Background
A characteristic of Anglo-Norman towns was the presence of defences, but only some towns had walls of stone. Earthen ramparts, such as those which protected Duleek, Co.Meath, or which formed the earliest defences of Drogheda, could prevent an attack every bit as a stone wall. When the Anglo-Normans arrived in Drogheda, they built on the existing foundations of a Viking settlement on a mound. They used earth and wood as building materials to build a motte-and-bailey on the mound
A wide spread type of early medieval military stronghold comprising an artificially constructed earthen motte surrounded by a ditch, with an adjoining separately defined enclosure known as a bailey.
A wide spread type of early medieval military stronghold comprising an artificially constructed earthen motte surrounded by a ditch, with an adjoining separately defined enclosure known as a bailey.