England · Ruin
Waytemore Castle
Waytemore Castle is a ruined motte-and-bailey castle in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. Founded in the Norman period with a later rectangular stone keep and curtain wall, it was improved in the medieval period and slighted after the Civil War; today only the large motte and foundations of the square tower remain.
Its prime
1350
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1350
The shape it held in its prime.
A high, steep grassy motte rises from a flat town park, its summit ringed by the remains of a very thick flint-and-rubble curtain wall with crenellations. Within that wall stood a rectangular stone keep about 18–21 m high whose three straight faces and convex northern end were bonded with flint, rubble and occasional Roman brick and medieval tile and whose exterior was probably whitewashed; the motte was originally surrounded by a water-filled moat and lay in the valley above a river crossing.
Its story
The story of Waytemore Castle.
Waytemore began as a motte-and-bailey castle in the time of William the Conqueror, in what is now Bishop's Stortford. A rectangular great tower was added on the motte in the 12th century, the castle was improved in the 13th during the reign of King John, and a licence to crenellate was granted in the mid-14th century.
This was a bishops' castle, and it met a harder fate than most: while other castles held by bishops were simply confiscated, the castle at Bishop's Stortford was demolished. Slighted after the Civil War and used as a prison in the 17th century, it survives as a Grade I listed monument — the large motte, earthworks and the foundations of a square tower.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1350.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Waytemore Castle — including 1 interior: keep interior with south-west well. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Waytemore Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1350 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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