| Summary : A motte and bailey castle in Wormegay village. The motte is visible as a large, sub-circular earthen mound 5 metres high and measuring about 77 metres north-south by 62 metres east-west at the base, surrounded on the north, west and south sides by a ditch 12-15 metres wide which remains open to a depth of 2 metres. On the top of the mound is a slightly uneven platform on which would have stood a tower. The bailey adjoins the motte on the eastern side and takes the form af an enclosure measuring 150 metres NNW-SSE by 88 metres, raised about 1 metre above the external ground level and bounded by a semicircular ditch which runs outward from the motte ditch and ranges in width from 9 metres on the south side to 19 metres on the east. On the northern side of the bailey, along the inner edge of the ditch, are the remains of a flat-topped bank about 0.5 metres high and 8 metres wide, and adjoining the inner edge of this is a sub-rectangular platform about 25 metres long north west-south east by 8 metres wide and of similar height which would have supported one or more of the many buildings ranged around the bailey. The castle was probably built by Hermer de Ferrers after the Norman Conquest. Scheduled. |