Originally Posted by
wsteve55
I think it was Chris, who asked for any pic's of the site of West Derby castle, so i took these the other day.Not much sign of anything really,though!!
Yes I did! Thanks for remembering, Steve. I appreciate seeing these pics. Fine work, Steve.
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I wonder if there is still an actual field off "Castlesite Road" where the castle stood, maybe behind the houses? I did understand that the outline of the castle was visible at one time.
We should be clear by the way also that this was a "motte and bailey castle" not a stone castle as was Liverpool Castle. In other words, it was a wooden castle built on earthworks as shown in the drawing below. I understand that sometime in the twentieth century, the vague outline of the bailey hill and the motte (i.e., moat) was still visible.... and maybe still is if you can confirm it. There are extant remains of motte and bailey castles around the country and one of them is
"William's Hill" west of the better known Middleham Castle in Yorkshire. As you can see this is really not what most people would conceive of as a "castle." It is the basic, somewhat primitive earthwork fortification that the Normans built when they conquered and occupied Saxon England. Although this apparently did not happen with West Derby Castle, which seems to have been abandoned after a few decades of use, some stone castles were later built on the bailey hill, and
Clifford's Tower in York is an example.
Chris
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