of the best examples of its type in Wales. The castle and village were founded by Wizo, a Flemish settler ...

Wolfscastle Wolfscastle ( cy, Casblaidd), also spelt Wolf's Castle, is a village and community in Pembrokeshire, between Haverfordwest and Fishguard, in southwest Wales. It was historically in the parish of St Dogwells. Geography and transport links Wol ...