Certain it is that almost immediately after 1066 a rapid construction of these fortified posts occurred in many parts of England and Wales, not necessarily equally distributed, but more thickly dotted in those places which the military instinct of the great Conqueror led him to deem desirable. Thus the Welsh borderland is remarkably rich in examples, Herefordshire alone containing thirty-two, as compared with Leicestershire four, Nottinghamshire five, and Hertfordshire four. It is remarkable, however, that many highly developed examples of this class are to be found in the eastern counties where no borderland existed, and we can only account for this anomaly by supposing that a Norman lord, to whom a grant of land had been assigned in recognition of his military services, hastened to consolidate his occupancy by the erection of a castle, and that such building might possibly not have any reference to the defence of the kingdom as a whole. Thus the castle became the accredited centre of a feudal barony, and a Motte and Bailey in almost every case is connected with places mentioned in the Domesday Book as being the residence of a Norman landowner. For example, Berkhampstead, owned by Robert Count of Mortaign, boasts one of the most perfect specimens to be found in the country; the manors of Nigel de Albini at Cainhoe in Bedfordshire, Robert de Malet at Eye in Suffolk, William Fitz-Ansculf at Dudley in Staffordshire, Geoffrey Alselin at Laxton in Nottinghamshire, William de Mohun at Dunster in Somersetshire, Robert le Marmion at Tamworth in Staffordshire, Robert Todenei at Belvoir in Leicestershire, Henry de Ferrers at Tutbury in Staffordshire, Roger de Busli of Tickhill in the West Riding, and Ilbert de Lacy at Pontefract in Yorkshire, all exhibit the same feature. These castles in many cases became the centre around which sprang up the dwellings of traders and agriculturists which subsequently developed into boroughs, while in not a few instances ecclesiastical settlements occurred which finally expanded into stately monasteries.