PICKERING  , a

market town in the Whitby -parliamentary division of the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, 32 M . N.E. by N. from York by the North Eastern railway, the junction of several branch lines . Pop. of urban district (1901), 3491 . The church of St Peter is Norman and transitional Norman, with later additions including a . Decorated spire . It contains a remarkable series of mural paintings of the 15th century . The castle, on a hill to the north, is a picturesque ruin, the fragmentary keep and several towers remaining . The work is in part Norman, but the principal portions are of the 14th century . One of the towers is connected in name and story with Fair Rosamond . The castle was held by Earl Morcar shortly before the Conquest; it then came into the hands of the Crown, and subsequently passed to the duchy of Lancaster . It was the prison of Richard II. before his confinement at Pontefract . During the civil wars of the 17th century the castle was held by the Royalists, and suffered greatly in siege .

The district surrounding Pickering is agricultural, and the town is a centre of the

trade . Agricultural implements are manufactured, and limestone and freestone are quarried in the vicinity .