Shell keep

 ( Castle Architecture ) 

A shell keep is a style of medieval fortification, best described as a stone structure circling the top of a Motte-and-bailey.

In English castle morphology, shell are perceived as the successors to motte-and-bailey castles, with the wooden fence around the top of the motte replaced by a stone wall. Castle engineers during the Norman period did not trust the motte to support the enormous weight of a stone keep. A common solution to this problem was to replace the palisade with a stone wall and then build wooden buildings backing onto the inside of the wall. This construction was lighter than a keep and prevented the walls from being undermined, meaning they could be thinner and lighter.

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Examples A gazetteer compiled by archaeologist Robert Higham counted 21 shell keeps in England and Wales. Examples include the Round Tower at Windsor Castle and the majority were built in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Surviving English examples of shell keeps include:

• Arundel Castle, West Sussex (re-modelled post-medieval)
• Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
• Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight
• Castle Acre, Norfolk (shell keep around an inner tower or manor House)
• Clare Castle, Suffolk (part of wall on motte only)
• Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire (demolished - motte only survives)
• Launceston, Cornwall
• Lewes Castle, East Sussex – two shell keeps on same site? One survives.
• Lincoln, Lincolnshire – two shell keeps on same site? One survives.
• Oxford, Oxfordshire
• Pickering Castle, North Yorkshire
• Restormel Castle, Cornwall (excellent example)
• Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire
• Tonbridge Castle, Kent (foundations on motte only)
• Totnes Castle, Devon
• Trematon Castle, Cornwall
• Warwick Castle, shell demolished and incorporated into bailey wall post-medieval
• Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire
• Windsor Castle, Berkshire (re-modelled post-medieval)
• Wiston Castle (Wales)

In addition Farnham Castle and Berkeley Castle castles have stone enclosed mottes which may be interpreted as shell keep variations. At other sites such as Durham, Warkworth, Clifford's Tower (York) and Sandal (Wakefield), shell keeps may have evolved into a tower proper. Clifford's Tower is often interpreted by modern visitors as a shell keep due to explosion damage, in 1684, which removed the roof and its central supporting masonry. True shell keeps were a stone wall around the upper perimeter of the motte with lean-to buildings against this outer wall and a small courtyard in the middle. See Restormel plan below.

Unusually Lewes and Lincoln castles both feature two separate mottes which may have had shell keeps upon both of them. The reason for this is unclear but given that Lincoln Castle is adjacent to the cathedral, one shell keep may have been for the castellan (castle holder) and the other for the bishop. In each case, only one shell keep survives.

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Gallery File:Windsor Castle Round Tower.JPG|The shell keep of Windsor Castle was built by Henry II and remodelled in the 19th century.

File:RestormelCastle.JPG|Restormel Castle built around the motte File:Restormel Castle keep plan - labelled.png|Plan of Restormel Castle File:Tamworth Castle - geograph.org.uk - 343714.jpg|Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire File:Totnes Castle 20181026-02.jpg|Totnes Castle, Devon File:Wiston Castle (4077887299).jpg|Wiston Castle, Pembrokeshire

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Citations

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General and cited references

• (2026). 9780192841018, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192841018
• (2026). 9781472521613, Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781472521613

• Adrian Pettifer (2026). 9780851157825, Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 9780851157825

Categories: Castle Architecture

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