Pickering in 1843
Pickering is a parish and market own in the wapentake of Pickering-Lythe, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, about 223 miles from London, 26 miles north-east of York, and 18 miles west of Scarborough, pleasantly situated on a small eminence, at the foot of which runs the rivulet called Pickering Beck. The parish comprises the townships of Pickering, Kingthorpe, Marishes, and Newton, and the chapelry of Goadland or Goathland, and had an aggregate population of 3,346 in 1831, and 3,901 in 1841.
The living is a discharged vicarage, with the curacy of Newton, a peculiar of the dean of York, with a gross income of £143. The town is connected with the port of Whitby by a railroad described in a previous column, and is long and straggling, and it contains an ancient and spacious church, with a lofty spire, dedicated to St. Peter ; several dissenting places of worship, and several schools, one of which is endowed. It has also a workhouse for the Poor-Law Union of Pickering (which comprises 28 parishes), and two branch banks. The market is on Monday, and there are fairs on the Monday before Old Candlemas-day, Old Midsummer-day, the 25th of September, and the Monday before Old Michaelmas-day.
The town is of great antiquity, and formerly sent members to parliament, but had ceased to do so long before the passing of the Reform Bill. The ruins of an ancient castle stand to the west of the town. The town belongs to the duchy of Lancaster, and has jurisdiction over several neighbouring villages, which form what is called the Honour of Pickering ; and it has an ancient Honour-court for the recovery of debts and the trial of petty actions. On Pickering-moor are vestiges of two Roman encampments, and there are other similar remains in the neighbourhood. The population of the township of Pickering was 2,555 in 1831, and in 1841, 2,992, including 50 inmates of the Union workhouse and 11 persons in tents. |