motte and bailey

motte and bailey. These were the major type of earthwork castle introduced into Ireland by the Anglo‐Normans at the end of the 12th century, just over a century after their use in the Norman conquest of England. The ‘pudding‐shaped’ mound was called the motte and was usually constructed from the earth thrown up by the construction of a fosse (ditch) around it. Its flat top often contained a wooden tower or bretasche in the centre, with a wooden palisade encircling its edge. The bailey was usually attached to it by a wooden bridge, and was a lower, more extensive enclosure, often rectangular in shape, also surrounded by a fosse and an internal bank surmounted by a wooden palisade. Built both because of the speed with which they could be constructed and because of the ready availability of earth and wood, most of the 350 known examples are located along the eastern side of Ireland. Irish ones are generally smaller than European examples, with most mottes being less than 15 feet high and with very few surviving baileys. Many functioned as the centres of manors, but by the start of the 13th century they were increasingly being replaced by stone castles.

Terry Barry