A PLACE of kings - that's Pickering.
Ancient folklore has it that the town was named in 270BC by a King of the Brigantes, Peredurus.
There are several versions of the tale, but one says he lost his ring while fishing in a nearby river, some years later caught a pike in the same river, took it home for the table and when it was cut open after being cooked, the ring was found.
An
other says he lost the ring in a river and wrongly accused a kitched maid of stealing it. When the palace cook found the ring in a pike, the King sought out the kitchen maid and was so smitten by her beauty that he made her his Queen and named the town Pike-ring.
Whether fact or fiction, the pike with a ring in its mouth features on the town's coat of arms.
In the 11th century William the Conqueror ordered the construction of a timber motte in Pickering to enforce the Norman dominance of the area and about 100 years later it was replaced by the present stone structure and a royal hunting lodge.
The forests to the north of Pickering were used extensively for hunting deer and wild boar by the Normans.
King Henry II brought his mistress "the fair Rosamund" to Pickering, King John played backgammon in the old castle hall and after 200 years, King Edward gave the castle and estates to the Duchy of Lancaster, which still owns Blandsby Park, to the north of the town.
Meanwhile the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul not only dominates Pickering's skyline, it also houses some of the finest 15th century murals in the country. They depict scenes from the bible, legend and actual history.
The fertile Vale of Pickering - formerly a lake - made farming the primary occupation and in Jacobean times, weaving and spinning linen joined it. Tanneries, breweries and corn mills sprang up by the river.
In 1836 the great engineer George Stephenson arrived in Pickering to develop a horse and carriage railway to Whitby and 10 years later it was to carry steam trains.
After operating susccessfully for more than a century, traffic on the 24-mile line began to dwindle and in 1965 the last passenger service ran.
Major fundraising and a donation from North Yorkshire County Council brought in enough cash for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to re-open the line in May 1975 between Pickering and Grosmont and it is now one of the most popular attractions in the area.
An insight into the rural way of life in Pickering and the surrounding area over the last two centuries is to be found in the town's Beck Isle Museum housed in the former Regency mansion on the banks of the beck.
It is also the home of the Sydney Smith collection of photographs.
