Pickering is a market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district in North Yorkshire, England, on the border of the North York Moors National Park. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is at the foot of the moors, overlooking the Vale of Pickering to the south. Pickering Parish Church, with its medieval wall paintings, Pickering Castle, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and Beck Isle Museum have made Pickering popular with visitors. Nearby places include Malton, Norton-on-Derwent and Scarborough. History Positioned on the shores of a glacial lake at the end of the last ice age, Pickering was in an ideal place for early settlers to benefit from the multiple natural resources of the moorlands to the north, the wetlands to the south, running water in the beck and the forests all around. It had wood, stone, wildfowl, game, fish, fresh water and fertile easily worked soils. The east–west route from the coast passed along the foothills of the North York Moors through the site at a place where the beck could be forded. There is evidence of Celtic and Roman era habitation in the areas surrounding Pickering but little remains in the town. Legendary sources suggest an early date for the establishment of a town but traces of earlier settlements have been erased by subsequent development. The town probably existed throughout the Anglo-Saxon period of British history. According to the Domesday Book there was enough arable land for 27 ploughs, meadows and extensive woodlands. The town may have grown up to service the Norman castle. After the conquest After 1066 when William I became the King, the town and its neighbourhood were in the possession of the crown. A castle and church were built at this time and the medieval kings occasionally visited the area. After the Harrying of the North by the Normans, the value of the village fell from £88 to £1. In 1267 the manor, castle and forest of Pickering were given by Henry III to his youngest son, Edmund, First Earl of Lancaster. The estate was confiscated by the King and then returned. Eventually, it passed to Henry, Duke of Lancaster who became King Henry IV of England. It has belonged to the monarch ever since. In 1598 the streets of Pickering were: East Gate, Hall Garth, Hungate, Birdgate, Borrowgate (the present Burgate) and West Gate. Many older small houses were built