Pickering Lythe was one of twelve

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and in Cumberland County in the British Colony of ...

s within the historical county of the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

, England. It was recognised within the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''Dic'', an area covering the Vale of Pickering, and swathes of land east towards the

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

History

Originally, the wapentake's name was ''Dic'', which is how it is recorded in the

. However, Kirkby Misperton and Sinnington were in ''Maneshou'' (Ryedale Wapentake), and Hackness was in the wapentake of Whitby Strand. Smith suggests that the original name of ''Dic'' means a dyke, the original meeting place of the wapentake. Later, it was changed to Pickering Lythe, with the meeting place being a slope near to Pickering (though the exact site is lost); Lythe having the same meaning as Lythe on the North Yorkshire coast - a slope. Dickering is also thought to be so-named after a dyke, and the old wapentake of Dickering bordered Pickering Lythe to the south. The name wapentake derives from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

of ''vápnatak'', which means "a vote of consent expressed by waving or brandishing weapons" - literally weapon-take. It was one of twelve wapentakes within the old county of the

. The wapentake was tied to the manor of Pickering, and was historically labelled simply as Pickering Wapentake, later with ''Lithe'', and then ''Lythe'' being added. The inhabitants of the wapentake who were expected to meet and take up weapons were known locally as '. During the

Harrying of the North The Harrying of the North was a series of military campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate Northern England, where the presence of the last House of Wessex, Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encour ...

between 1069 and 1070, much of the area of what became the wapentake was laid to waste and depopulated, so much so that it was no longer labelled as a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

(or wapentake). Pickering Lythe was bordered by the wapentakes of Langbaurgh to the north, Whitby Strand and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

to the east, Dickering and Buckrose to the south, and Ryedale to the west. The population of the wapentake was recorded in 1823 as being 15,232, and in 1831 as being 15,319. The census of 1831, determined that the wapentake covered an area of and had a population of 24,079, however, this included the Scarborough parish and borough, which was separate to the wapentake of Pickering Lythe. A boundary committee, sitting in 1885, apportioned large swathes of Pickering Lythe into the newly created Whitby Division, based on the old

petty sessional division A petty sessional division was, in England and Wales, the area that a magistrates' court had jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to ...

s of Ryedale, Whitby Strand and of Pickering.

Settlements

The wapentake contained 48 settlements within the following parishes; Allerston,Brompton, Cayton, Ebberston, Ellerburn, Hutton Bushel, Kirkby Misperton, Levisham, Middleton, Pickering, Scalby, Seamer, Sinnington, Thornton Dale, and Wykeham. Parts of the parish of

Filey Filey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located between Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing village, it has a large ...

, which straddled the border between the East and North Ridings, was in Pickering Lythe, and in the wapentake of Dickering. This also extended to the church at Filey, which was separated from Filey itself by a ravine. By 1830, the wapentake was listed as having 37 townships, and was designated as principally an upland wapentake (along with Gilling West, Hang West, Langbaurgh, Ryedale and Whitby Strand). Although replaced by a

poor law union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

by 1893, the settlements below are listed as having been in the wapentake of Pickering Lythe at that time. * Aislaby * Allerston *Barughs-Ambo, ( Barugh (Great and Little)) * Brompton * Burniston * Cawthorne * Cayton * Cloughton * Cropton * East Ayton * Ebberston * Ellerburn *Farmanby (in the parish of Ellerburn-cum-Farmanby) * Goatland * Great Habton * Gristhorpe * Hartoft *Hutton Bushell, ( Hutton Buscel) *

Irton Irton is a village and civil parish, south-west of Scarborough in the county of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2011 UK census, Irton parish had a population of 312, a decrease on the 2001 UK census figure of 332. In 2015, North Yor ...

*Kingthorpe ( a hamlet north-east of Pickering) *Kirkby Misperton, ( Kirby Misperton) * Levisham * Lebberston * Little Habton * Lockton * Marishes * Marton * Middleton * Newby *Newton (part of Scalby) * Osgodby * Pickering *Rosedale East Side, ( Rosedale) * Ryton * Sawdon * Scalby * Seamer * Sinnington * Snainton *Stainton Dale, ( Staintondale) * Thornton Dale *Thoxenby, ( Throxenby) *Troutsdale (a valley west of Scalby, and north of Wykeham) *

West Ayton West Ayton is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. Located upon the west bank of the River Derwent adjacent to East Ayton. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 UK census, West Ayton parish had a po ...

* Wilton * Wrelton * Wykeham

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * *{{cite book , last1=White , first1=William , title=History, gazetteer and directory of the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire , date=1840 , publisher=Robert Leader , location=Sheffield, oclc= 1008476555 Wapentakes of the North Riding of Yorkshire Pickering, North Yorkshire