Pickering Castle
The sombre Norman castle of
Pickering, where you will be taken to the law court where our ancestors were
fined, imprisoned, outlawed and excommunicated.
The webpage
on Pickering and the Poachers of Pickering
Forest includes a chronology and source material.
The A170
from Thirsk through Kirkbymoorside will take you to Pickering. The castle is
easy to find on the northern outskirts of the village.
The Norman Castle
Pickering
Castle lies in the Vale of Pickering on a considerably steep cliff on the
west side which would have been a great defensive asset. Its location was at a
natural crossing point where the east west route which skirted between the
moors and the marshes of the Vale of Pickering and the north south route
between Whitby and Malton met. Pickering was already established before the
conquest for that reason.
The first earthwork
castle was built by the Normans under William the Conqueror between 1069 and
1070. The early building included the large, central mound, the motte, the
outer palisades enclosing the bailey and internal buildings, including the keep
on top of the motte. Ditches were also dug to make assault on the walls
difficult. The main purpose of the original castle was to maintain control of
the area after the Harrying
of the North.
The motte
and bailey structure was of similar design to the
fortifications at York and Tickhill near Doncaster.
The Plantagenet Castle
The castle
was developed into a stone motte and bailey structure. The current inner ward
was originally the bailey and was built between 1180 and 1187.
The keep was
developed into a stone shell keep sometime during the period 1216 to 1236 along
with the chapel (which is now a reconstruction).
In 1255 Pickering Castle was handed to the custody of Hugh
Bigod, the justiciar. Hugh le Bigod was the second husband of Joan de Stuteville (1216 to 1276), the Lady of Liddell,
proprietor of Kirkbymoorside and the Farndale lands. During the baronial war
between Henry III and Simon de Montfort, Bigod supported the King and
strengthened the defences of Pickering and Scarborough.
In 1276, the honour and castle of
Pickering were among lands given to Henry III’s younger son, Edmund Crouchback
when he was created Earl of Lancaster, who held Pickering until he died in
1296. At that time the castle was described as being
weak and of no value.
Edmund’s son, Thomas, Earl of
Lancaster, led the barons against the weak rule of his cousin Edward II and he
captured the King’s unpopular favourite Piers Gaveston
at Scarborough Castle in 1312 and executed him
there.
Thomas made improvements to Pickering
Castle and created the New Hall as a residence for Countess Alice, as well as
improving the defences.
Thomas refused to support Edward II’s
army when they were defeated by the Scottish army at Bannockburn. After that
battle the emboldened Scots made frequent raids into Yorkshire. By 1321 Thomas
was in open rebellion against his King, but he was defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge and executed near Pontefract Castle in 1322. The Lancastrian lands,
including Pickering, were seized by the Crown.
As Yorkshire continue to be raided
from Scotland, the town of Pickering was forced to pay a substantial sum and
submit three hostages to save it from devastation. Edward II appointed his
constable, John de Kilvington, to repairs the castle and construct a
drawbridge.
By 1322, the
defences had been re-fortified on the orders of Edward II who had narrowly
escaped capture by the Scots during battles in the same year. At the same time,
due to the fears about the Scottish invasions, the garrison was strengthened.
Between 1323
and 1326 there was an outer ward and curtain wall built, along with three
towers. There were also two ditches, one situated outside of the curtain wall
and one in the outer ward. After this a gatehouse, ovens, hall and the
storehouses were built. There are detailed accounts of these works. Edward II
probably intended to make Pickering a permanent royal residence, but he was
deposed and murdered soon afterwards, in 1327.
Edward III
returned Pickering Castle to Lancastrian ownership. Henry was created Duke of
Lancaster in 1351 and in 1361 the Lancastrian estates passed to Edward III’s fourth
son, John of Gaunt, who visited Pickering Castle on occasion and ordered
repairs. John of Gaunt died in 1399. His son, Henry Bolingbroke, had been
banished by Richard II in 1398.
Richard II,
son of Joan the Fair Maid of Kent
of Stuteville descent and proprietor of the Kirkbymoorside lands including
Farndale and the Black Prince, was deposed as king in 1399, and he was held
prisoner in Pickering Castle in about 1399 until his removal to Pontefract.
Henry
Bolingbroke then became the Lancastrian Henry IV. The Duchy of Lancaster and its lands were
conferred on Henry’s son Henry of Monmouth, until Henry V became King in 1413.
Since 1413,
Pickering Castle has belonged to the Crown, but it has been administered
separately by the Duchy of Lancaster.
The place
of our ancestors’ misery
There are
extensive records of the trials of our Farndale inhabitants, and large numbers
of Farndale folk, at Pickering Castle between about 1280 and 1370. This was the
period of Lancastrian domination of the castle and significant direct royal
interest.
The hearings
were held at the New Hall, built in 1314, the year of Bannockburn, as a
residence for Countess Alice de Lacy, wife of Thomas Earl of Lancaster. The New
Hall was built at a cost of 15s 8d (the equivalent of £35,000) and had two
stories and a stone tiled roof. Whilst the residence of the countess occupied
the upper floor, the hall at ground level, also operated as a court.
A painting
by Ivan Lapper depicts the New Hall used as a courtroom, with the
presidential chair on the right.
Pickering’s
later history
Pickering is
one of only a few castles which were largely unaffected by the fifteenth
century Wars of the Roses.
During the
English Civil War, the castle was held for the king and was breached on its
west side, with most part of this side being dismantled. Three mounds to the
west of the castle are said to have been the positions that Cromwell's forces
placed their canons to destroy the west wall. Later in the conflict,
Parliamentary troops occupied the site and Sir Hugh Cholmeley
stripped the lead, timber, and iron from the towers of the castle to provide
extra defences for Scarborough Castle.
There is a
description of Pickering and its castle in about 1540 by John Leland, in his Itinery
in or about the years 1535-1543.
or
Go Straight to Chapter
7 – Poachers of Pickering Forest