Callan Motte
Callan Motte is a motte-and-bailey and National Monument in Callan, Ireland.Location
Callan Motte is in the centre of Callan, north of the Kings River, west of Upper Bridge Street and east of the N76.History and archaeology
Motte-and-bailey castles were a primitive type of castle built after the Norman invasion, a mound of earth topped by a wooden palisade and tower.
Callan Motte was built c. 1217 by Geoffrey FitzRobert, seneschal to William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. In 1307 it was described as ‘a castle, in which there is a hall constructed of wood covered with wooden shingles, a stone chamber, a kitchen and other wooden chambers’.
Local legend claims that cannons were placed on the motte by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers during the 1650 Siege of Callan.
