Clough Castle
Clough Castle is a well-preserved motte-and-bailey earthwork castle in the village of Clough in County Down, Northern Ireland, representing one of the finest surviving examples of early Norman earthwork fortification in Ulster. The castle was built in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century by the Anglo-Norman colonisers who extended their power into east Ulster following the initial invasion of 1177. The large motte originally topped with a timber tower and surrounded by a bailey enclosure with ditch and bank provides a clear and legible example of the type of castle quickly thrown up across newly conquered territories. The earthworks are well preserved in the village setting and are freely accessible, providing one of the more complete early Norman castle earthworks in Ulster.