Middleton Mount Castle, Norfolk.....

According to the Norfolk Archaeological Trust this would have been the view in the 11th century .....

 

 

....but today we see it like this ....

 

 

.. a motte (founded by William de Ecouis so the N.A.T. tells us) well suited for both controlling east to west routes and for overseeing the surrounding territory...

 

 

It is not known exactly when the castle was built, but the ditch that surrounds it would have been twice as deep as it is today.  A timber keep once stood upon the motte.  The grassed area which visitors enter into when they first arrive at the site was once the castle bailey (an area enclosed by a bank and a ditch which contained dwellings, stables, outbuildings and workshops).  The earthen defences surrounding the motte have been flattened.  It may have been a Saxon high status site possibly in an earlier fortification.  Excavations have shown it was occupied during the 12th century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the view from the top .... (in King of the Castle mode!)... I risked life and limb to get to the summit (I nearly dropped my sunglasses!!).....