Bramber Castle Castles

Bramber Castle is a Norman Motte-and-bailey castle built shortly after the Conquest by William de Braose. All that remains is the West wall of the keep.

William de Braose was the name of several Norman barons with holdings in southern Wales and at Bramber following the Norman Conquest.

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle. Many were built in Britain and France in the 11th and 12th centuries, especially in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066.

The motte is a raised earth mound, like a small hill, usually artificial and topped with a wooden or stone structure known as a keep. The earth for the mound would be taken from a ditch, dug around the motte or around the whole castle. The outer surface of the mound could be covered with clay or strengthened with wooden supports.

The bailey is an enclosed courtyard, typically surrounded by a wooden fence and overlooked by the motte. A castle could have more than one bailey, sometimes an inner and an outer.