Bailey

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Bailey and Motte.jpg

A bailey describes various evolutions of a wooden or stone fortification intended to enclose a hamlet or yard that might include a bakery, kitchen, chapel, storehouses, stables, barracks, forges and workshops. In it original form, the "bailey" describes a simple palisade wall that may or may not include a protective ditch. With time, as a settlement grows, the original wooden construction is replaced with stone. Many early baileys include an adjoined defensive mound called a "motte," that's later fashioned into a citadel. Eventually, the bailey and motte are transformed into a full castle — though castles that are built whole still use the terminology of "bailey" to describe one or more yards connected to the main fortification.