Pickering Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Pickering Castle occupies a spur overlooking the small town of Pickering, at the foot of the North York Moors, from where it controlled the Vale of Pickering and a vast royal forest. Born as an earth-and-timber motte and bailey raised by William the Conqueror around 1069-1070, it was gradually converted into a stone fortress between the late 12th and early 14th centuries. The site is arranged around a central motte crowned by a stone shell keep, flanked by two baileys: the inner bailey, which housed the halls, chapel and lodgings, and the outer bailey, enclosed in the 14th century by a curtain wall punctuated by towers. Having stayed clear of the great conflicts, notably the Wars of the Roses and the 17th-century Civil War, it retains an exceptionally legible medieval layout. Owned by the Duchy of Lancaster and in State guardianship since 1926, it is now managed by English Heritage and open to the public. Its chapel and curtain walls offer a good example of the development of a royal castle in the north of England.