Pickering Castle -North Yorkshire

Hi Everyone

This is a continuation of yesterdays post where we took a look around the town of Pickering on the boarder of the North Yorkshire Moors.

I finished yesterdays photo slideshow with a shot of the entrance to Pickering Castle, a 12th century stronghold and hunting lodge.

Prior to 1180 the castle was a simple timber and earth motte and baily style fort. In the last 2 decades of the 12th century into the early decades of the 13th century it was upgraded to a stone fortress.

Throughout the middle ages the kings of England used this spot as a gathering place to organise hunting expeditions as the nearby forests and moorlands were very rich with game such as pheasants ,partridges', rabbits , deer and wild boar.

When wandering around the castle I couldn't help but imagine dragons attacking it. I guess I am somewhat conditioned by fantasy movies, TV programs and games but every time I visit a historic site like this my mind gets flooded with thoughts of fantasy creatures and medieval battles.

The remains of this castle are particularly well preserved in most areas as this site was relatively unaffected by the 15th century War of the roses and the 17th century English civil war.

During this years summer months I plan to make a series of posts looking at historic sites most of which will be in Scotland.

I believe we will be be touring many more castles this year, if medieval history is your thing stay tuned for more in the coming months :).