Definition of Motte and Bailey Castles

The motte at St Clears Castle, Carmarthenshire, still dominates the town.


The Motte can be defined as a giant mound of earth with a keep, or tower, built on top. The word for the mound is the 'motte' which was derived from the Norman-French word for 'turf'. Later the word 'motte' was changed into 'moat' and was originally used to describe the wet ditch.


The large motte & stone shell keep at Wiston Castle

The Bailey consisted of the outer wall of a castle and a courtyard which surrounded the keep. A bailey could vary in both shape and size, and a castle could have more than one. There are, however, some mottes which never seem to have had an attached courtyard. We cannot be certain why this should be, but some mottes may have been built as fortified observation posts rather than for permanent occupation. Another reason might be that a motte without a bailey represents an unfinished castle.



A Motte and Bailey Castle can be defined as a Medieval Norman castle which consisted of two connecting ditched stockaded mounds with the higher mound surmounted by a keep, a tower, and the other containing a courtyard, barracks, other buildings and livestock.

The advantage of a motte is obvious, towering as it did in most cases above the surrounding terrain. That it was the key in the defences of this type of castle is emphasized in two contemporary accounts of attacks on two sites in Wales.



In 1075, two years after Rhuddlan Castle, Flintshire had been built the bailey was stormed and burnt by Gruffydd ap Cynan. Many Norman soldiers fell in the engagement, and only a few were able to reach the safety of the "tower," a reference to the motte with a timber structure on its summit. The second reference is to Llandovery Castle, Carmarthenshire, in 1116. Although the Welsh were successful in attacking and burning the "outer castle" or bailey, the Normans on the motte caused enough casualties among the assailants for the attack to be withdrawn. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that many of these type of castle were built.