The castle was built in either the 11th or more probably the early 12th century as a motte and bailey design. The motte today is 14 m high, with the traces of the bailey to the south-east. During the Anarchy the castle was given to William de Braose, the son-in-law of the powerful Miles de Gloucester. After the conflict the castle is believed to have probably been destroyed by Henry II as part of a wider programme of castle denigration in Gloucestershire during the 1150s.