Mountfitchet Castle is an 11th century earth and timber ringwork and bailey fortress, found by Robert Gernon, duke of Boulogne. The large circular ringwork was encased by a wet ditch, with the bailey having strong ramparts and ditches to the north and east. Standing on the southern slope are fragments of 12th century masonry, which is all that remains from the stone castle King John attacked and slighted in 1215. In 1984-6 the site was cleared and rebuilt as a reconstructed earth and timber castle, with a Norman village inside its walls. 3 miles south-west at Bishop's Stortford is Waytemore Castle and 9 miles north-east at Saffron Walden is Walden Castle.