The Church of St Mary the Virgin lies within the outer bailey to the north of the ringwork.
The castle is believed to have been built as a ringwork castle with wooden palisades but subsequently rebuilt in locally quarried limestone and reddish sandstone during the late 13th or early 14th century probably by de Braoses who held the castle for part of the 13th century.
Stansted Mountfitchet Castle, also termed simply Mountfitchet Castle, is a Norman ringwork and bailey fortification in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England.