A VISIT TO
PICKERING CASTLE
SET IN THE HEART OF
THE VALE OF PICKERING
Less than 8 miles and 20 minutes from our cottages lies the market town of Pickering. On the northern edge of the town is the ancient Pickering Castle. The castle started off as a motte and bailey in Norman times in 1069 with wooden outer defences. These wooden walls were in turn replaced with more robust stone walls.
Over the years Pickering Castle was used as a hunting lodge and as a stud farm for the King’s horses. Nearby there is a smaller siege castle, built when Pickering Castle was laid siege to in the 12th century. Interestingly, the siege castle at Beacon Hill continued it’s military use until near the end of the 20th Century with a Royal Observer Corps observation position being built on it.
For more information about visiting Pickering Castle, including opening times and proces, please visit the English Heritage website.
It will probably take 60 – 90 minutes to wander around Pickering Castle – be sure to take an extra 15 minutes to walk all the way around the outside of the Castle (which you don’t have to pay for). Look out for the privvy/toliet holes on the outside of the towers!
If you’re visiting the Castle, you will probably hear the sounds of steam trains leaving Pickering Station, heading out on their journeys across the North Yorkshire Moors to Grosmont and Whitby. You could combine a visit to the Castle with a trip out on the trains – for more information please visit the North Yorkshire Moors Railway website.
The local Council runs a street market in Pickering town centre on Monday’s.
ALL BRITISH CASTLES AND OLD COUNTRY HOMES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HAUNTED. IT’S IN THE LEASE.
BOB HOPE
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