Earthwork Castles

There are two main types of earthwork castles, motte and bailey and ringwork. The former usually contained a courtyard, while the latter usually stood in isolation. The majority of the earthwork castles in Pembrokeshire were of the motte and bailey design.

The main enclosure was the bailey, or courtyard, which was defended by a ditch, bank and palisade, with a timber gate or gate tower. The bailey contained all the residential buildings, presumably timber-framed, required by a lordly household, at least in the first generation. To this was added the motte, usually to one side with direct access to the open country, with the area of the bailey larger than that of the motte.

The motte itself was a great mound of earth, usually artificial, though sometime part-natural, with its own ditch and bank about the base and thus separated from the bailey, from which its summit was reached usually by an inclined and stepped timber bridge.  

Most of the earthwork castles in Pembrokeshire are completely ruined and none of the original timber has understandably survived, however, the sites of many of the castles are listed to the right and are worth a visit if only to climb to the top of the motte to view the surrounding countryside.