Although at Wressle Castle it may have been possible to flood the surrounding land from the River Derwent in times of threat there is no evidence that this happened (s.p.b.s). However, defence was a primary consideration in determining the lay-out plan of earlier local castles. The Norman motte-and-bailey castles at Skipsea and Barrow (considered in a previous blog) show clearly that water was not only then the principal means of transport but also, along with earthworks, the main means of defence. The picture above shows the surviving ‘motte’ (man-made mound) sited just west of the village of Skipsea (as viewed from the west) on the eastern plain of Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire, and now near the North Sea coastline.
Skipsea Castle was constructed on the instructions of Drogo de la Beuvriere, Norman baron and First Lord of Holderness. The outer ramparts of the site, to the south and west of the motte, are less well defined in the modern agricultural landscape but once enclosed a man-made lake which drained to the sea (then much further east) by a channel, probably canalised. Thus at Skipsea in the 12th and 13th centuries water provided the means of transport for the local alien landlords as well as assisting in their defence. Skipsea Brough, now just a hamlet, was promoted as a medieval inland port but, very much like a smaller-scale Hedon, commercial success was limited. The medieval Skipsea village developed near the castle, such a site offering considerable commercial and employment opportunities – this often also being the case near the main entrance to pre-Reformation monastic sites.
By building a motte the principal residence, in the case of both Barrow and Skipsea only, probably, ever a timber-frame structure, was raised above local flood-waters.