The keep was designed as a private tower for Hamelin Plantagenet, rather than a grander residence. As a result, it was not designed to accommodate several different households and its layout was simpler than that seen at the contemporary keep of Orford Castle, for example. The 2nd and the 3rd floor would have served as the main chamber and the lord's private chamber, forming a vertical sequence of rooms, with a vaulted, hexagonal chapel leading off the private chamber, cut into one of the buttresses.