A motte-and-bailey castle is a fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade.
However, the castle was gradually replaced with stone fortifications.
During the middle of the century, Henry III build a royal palace within the castle.
Edward III went even further and rebuilt the palace to make a grander set of buildings.
This has become known as “the most expensive secular building project of the entire Middle Ages in England”.
