Details

Totternhoe Castle overlooks the village of Totternhoe

Totternhoe

Totternhoe is a village and civil parish in the Manshead hundred of the county of Bedfordshire, England.-Overview:Totternhoe is an ancient village in southern Bedfordshire, near Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. Totternhoe Knolls has been a fort for many peoples including Romans and Normans...

 in Bedfordshire, near the town of Dunstable

Dunstable

Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...

. Built during the Norman period, probably during the years of the Anarchy

The Anarchy

The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...

, it is of a motte-and-bailey

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

design, with two baileys rather than the more usual one. A wide ditch protects three sides of the castle, with the fourth protected by the edge of the chalk hill on which the castle is situated.

Biliography

• Fry, Plantagenet Somerset. (2008) Castles. London: David and Charles. ISBN 9780715326923.
• Pettifer, Adrian. (2002) English Castles: a Guide by Counties. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 9780851157825.