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GCSE History · key term
A raised earth mound supporting a castle’s tower or keep.
Used by Edexcel and OCR
Paper 2
The earth mound supporting the keep in a motte-and-bailey castle.
Revise: Establishing ControlA motte-and-bailey castle joined a tower on a mound to a defended courtyard below it. The following illustration shows the arrangement of a typical example, not a particular surviving castle.
Paper 3
An artificial earth mound supporting a castle’s main tower.
Revise: Key Features and Defensive Layout of Kenilworth CastleIn a motte-and-bailey castle, this courtyard adjoins an artificial mound, the motte, which supports a tower, usually of timber in an early castle. This is a useful layout to recognise, but a castle standing on a natural hill is not automatically a motte-and-bailey castle.
Paper 1
Revise: FortificationsTwo important forms were motte-and-bailey castles and ringworks.
A raised earth mound forming a defensive strongpoint in a castle, usually topped by a tower.
Do not confuse the motte, an earth mound, with the moat, a defensive ditch.
Do not assume that a low hill is an artificial motte, or describe all of Kenilworth’s towers as keeps.
Treat an early motte-and-bailey at Kenilworth as a disputed interpretation, not an established phase with a known layout.
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