Middleton Mount, also called Middleton Motte and Middleton Castle, is the remains of a medieval castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 situated in the village of Middleton

Middleton, Norfolk

Middleton is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.It covers an area of and had a population of 1,516 in 621 households as of the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk....

, in Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, at .

Details

Middleton Mount was a motte and bailey castle built during the Norman period. The motte is 49 m in diameter, protected by an 11 m wide ditch. The castle's crescent-shaped bailey and three rectangular enclosures of uncertain medieval date lay alongside the motte. The castle was built by the Normans on a pre-existing Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...

 estate centre, a common practice after the Norman conquest of England

Norman conquest of England

The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...

.

The site was excavated in 1987 before the development of much of the surrounding land, including the enclosures, for local housing. The castle was bought by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust in 2006 and is a scheduled monument.

Further reading

• Ashwin, T. (2001) "Middleton Mount - Excavations in and around the Eastern Bailey of Middleton Castle," Norfolk Archaeology Vol. 43 (3) pp.645-56.
• Pettifer, Adrian. (2002) English Castles: a Guide by Counties. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 9780851157825.