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 run
s 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.
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