Otway-Ruthven, A. J. A History of Medieval Ireland. London:
Ernest Benn, 1968.
See alsoAnglo-Irish Relations; Bruce, Edward;
Connacht; Gaelic Revival; Geneville, Geoffrey de;
Kilkenny; Lacy, de; Lionel of Clarence; Lordship
of Ireland; March Areas; March Law; Mide;
Richard II; Trim; Ulster, Earldom of; Verdon, de
MOTTE-AND-BAILEYS
These are the archetypal earthwork and timber castles
of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland that were
used to hold the country down during the military
phase of the campaign. The “motte” is a Christmas-
pudding-shaped mound of earth constructed from the
upcast from the excavation of the fosse around it, usu-
ally ranging in height from as little as 3 m to over 10
m, whose circular perimeter was defended by a
wooden palisade, often with a tower, initially built of
timber, constructed in the center of this summit. There
seems to have been two major methods of construc-
tion: the first has been well illustrated in the Bayeux
Tapestry, an almost contemporary pictorial account of
the events of 1066, where the motte at Hastings was
shown to have a perfect “reverse” stratigraphy of dif-
ferent layers of earth as the mound was raised from
the soil excavated directly from its perimeter fosse.
But there is also evidence at some mottes, such as at
Lorrha in County Tipperary, where an earthen ring-
bank was first constructed around its perimeter, and
then its center was filled in until it reached its required
height. There are also a few examples that have a
“squared off” summit, such as at Aghaboe in County
Laois, although this may be the result of the construc-
tion of stone walls at a later date. The “bailey” was a
much lower and larger defensive earthwork delineated
by an earthen bank and palisade with an external fosse,
classically rectangular in layout but with other shapes
as well, attached to the motte by a wooden “flying
bridge.” There are also some examples of mottes with
more than one bailey, such as the impressive double
bailey at Mannan Castle, Donaghmoyne, County
Monaghan. There are also many mottes that lack baileys,
especially in the earldom of Ulster, and this has led
scholars to speculate as to whether they may have been
built by native Irish lords. Also, in comparison with
examples in England and Wales, Irish baileys are often
very small, which makes it difficult to envisage them
as containing the hall, as well as other domestic and
farm buildings of the classic manorial center. Thus the
motte functioned as the citadel to which the inhabitants
of the castle would retreat if they came under sustained
attack, while the bailey was the area usually inhabited
by the occupants when they were at peace.
It is of great interest to scholars that motte castles
were constructed in Ireland more than a century after
their first use during the Norman conquest of England,
at a point when most of the castles in Britain were
being constructed of stone, This reveals much about
their main function: that of campaign castles. Their
success was due to the fact that they could be con-
structed quickly, probably in a few weeks, with mate-
rials such as earth and timber that can readily be found
in most locations. The small circular defensive perim-
eter of the motte also has the great advantage of being
defensible by a small force against more sizeable
besieging armies, as was often the situation in Ireland.
Other strengths included their height advantage that
meant that it was an “uphill” battle for any attacker.
Also, the earthen composition of the motte meant that
it was almost totally immune to mining and attacks by
fire, two of the most common methods of contempo-
rary siege warfare. These were some of the main rea-
sons that they were such a successful and necessary
component to the Norman military system.
Many Irish examples are situated either on top of
earlier settlements, especially ringforts, which were
the most numerous settlement sites in pre-Norman
Ireland, or utilized preexisting natural features in the
landscape, such as the gravel esker ridges that are to
be found all over the midlands. Examples of the former
include Rathmullan in County Down and Dunsilly,
County Antrim, both of which have been excavated.
Many of these castles became manorial centers in the
new Anglo-Norman lordship, while some of the most
significant and strategically sited examples were soon
converted into important stone castles, such as at
Dublin and Kilkenny.
Mottes are, hardly surprisingly, most densely dis-
tributed in the eastern half of the island where Anglo-
Norman settlement was strongest, and especially in
the province of Leinster, which has well over half of
the national total of around five hundred examples.
The two northern counties of Antrim and Down make
up the majority of most other surviving mottes. There
are very few of them in the north and the west, much
of which remained outside the Anglo-Norman lord-
ship, although they are also few in number in the
province of Munster in the south, which did experi-
ence a sizeable level of Anglo-Norman settlement.
This has given rise to the idea that there was also
another early type of castle that was being constructed
in Ireland at about the same time as the mottes, the
military ringworks, which were particularly concen-
trated in south Wales from which many of the early
Anglo-Norman invaders originated. There are also a
few examples of mottes in areas that remained under
the control of the native Irish lords throughout the
Middle Ages, especially in Ulster.MORTIMER