What is a Norman keep?

THE NORMAN KEEP This type is known as a 'shell' keep because its outer walls provided a protective shell for smaller buildings within. The stone Keep was built in the early 12th Century by Robert Consul, Earl of Gloucester, replacing the timber defences of Robert Fitzhamon, Norman Lord of Glamorgan.



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This consisted of two main components: the motte, an artificial mound atop which was built a fortified tower called a keep, and a bailey, which was an enclosure connected to the motte. Many castles of this type also had a ditch around the bailey.

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Since the 16th century, the English word keep has commonly referred to large towers in castles. The word originates from around 1375 to 1376, coming from the Middle English term kype, meaning basket or cask, and was a term applied to the shell keep at Guînes, said to resemble a barrel.

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A bailey is the sturdy wall around a castle that keeps invaders out. The bailey of a medieval castle was usually built of stone. You might see a bailey — or the remains of one — if you tour a castle in England or France.

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Stone keep castles The keep (also known as a donjon) was a tower which was surrounded by a stone wall, often three metres thick. Stone keep castles were also known as square keep castles, since they were often square in shape. Their square shape made them easy to construct quickly.

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moat, a depression surrounding a castle, city wall, or other fortification, usually but not always filled with water. The existence of a moat was a natural result of early methods of fortification by earthworks, for the ditch produced by the removal of earth to form a rampart made a valuable part of the defense system.

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At the time of Chr tien de Troyes, the rooms where the lord of a castle, his family and his knights lived and ate and slept were in the Keep (called the Donjon), the rectangular tower inside the walls of a castle. This was meant to be the strongest and safest place.

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What other rooms were there in a Medieval castle? At the time of Chr tien de Troyes, the rooms where the lord of a castle, his family and his knights lived and ate and slept were in the Keep (called the Donjon), the rectangular tower inside the walls of a castle. This was meant to be the strongest and safest place.

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The three main types of castles are the motte and bailey castle, the stone keep castle, and the concentric castle.

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A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance.

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