must be reconciled to that one fragment of a pre-Norman cross that is now
carefully preserved in the south aisle of the present building.



CHAPTER VII

_The Forest and Vale in Norman Times_

A.D. 1066-1154


In the early years of the reign of William I., when the northern counties
rose against his rule, the Pickering district seems to have required more
drastic treatment than any other. In 1069 the Conqueror spent the winter
in the north of England, and William of Malmesbury describes how "he
ordered the towns and fields of the whole district to be laid waste; the
fruits and grain to be destroyed by fire or by water ... thus the
resources of a once flourishing province were cut off, by fire, slaughter,
and devastation; the ground for more than sixty miles, totally
uncultivated and unproductive, remains bare to the present day." This is
believed to have been written about 1135, and would give us grounds for
believing that the desolation continued for over sixty years. A vivid
light is thrown on the destruction wrought at Pickering by the record in
the Domesday Book, which is as follows:--

"In _Picheringa_ there are to be taxed thirty-seven carucates of land,
which twenty ploughs may till. Morcar held this for one manor, with its
berewicks _Bartune_ (Barton), _Neuuctune_ (Newton), _Blandebi_ (Blandsby)
and Estorp (Easthorp). It is now the king's. There is therein one plough