Pickering Castle

-1069/1070 (First Motte and Bailey)

William I built the original motte and bailey fort to consolidate his control over the region shortly after his "Harrying of the North Campaign.” The Harrying of the North campaign was a punitive campaign destroying farms and settlements in the area to suppress the resistance to Norman rule in the region.

William I chose a strategic site that controlled the convergence of two major trade and travel routes between Whitby and Malton and Scarborough and Northallerton. He placed the first fort on the east banks of the Pickering Beck, which provided a natural defence. 

The original castle was the typical motte and bailey Norman fort, which used a timber palisade set atop a high mound or motte. Early builders surrounded this with a ditch protected by other wood palisades.

-1180 (Stone Build)

Major reconstruction began around 1180, during the reign of King Henry II, and continued in three distinct phases. The first phase replaced the wooden palisade around the inner bailey with a sturdier curtain wall and constructed the first shell keep on the motte.

The 12th Century Old Hall and the Coleman tower arose at this time. The Coleman Tower guarded the inner bailey's entry and functioned as a prison hence its moniker, “The King's Prison.”

-1207–1210

During King John's reign, further construction took place on the castle, including strengthening the inner bailey entrance and a stairway was added to access the keep. 

-1218 (Royal Fortification)

King Henry III sought to secure his northern territories after the First Barons War. He commissioned his builders to extensively rebuild and fortify the curtain walls of the inner bailey and shell keep. 

-1220 (Possible Siege)

Historical records show evidence of an inquiry into the state of repairs of Pickering Castle, implying the castle may fall under siege at this time by Prince Louis of France. 

The remains of a siege castle at the nearby Beacon hill may be evidence of this attack, but historians still debate the exact time of the siege castle erection on Beacon Hill. 

Siege castles were hastily built forts not for an attack but to form a base of operations to oversee the structure under siege. 

-1255

Roger Bigod took control of the castle after the outbreak of the second Barons war in 1264. Bigod prepared the castle for an attack, but historical records fail to clarify if Pickering Castle fell under attack. 

-1267

Henry III granted Pickering Castle estates to his son Edmund Crouchback, who left the castle to his heir, Thomas.

-The Early 1300s

Thomas Earl of Lancaster challenged the Rule of Edward II, his first cousin. After the English defeat at Bannockburn, Thomas fortified Pickering against Scottish attack and formed a royal residence for him and his wife, Alice de Lacey. 

Thomas built the New Hall at this time as a residence for Alice de Lacey. Costing Thomas 341 pounds, 15s, 8d, which was quite a fortune at the time. 

-1321 (Rebellion)

After the rebellion against Edward II, Thomas suffered defeat at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322. Edward II improved Thomas in Pontefract castle and executed him in 1322. Pickering Castle fell forfeit to the Crown. Edward II commissioned upgrades to Pickering castle, including rebuilding the outer bailey curtain walls in stone. The new stone wall had four towers:

• Gatehouse tower
• Date Hill Tower
• Rosamund's Tower
• Mill Tower.

-1326

Edward III restores the castle and earldom to the executed Thomas's brother Henry. The castle passed on through the family line until it passed in marriage to John of Gaunt. His son Henry Bolligbrooke became the future King Henry IV. Henry then gave the castle to his son, the future Henry V. 

-1413

After Henry V's succession, the castle reverted into crown hands.

-1537

A survey conducted at the time lists the structures surviving in the caste site, including the constable's hall, kitchen, and buttery. The facilities also included servant quarters and several storage buildings. 

However, the castle began to decline in the mid-1500s, although it was a favourite site for royals to hunt in the neighbouring forest.

-Tudor Period

Plunderers had begun to steal the stone from the castle site, including Sir Richard Cholmley, the castle constable who robbed stone from Pickering to build his new house at Roxby. 

-17th Century

Although the castle was not fit for war, the parliamentarians seized it and passed it into private hands under Cromwell's government.

-1660 (Abandoned)

Charles II gained the duchy and castle when the monarchy retained control in 1660. The Crown did not conduct further repairs (except the chapel). The castle lay abandoned until 1926.

-1926

The Office of Works took the castle into its care, and today English Heritage is the custodian of Pickering Castle, a scheduled monument and open to the public.