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88-688: Snodhill Castle is a ruined motte-and-bailey castle , about 1 mi (1.6 km) south of the village of Dorstone in west Herefordshire , England . It is recognized as one of the major castles of the Welsh Marches . It was built in the 11th century to secure the border between Norman England and the Welsh Princes. Archaeological excavations show that it was one of the first Norman castles in England to have stone-built fortifications, with more sophisticated defenses being added in later centuries. The castle

176-533: A clump of turf , came to refer to a turf bank, and by the 12th century was used to refer to the castle design itself. The word "bailey" comes from the Norman-French baille , or basse-cour , referring to a low yard. In medieval sources, the Latin term castellum was used to describe the bailey complex within these castles. One contemporary account of these structures comes from Jean de Colmieu around 1130, describing

264-591: A consequence of the centralising of royal authority in the 12th century. David I encouraged Norman and French nobles to settle in Scotland, introducing a feudal mode of landholding and the use of castles as a way of controlling the contested lowlands. The quasi-independent polity of Galloway , which had resisted the rule of David and his predecessors, was a particular focus for this colonisation. The size of these Scottish castles, primarily wooden motte and bailey constructions, varied considerably, from larger designs such as

352-485: A mile and more benethe Dorston apon the right ripe of Dour . It is called Snothil, and ther is a parke wallyd, and a castle in it on a hill caulled Southill, and therby is undar the castle a quarrey of marble. The castle is somewhat in ruine. Ther is a Fre Chappell. This castle longyd to Chandos. Elizabeth I granted Snodhill, along with other Warwick holdings, to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester . Some sources state that

440-410: A more gentle incline. Where available, layers of different sorts of earth, such as clay, gravel and chalk , would be used alternatively to build in strength to the design. Layers of turf could also be added to stabilise the motte as it was built up, or a core of stones placed as the heart of the structure to provide strength. Similar issues applied to the defensive ditches, where designers found that

528-531: A motte (a type of mound – often artificial – topped with a wooden or stone structure known as a keep ); and at least one bailey (a fortified enclosure built next to the motte). The constructive elements themselves are ancient, but the term motte-and-bailey is a relatively modern one and is not medieval in origin. The word motte is the French version of the Latin mota , and in France, the word motte , generally used for

616-645: A mound is artificial or natural without excavation. Some were also built over older artificial structures, such as Bronze Age barrows . The size of mottes varied considerably, with these mounds being 3 metres to 30 metres in height (10–100 feet), and from 30 to 90 metres (100 to 300 ft) in diameter. This minimum height of 3 metres (10 feet) for mottes is usually intended to exclude smaller mounds which often had non-military purposes. In England and Wales, only 7% of mottes were taller than 10 metres (33 feet) high; 24% were between 10 and 5 metres (33 and 16 ft), and 69% were less than 5 metres (16 feet) tall. A motte

704-405: A natural hill could be used, scarping could produce a motte without the need to create an artificial mound, but more commonly much of the motte would have to be constructed by hand. Four methods existed for building a mound and a tower: the mound could either be built first, and a tower placed on top of it; the tower could alternatively be built on the original ground surface and then buried within

792-570: A range of different castle types as motta , however, and there may not have been as many genuine motte-and-bailey castles in southern Italy as was once thought on the basis of the documentary evidence alone. In addition, there is evidence of the Norman crusaders building a motte and bailey using sand and wood in Egypt in 1221 during the Fifth Crusade . Motte-and-bailey castles became a less popular design in

880-630: A similar transition occurred in the 13th and 14th centuries. One factor was the introduction of stone into castle buildings. The earliest stone castles had emerged in the 10th century, with stone keeps being built on mottes along the Catalonia frontier and several, including Château de Langeais , in Angers. Although wood was a more powerful defensive material than was once thought, stone became increasingly popular for military and symbolic reasons. Some existing motte-and-bailey castles were converted to stone, with

968-403: A small triangular bailey . These discoveries have led to re-evaluation of the castle's early history. It is now thought that the castle did not have an initial timber phase, and that it was built in stone from its foundation in 1067 by William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, and completed before his death in 1071. The Earl is known to have built other early stone castles, Chepstow Castle being

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1056-532: A stronghold and bailey construction surrounded by water, and widely built in the late medieval period. In England, motte-and-bailey earthworks were put to various uses over later years; in some cases, mottes were turned into garden features in the 18th century, or reused as military defences during the Second World War . Today, almost no mottes of motte-and-bailey castles remain in regular use in Europe, with one of

1144-641: Is a particularly western and northern European phenomenon, most numerous in France and Britain, but also seen in Denmark, Germany, Southern Italy and occasionally beyond. European castles first emerged between the Loire river and the Rhine in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes and local territories became threatened by

1232-427: Is indicated to the east of the motte. If the west and east baileys are confirmed as baileys, Snodhill Castle will be proven to be one of the largest early Norman castles in the country. The Royal Free Chapel of Snodhill is a historical and ecclesiastical oddity, being the only royal chapel built within a lordship castle (all other royal chapels are built within royal castles). It had chaplains personally appointed by

1320-552: The Angevins , it is argued, began to build them to protect against the Viking raids, and the design spread to deal with the attacks along the Slav and Hungarian frontiers. Another argument is that, given the links between this style of castle and the Norman style, who were of Viking descent, it was in fact originally a Viking design, transported to Normandy and Anjou . The motte-and-bailey castle

1408-602: The Bass of Inverurie to smaller castles like Balmaclellan . Motte-and-bailey castles were introduced to Ireland following the Norman invasion of Ireland that began between 1166 and 1171 under first Richard de Clare and then Henry II of England , with the occupation of southern and eastern Ireland by a number of Anglo-Norman barons. The rapid Norman success depended on key economic and military advantages; their cavalry enabled Norman successes in battles, and castles enabled them to control

1496-510: The Beauchamp family , relatives of his wife. It was briefly held by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick , known as "Warwick the Kingmaker," and then, through the marriage of Anne Beauchamp, passed to Richard of York (later Richard III ). Following this, it became a royal castle. In 1540, the area was visited by the antiquary John Leland who described the castle as follows: There is a castell

1584-462: The Calais region in northern France. De Colmieu described how the nobles would build "a mound of earth as high as they can and dig a ditch about it as wide and deep as possible. The space on top of the mound is enclosed by a palisade of very strong hewn logs, strengthened at intervals by as many towers as their means can provide. Inside the enclosure is a citadel, or keep, which commands the whole circuit of

1672-594: The Historic England Archive . The Ordnance Survey had always endeavoured to mark visible antiquities on its maps, and in 1920 had appointed its first archaeology officer: the role had subsequently developed into a department of specialists maintaining a national record of archaeological sites. In 1983 the responsibilities of the Archaeology Division were transferred to the three Royal Commissions for England, Wales and Scotland. The Survey of London ,

1760-515: The Holy Roman Empire , which then spanned central Europe. They now typically took the form of an enclosure on a hilltop, or, on lower ground, a tall, free-standing tower (German Bergfried ). The largest castles had well-defined inner and outer courts, but no mottes. The motte-and-bailey design began to spread into Alsace and the northern Alps from France during the first half of the 11th century, spreading further into Bohemia and Austria in

1848-579: The Low Countries encouraged castle building in a number of regions from the late 12th century to the 14th century. In Flanders , the first motte and bailey castles began relatively early at the end of the 11th century. The rural motte-and-bailey castles followed the traditional design, but the urban castles often lacked the traditional baileys, using parts of the town to fulfil this role instead. Motte-and-bailey castles in Flanders were particularly numerous in

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1936-618: The castle in Norwich and 27 for the castle in Cambridge . The second and third waves of castle building in the late-11th century were led by the major magnates and then the more junior knights on their new estates. Some regional patterns in castle building can be seen – relatively few castles were built in East Anglia compared to the west of England or the Marches , for example; this was probably due to

2024-481: The keep and the gatehouse usually the first parts to be upgraded. Shell keeps were built on many mottes, circular stone shells running around the top of the motte, sometimes protected by a further chemise , or low protective wall, around the base. By the 14th century, a number of motte and bailey castles had been converted into powerful stone fortresses. Newer castle designs placed less emphasis on mottes. Square Norman keeps built in stone became popular following

2112-591: The terpen gave way to hege wieren , non-residential defensive towers, often on motte-like mounds, owned by the increasingly powerful nobles and landowners. On Zeeland the local lords had a high degree of independence during the 12th and 13th centuries, owing to the wider conflict for power between neighbouring Flanders and Friesland. The Zeeland lords had also built terpen mounds, but these gave way to larger werven constructions–effectively mottes–which were later termed bergen . Sometimes both terpen and werven are called vliedburg , or " refuge castles ". During

2200-452: The 12th and 13th centuries a number of terpen mounds were turned into werven mottes, and some new werven mottes were built from scratch. Around 323 known or probable motte and bailey castles of this design are believed to have been built within the borders of the modern Netherlands . In neighbouring Denmark, motte-and-bailey castles appeared somewhat later in the 12th and 13th centuries and in more limited numbers than elsewhere, due to

2288-485: The 14th century to a castrum-curia model, where the castle was built with a fortified bailey and a fortified mound, somewhat smaller than the typical motte. By the 12th century, the castles in Western Germany began to thin in number, due to changes in land ownership, and various mottes were abandoned. In Germany and Denmark, motte-and-bailey castles also provided the model for the later wasserburg , or "water castle",

2376-573: The Conqueror , as the Duke of Normandy , is believed to have adopted the motte-and-bailey design from neighbouring Anjou. Duke William went on to prohibit the building of castles without his consent through the Consuetudines et Justicie , with his legal definition of castles centring on the classic motte-and-bailey features of ditching, banking and palisading. By the 11th century, castles were built throughout

2464-504: The Historical Monuments of England ( RCHME ) was a government advisory body responsible for documenting buildings and monuments of archaeological, architectural and historical importance in England. It was established in 1908 (shortly after the parallel commissions for Scotland and Wales ); and was merged with English Heritage in 1999. The research section and the archive are now part of Historic England . The Royal Commission

2552-551: The Magyars and the Norse. Against this background, various explanations have been put forward to explain the origins and spread of the motte-and-bailey design across western and northern Europe; there is often a tension among the academic community between explanations that stress military and social reasons for the rise of this design. One suggestion is that these castles were built particularly in order to protect against external attack –

2640-660: The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England). Under the terms of its warrant, the Commission's remit was "to make an inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilization and conditions of life of the people of England, excluding Monmouthshire , from the earliest times to the year 1700, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation". A revised warrant of 29 November 1913 extended

2728-464: The addition of a solid drum-shaped tower in the southwest, and it is presumed that a second one was built in the northwest, although no discernible trace of this was found during excavations. The towers abutted an arched gateway, the arch head of which survives along with a groove for a portcullis . The construction of the motte was immediately after the Norman Conquest in 1066. The polygonal form of

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2816-399: The base of the tower appears to have been thirteen-sided, but above the first floor level, the surviving southern section suggests an irregular ten-sided construction required to make the best use of the motte's summit. This change in configuration was the result of an early collapse of the keep, and there are indications of multiple build and repair phases. The west front was later remodeled by

2904-562: The best-known castle design, they were not always the most numerous in any given area. A popular alternative was the ringwork castle, involving a palisade being built on top of a raised earth rampart , protected by a ditch. The choice of motte and bailey or ringwork was partially driven by terrain, as mottes were typically built on low ground, and on deeper clay and alluvial soils. Another factor may have been speed, as ringworks were faster to build than mottes. Some ringwork castles were later converted into motte-and-bailey designs, by filling in

2992-467: The building of motte-and-bailey castles in Normandy accelerated as well, resulting in a broad swath of these castles across the Norman territories, around 741 motte-and-bailey castles in England and Wales alone. Having become well established in Normandy, Germany and Britain, motte-and-bailey castles began to be adopted elsewhere, mainly in northern Europe, during the 12th and 13th centuries. Conflict through

3080-657: The castle was besieged during the English Civil Wars , Evidence has been found for both slighting of the keep and organized demolition after the civil war. By the mid-17th century, the manor and castle had gone into the hands of the Prosser family and their relatives, the Powells, who held the property until it was sold in 1940. The castle was briefly surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and it

3168-522: The centre of the ringwork to produce a flat-topped motte. The reasons for why this decision was taken are unclear; motte-and-bailey castles may have been felt to be more prestigious, or easier to defend; another theory is that like the terpen in the Netherlands, or Vorburg and Hauptburg in Lower Rhineland, raising the height of the castle was done to create a drier site. The motte-and-bailey castle

3256-422: The chapel and permit public access. A substantial 17th-century stone manor house is located about 200 metres (220 yd) to the west, and probably incorporates much stonework from the castle including some carved corbels at the main entrance and elsewhere, which matched carvings found in the castle excavations of 2021. Motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle was made up of two structures:

3344-435: The chapel tower are visible on the south side and partly on the west and north sides, and there remains a very large tower (recently excavated) in the north. A cross-wall (following the line of the early Norman walls) divided the bailey into two portions. Traces of several substantial buildings within the bailey are discernible. A modern footpath enters the bailey in the southwest. After extensive archaeological investigation (and

3432-516: The construction of a smaller design than that later seen on the sites concerned. Taking into account estimates of the likely available manpower during the period, historians estimate that the larger mottes might have taken between four and nine months to build. This contrasted favourably with stone keeps of the period, which typically took up to ten years to build. Very little skilled labour was required to build motte and bailey castles, which made them very attractive propositions if forced peasant labour

3520-502: The creation of local fiefdoms and feudal landowners, and areas without this method of governance rarely built these castles. Yet another theory suggests that the design emerged as a result of the pressures of space on ringworks and that the earliest motte-and-baileys were converted ringworks. Finally, there may be a link between the local geography and the building of motte-and-bailey castles, which are usually built on low-lying areas, in many cases subject to regular flooding. Regardless of

3608-432: The date for the first motte and bailey castle, at Vincy , back to 979. The castles were built by the more powerful lords of Anjou in the late 10th and 11th centuries, in particular Fulk III and his son, Geoffrey II , who built a great number of them between 987 and 1060. Many of these earliest castles would have appeared quite crude and rustic by later standards, belying the power and prestige of their builders. William

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3696-422: The decision not to proceed with publication was taken, and these appeared in later HMSO publications or elsewhere. Dorset is the only county which was completed in its entirety to the revised 1850 date, with Cambridge and Stamford the only urban areas to be completed to the same date. The published inventories are now available to view in full at British History Online . The National Buildings Record (NBR)

3784-540: The defences. The entrance to the fortress is by means of a bridge, which, rising from the outer side of the moat and supported on posts as it ascends, reaches to the top of the mound". At Durham Castle , contemporaries described how the motte-and-bailey superstructure arose from the "tumulus of rising earth" with a keep rising "into thin air, strong within and without" with a "stalwart house ... glittering with beauty in every part". Mottes were made out of earth and flattened on top, and it can be very hard to determine whether

3872-432: The discovery of a 17th-century plan of the castle) it has been concluded that the main entrance was in this southwest corner; the recent discovery of a heavily-fortified postern in the northeast of the inner bailey confirmed this conclusion as this was the last remaining alternative location. A putative outer bailey may have been located on a flat area below and to the west of the inner bailey ditch, and another larger bailey

3960-437: The few exceptions being that at Windsor Castle, converted for the storage of royal documents . Another example is Durham Castle in northern England, where the round tower is used for student accommodation . The landscape of northern Europe remains scattered with mottes and their earthworks, and many form popular tourist attractions. Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England The Royal Commission on

4048-408: The first documentary evidence of a native Welsh castle being at Cymmer in 1116. These timber castles, including Tomen y Rhodywdd, Tomen y Faerdre , Gaer Penrhôs , were of equivalent quality to the equivalent Norman fortifications in the area, and it can prove difficult to distinguish the builders of some sites from the archaeological evidence alone. Motte-and-bailey castles in Scotland emerged as

4136-456: The first such construction in Langeais in 994. Several were built in England and Wales after the conquest; by 1216 there were around 100 in the country. These massive keeps could be either erected on top of settled, well-established mottes or could have mottes built around them – so-called "buried" keeps. The ability of mottes, especially newly built mottes, to support the heavier stone structures,

4224-426: The higher peaks where mottes were unnecessary. In Flanders, a decline came in the 13th century as feudal society changed. In the Netherlands, cheap brick started to be used in castles from the 13th century onwards in place of earthworks, and many mottes were levelled, to help develop the surrounding, low-lying fields; these "levelled mottes" are a particularly Dutch phenomenon. In Denmark, motte and baileys gave way in

4312-455: The identification of these earthwork remains can be contentious. A small number of motte-and-bailey castles were built outside of northern Europe. In the late-12th century, the Normans invaded southern Italy and Sicily ; although they had the technology to build more modern designs, in many cases wooden motte-and-bailey castles were built instead for reasons of speed. The Italians came to refer to

4400-507: The inventories were initially limited to identifying constructions up to 1714, but were later extended to 1850. Several inventories were not geographically complete at the time the project was abandoned. Cities and counties covered in part are York (abandoned after 1981), Cambridgeshire (abandoned after 1972), Northamptonshire (abandoned after 1986), Gloucestershire (abandoned after 1976) and Salisbury (abandoned after 1977). In some cases research for forthcoming volumes had started after

4488-475: The issues should be addressed by a Royal Commission , comparable to the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts . His suggestion bore fruit, and led to the establishment in turn of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland on 14 February 1908; the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales in August 1908; and, finally, by Royal Warrant dated 27 October 1908,

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4576-419: The keep has been dated to 1160 and is similar to the nearby example of Richard's Castle . The drum towers were possibly added in the late 14th or early 15th century. An inner bailey defined by a steep earthen rampart extends to the west of the motte. There is a shallow ditch on the east side of the motte, the main bailey being surrounded by unusual terraces. The remains of a stone-built curtain wall and

4664-543: The later periods. Larger mottes took disproportionately more effort to build than their smaller equivalents, because of the volumes of earth involved. The largest mottes in England, such as that of Thetford Castle , are estimated to have required up to 24,000 man-days of work; smaller ones required perhaps as little as 1,000. Contemporary accounts talk of some mottes being built in a matter of days, although these low figures have led to suggestions by historians that either these figures were an underestimate, or that they refer to

4752-692: The legislation to be effective, a detailed list of significant monuments needed to be compiled, and had made unfavourable comparisons between the policies of Britain and its European neighbours. Learned societies including the British Archaeological Association , the Society of Antiquaries of London , the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Society of Arts also lobbied for action to be taken. Brown had explicitly proposed that

4840-791: The less feudal society. Except for a handful of mote and bailey castles in Norway, built in the first half of the 11th century and including the royal residence in Oslo , the design did not play a role further north in Scandinavia. The Norman expansion into Wales slowed in the 12th century but remained an ongoing threat to the remaining native rulers. In response, the Welsh princes and lords began to build their own castles, frequently motte-and-bailey designs, usually in wood. There are indications that this may have begun from 1111 onwards under Prince Cadwgan ap Bleddyn , with

4928-583: The masonry with grants from Historic England in 2017 and the Garfield Weston Foundation in 2019. The castle is now fully repaired and open to the public. The castle’s charitable trust maintains the site and has organised archaeological excavations led by Herefordshire Archaeology every year since 2016. The castle is in the northwestern end of the Golden Valley in Herefordshire , and sits on

5016-576: The mid-medieval period. In France, they were not built after the start of the 12th century, and mottes ceased to be built in most of England after around 1170, although they continued to be erected in Wales and along the Marches. Many motte-and-bailey castles were occupied relatively briefly; in England, many had been abandoned or allowed to lapse into disrepair by the 12th century. In the Low Countries and Germany,

5104-424: The monarch from at least the 13th century through to the 16th century, and was still in use in 1597. It was then demolished so comprehensively that even its site was lost for more than 400 years. However, in 2022, archaeologists working at the castle confirmed the location and survival of the chapel’s remains in the southeast corner of the castle’s main bailey, and an appeal has been launched to raise funds to restore

5192-416: The more prestigious Höhenburgen built on high ground, but this is usually regarded as unlikely. In many cases, bergfrieds were converted into motte and bailey designs by burying existing castle towers within the mounds. In England, William invaded from Normandy in 1066, resulting in three phases of castle building in England, around 80% of which were in the motte-and-bailey pattern. The first of these

5280-546: The most famous, with stone defenses at Monmouth Castle , Clifford Castle and Wigmore Castle supposedly built by him as well. Snodhill Castle was then granted to Hugh L'Asne before the Earl's death in 1071, the whole border area from Chepstow to Shropshire having been parceled up and granted by the Earl to his close supporters. The castle was held by Hugh L'Asne until his death in 1101 when it, and all of Hugh L'Asne's manors, passed by marriage to Robert de Chandos I. The castle

5368-442: The motte. Typically the ditch of the motte and the bailey joined, forming a figure of eight around the castle. Wherever possible, nearby streams and rivers would be dammed or diverted, creating water-filled moats, artificial lakes and other forms of water defences. In practice, there was a wide number of variations to this common design. A castle could have more than one bailey: at Warkworth Castle an inner and an outer bailey

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5456-417: The mound; the tower could potentially be built on the original ground surface and then partially buried within the mound, the buried part forming a cellar beneath; or the tower could be built first, and the mound added later. Regardless of the sequencing, artificial mottes had to be built by piling up earth; this work was undertaken by hand, using wooden shovels and hand-barrows, possibly with picks as well in

5544-407: The newly conquered territories. The new lords rapidly built castles to protect their possessions; most of these were motte-and-bailey constructions, many of them strongly defended. Unlike Wales, the indigenous Irish lords do not appear to have constructed their own castles in any significant number during the period. Between 350 and 450 motte-and-bailey castles are believed to remain today, although

5632-412: The outset to publish its inventories of monuments, and to compile them on a county -by-county basis. The first county selected for survey was Hertfordshire : the resultant volume was published in 1910. Some 40 inventory volumes were published over the next 70 years, before the project was wound down, in favour of more thematic publications, in the early 1980s. In accordance with the Commission's warrant,

5720-419: The reasons behind the initial popularity of the motte-and-bailey design, however, there is widespread agreement that the castles were first widely adopted in Normandy and Angevin territory in the 10th and 11th centuries. The earliest purely documentary evidence for motte-and-bailey castles in Normandy and Angers comes from between 1020 and 1040, but a combination of documentary and archaeological evidence pushes

5808-430: The relatively settled and prosperous nature of the east of England and reflected a shortage of unfree labour for constructing mottes. In Wales, the first wave of the Norman castles was again predominantly made of wood in a mixture of motte-and-bailey and ringwork designs. The Norman invaders spread up the valleys, using this form of castle to occupy their new territories. After the Norman conquest of England and Wales,

5896-508: The south along the Lower Rhine , a fiercely contested border. Further along the coast in Friesland , the relatively decentralised, egalitarian society initially discouraged the building of motte and bailey castles, although terpen , raised "dwelling mounds" which lacked towers and were usually lower in height than a typical motte, were created instead. By the end of the medieval period, however,

5984-472: The subsequent years. This form of castle was closely associated with the colonisation of newly cultivated areas within the Empire, as new lords were granted lands by the emperor and built castles close to the local gród , or town. motte-and-bailey castle building substantially enhanced the prestige of local nobles, and it has been suggested that their early adoption was because they were a cheaper way of imitating

6072-535: The summit of a small and steep sided hill between the River Dore and its tributary, the Snodhill Stream. The motte or artificial mound, stands between 7.5 metres (25 ft) and 14 metres (46 ft) above the surrounding earthworks, and is about 44 metres (144 ft) in diameter at the base. The entire top of the motte is occupied by the substantial remnants of a masonry keep or great tower. Polygonal in plan,

6160-481: The terminal date to 1714 (the death of Queen Anne ). A new warrant of 29 March 1946 gave the Commissioners discretion to undertake recording beyond 1714, and an informal terminal date of 1850 was adopted. Further royal warrants, revising the Commission's terms of reference, were granted in 1963 and on 15 April 1992. The Commission was merged with English Heritage on 1 April 1999. The Commission determined from

6248-433: The upper storey of the house were garret rooms ... In this storey also the watchmen and the servants appointed to keep the house took their sleep". Wooden structures on mottes could be protected by skins and hides to prevent their being easily set alight during a siege. The bailey was an enclosed courtyard overlooked by the high motte and surrounded by a wooden fence called a palisade and another ditch. The bailey

6336-522: The wider the ditch was dug, the deeper and steeper the sides of the scarp could be, making it more defensive. Although militarily a motte was, as Norman Pounds describes it, "almost indestructible", they required frequent maintenance. Soil wash was a problem, particularly with steeper mounds, and mottes could be clad with wood or stone slabs to protect them. Over time, some mottes suffered from subsidence or damage from flooding, requiring repairs and stabilisation work. Although motte-and-bailey castles are

6424-422: The wooden keep on top of the motte at the castle of Ardres , where the "first storey was on the surface of the ground, where were cellars and granaries, and great boxes, tuns, casks, and other domestic utensils. In the storey above were the dwelling and common living rooms of the residents in which were the larders, the rooms of the bakers and butlers, and the great chamber in which the lord and his wife slept ... In

6512-462: Was available, as was the case after the Norman invasion of England. Where the local workforce had to be paid – such as at Clones in Ireland, built in 1211 using imported labourers – the costs would rise quickly, in this case reaching £20. The type of soil would make a difference to the design of the motte, as clay soils could support a steeper motte, whilst sandier soils meant that a motte would need

6600-488: Was built by a follower of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford before 1086 and two, that it was built by Roger de Chandos after a land exchange with Malvern Priory in 1127. However, both theories are debatable, due to recent archaeological investigation finding a very early stone hall keep buried beneath (and incorporated into) the existing multiangular keep on top of the motte (the motte dating from 1160). Further investigation found similarly early curtain walls defining

6688-434: Was called a garillum . Smaller mottes could support only simple towers with room for a few soldiers, whilst larger mottes could be equipped with a much grander building. Many wooden keeps were designed with bretèches , or brattices, small balconies that projected from the upper floors of the building, allowing defenders to cover the base of the fortification wall. The early 12th-century chronicler Lambert of Ardres described

6776-402: Was certainly effective against assault, although as historian André Debord suggests, the historical and archaeological record of the military operation of motte-and-bailey castles remains relatively limited. An alternative approach focuses on the links between this form of castle and what can be termed a feudal mode of society. The spread of motte-and-bailey castles was usually closely tied to

6864-472: Was constructed, or alternatively, several baileys could flank the motte, as at Windsor Castle . Some baileys had two mottes, such as those at Lincoln . Some mottes could be square instead of round, such as at Cabal Tump (Herefordshire). Instead of single ditches, occasionally double-ditch defences were built, as seen at Berkhamsted . Local geography and the intent of the builder produced many unique designs. Various methods were used to build mottes. Where

6952-652: Was established in 1908, twenty-six years after the passage of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 , which provided the first state protection for ancient monuments in the United Kingdom, and eight years after the passage of the wider-ranging Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 . Critics, including David Murray in his Archaeological Survey of the United Kingdom (1896) and Gerard Baldwin Brown in his Care of Ancient Monuments (1905), had argued that, for

7040-448: Was established on a partially voluntary basis in 1940 as a survey – primarily photographic – of buildings of national importance considered to be at risk of damage or destruction through military action . Although originally independent of the RCHME, the two bodies shared premises and frequently worked in close collaboration. The NBR continued its activities after the end of the war, and in 1963

7128-407: Was first referenced in 1142. Although it was recorded as being in decay in the mid-16th century, it was thought to still be in use during the 17th century. It remained in private hands until 2016, when it was acquired by a charitable trust backed by Historic England to preserve the remaining structure. The origins of the castle are unknown, but there are two theories about its creation: one, that it

7216-736: Was held and further developed by the Chandos family until the 15th century. In 1401, John Chandos was ordered by Henry IV to refortify his castle against the Welsh Revolt of Owain Glyndŵr . Chandos obeyed the king by building a large tower in the castle's main bailey (acting as a second keep) and thickening the bailey cross-wall . These additions resulted in Snodhill Castle not being destroyed during Owain Glyndŵr's attacks on Herefordshire. Chandos died without an heir in 1428 and his holdings were inherited by

7304-402: Was limited, and many needed to be built on fresh ground. Concentric castles , relying on several lines of baileys and defensive walls, made increasingly little use of keeps or mottes at all. Across Europe, motte-and-bailey construction came to an end. At the end of the 12th century, the Welsh rulers began to build castles in stone, primarily in the principality of North Wales and usually along

7392-409: Was often kidney-shaped to fit against a circular motte but could be made in other shapes according to the terrain. The bailey would contain a wide number of buildings, including a hall, kitchens, a chapel, barracks, stores, stables, forges or workshops, and was the centre of the castle's economic activity. The bailey was connected to the motte by a bridge, or, as often seen in England, by steps cut into

7480-462: Was protected by a ditch around it, which would typically have also been a source of the earth and soil for constructing the mound itself. A keep and a protective wall would usually be built on top of the motte. Some walls would be large enough to have a wall-walk around them, and the outer walls of the motte and the wall-walk could be strengthened by filling in the gap between the wooden walls with earth and stones, allowing it to carry more weight; this

7568-780: Was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Act in July 1933. The deterioration of the surviving fabric resulted in Snodhill being added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 1988. Surveys of the castle were conducted in 2012 and 2015 by English Heritage , and In 2016 the castle passed into the care of the Snodhill Castle Preservation Trust, a charity formed by concerned local people with the support of Historic England . Work commenced on clearing vegetation in 2016, and consolidating

7656-587: Was taken over by the RCHME. At this point it was renamed the National Monuments Record (NMR) to reflect the fact that its remit was archaeological as well as architectural. In 1999, with the rest of the Commission's activities, it was absorbed into English Heritage, and in 2012 was renamed the English Heritage Archive. In 2015 the work of the NMR moved with the archive to Historic England and became

7744-484: Was the establishment by the new king of royal castles in key strategic locations, including many towns. These urban castles could make use of the existing town's walls and fortification, but typically required the demolition of local houses to make space for them. This could cause extensive damage: records suggest that in Lincoln 166 houses were destroyed in the construction of Lincoln Castle , and that 113 were destroyed for

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