Our Own Viking Fortress
The Vikings were prevalant in France in the 10th century.
A General description of a wooden castle
Normally the dimensions of the mounds range from 50 to 200 meters in diameter and a height of from 10 to 60 meters
The Main Fortress or house was sometimes at the top of the mound or in the back. The tower was surrounded by a fence or wall. In the early days, the tower was made of wood and contained one or two floors where there were reservoirs and the rooms belonging to the lord and his family. This space was large enough to accommodate the refugees from the farm.This was all surrounded by a fence built on a beam and a ditch . The entrance could be through a removable bridge protected by a door and a wooden tower.
At the foot of the hill lay a yard with houses, stables , farm buildings and sometimes stately home . (our house ?)
This is what it would have looked like. Apparently the vikings would have withdrawn with their family and relatives and animals to the fortress if there was a a problem!
Here are some pictures of our 'mound' without the fortress which unfortunately probably fell down some years ago! You can see the huge moat - sorry but it's impossible to capture the depth using a camera, but the mound itself is probably 15-20 feet tal lin places down to the moat and the moat is over 50 feet wide in places! You can still the the rocks which were piled up to retain the walls of the mound - anyone got a metal detector?
