The motte at Norton is one of the many 11th - 12th century castle mounds in the area, which as a whole could be seen as a sort of security zone about 15 miles wide which lies mostly on the English side of the border, and necessary for the Normans to protect their recently aquired lands from the Welsh. Much of the history of this castle is entwined with that of Knighton. It is first recorded in connection with Hugh L'Asne, also known as 'Hugh the Ass', in 1086. It passed by inheritance to the Chandos family who lost control of it to the Crown along with Knighton after rebelling against King Henry II in the 1180's. By 1191 the King had given both castles to another Marcher Lord, William Braose the 'Ogre of Abergavenny'. The next monarch King John never really got on with the Ogre and demanded Norton and Knighton back, promptly giving them to Roger Mortimer, another Marcher Lord of Wigmore. In the same year King John demanded them back again and this time they ended up with one Thonas Erdington, the sheriff of Shropshire and acting for the Crown. All of this did not go down well with the 'Ogre' who tried and failed to take them back in 1208 and fled to France. In 1215 Llewelyn ap Ioworth and the remains of the Braose clan stormed and destroyed both castles. In reply to this Hugh Mortimer did a deal with Erdington and got rights on them. His brother, the 50 year old Ralph Mortimer married Llewelyns daughter, and part of her dowry were the two castles, still ruined so Ralph set about rebuilding them, this time in stone. Despite this and town defences at Knighton, both surrendered to more rebel Welsh, this time under Llewelyn ab Gruffydd in 1262 and were finally destroyed again. Norton was not rebuilt.