Tuesday 20 September 2011

Our World Tuesday - Pickering, North Yorkshire, UK - Part One

Pickering is a market town situated on the side of a hill, the summit of which is crowned by a castle.  At the foot of the hill the Pickering beck runs through the town.  Though Pickering is now considered just a small country market town, it was once a place of much greater importance.

A tradition, imbedded in the Saxon Chronicle, it was founded by Peridurus more than 2000 years ago, he was a British king who reigned two centuries before the Roman invasion.

According to legend, Pickering was named from the recovery of a ring, lost by Peridurus whilst bathing in the Costa beck, and which was later recovered from the belly of a pike.  Another idea is that the name signifies the ing, or river-meadow near the pik, or peak; and Pika, Norse, a maiden, and hringr, a ring, has also been suggested.

On the other side of the road, the beck  is lined with fairly new apartments. The beck is shallow and has a rocky bed, and it is home to a lot of ducks. A few years ago we had disastrous flooding take place in Pickering and the beck rose so high it invaded several properties along the banks.  Two were the Rose Inn and Beck Isle Museum, located either side of Bridge Street; another was the Fortune Inn, a very popular Cantonese Restaurant.  It took many months to dry out and restore so many businesses and homes that had been devastated in the flooding.

On Mondays, market stalls line one side of the main shopping street of Pickering.  Both the market and the Railway, NYMR (North Yorkshire Moors Railway) are very important to Pickering, and bring in a lot of revenue to the town.  In December Christmas time comes to NYMR as they run the Santa Special trains, more about that in another episode.


In the photo here are some of the dedicated staff who work at NYMR, 
keeping everyone fed and happy.  One of the ladies in the photo asked if I wanted a Women's Institute Calendar type photo, but being 'chicken' I declined!  If you have seen that calendar, you will know what I am talking about.
Below is a photo of the steam engine
'Cock O The North' engine number 92214.  Next week, more from Pickering.                           Click on photo's to enlarge.
                                           
                                                                                                                             

For more photo's from around

Our World
go visit


           

13 comments:

Unknown said...

This is lovely, never been there but feel I know abit about the town now. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Lovely pictures of your town - set so picturesquely next to the water.

Haven't seen that calendar so don't know what you mean...

Stewart M said...

Hi there - nice to see Pickering again - I think I recognise he first shot - but it's been a long time since I've been there!

Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

Penelope Notes said...

Looks like a fascinating place with an intriguing history. As time goes on fact and fiction blur. But I do think a "ring" of some sort must have been involved in the naming of this wonderful place called Pickering!

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

That looks like a nice place to visit. So neat and tidy.

Ebie said...

I like that huge train! Last weekend, I visited the Travel town where old trains are displayed, and on the other side of the park, I saw some miniature model trains that Walt Disney had built, inside the Carolwood Barn.

Rajesh said...

Beautiful place with 2000 years old history. Great.

EG CameraGirl said...

Oh, I think a Women's Institute calender type photo might have been very, very interesting. :))

We have a Pickering south of where I live. How nice to know where the name originally came from!

Al said...

That looks like a wonderful town - nice shots!

betty-NZ said...

That looks like a fabulous place to visit!

Indrani said...

Interesting glimpses from your part of the world.

Sivinden said...

Nice collection of pictures!

Arija said...

Pickering and surrounds is so very picturesque. Charming mediaeval castle ruins with both romanesque and gothic arched doorways telling of new architectural innovations and pointing an historical finger to the later additions.

I am sorry I missed your previous posts of this delightful place as well as steam engines.

Thank you for your beautiful posts on Our World.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...