Castles

The First Castles

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The First Castles were called Motte & Bailey castles because of where they were built and how.

Motte and Bailey castles where built on hills with a wooden wall around them.The Motte is the castle on top of the hill and the Bailey is the town underneath. The reason for this is so that the castle has control over the town underneath and so that attackers have to attack a walled town and then climb a hill to take over the castle, so Motte and Bailey castles were what William the Conquerer used to take over England from 1066 onwards.

motte.jpg

The Castles were made from mainly wood woith a few stone features.They ranged in size from a castle on a hill with a village surrounding it to a Huge fort on a hill with a city surrounding it.Quite a lot of towns and cities now were built up around castles, such as Edinburgh which still has te castle on the hill.

This is our History project.