CHAPTER XII
_The Forest and Vale from Early Victorian Times to the Present Day_
A.D. 1837 to 1905
This most recent stage in the development of Pickering is marked by the
extinction of the few remaining customs that had continued to exist since
mediaeval times. One of the most hardy of these survivals was the custom of
"Riding t' fair," as it was generally called. It only died out about
twenty years ago when the Pickering Local Board purchased the tolls from
the Duchy of Lancaster, so that it has been possible to obtain a
photographic record of two of the Duchy tenants who used to take part in
the ceremony. On market mornings the Steward of the Duchy armed with a
sword in a richly gilt scabbard would repair to the castle on horseback,
where he would be joined by two freeholders of Duchy land, also mounted;
one carrying the antique halbert and the other the spetum that are now
preserved in a solicitor's office in Eastgate.[1] They would then ride
down to the top of the market-place, where the steward would take out of
his pocket a well-worn piece of parchment and read the following
proclamation.
"_O'yes! O'yes! O'yes!_
"Our Sovereign Lady the Queen and the Reverend John Richard Hill, Lord of
this Manor, proclaim this fair by virtue of Her Majesty's writ of _ad quod
Damnum_, for establishing the same for buying and selling of horses,
geldings, cattle, sheep, swine, and all sorts of merchandise brought here
to be sold, and do hereby order and direct a court of Pye Powder to be
held at the house of Robert Simpson, where all matters in Difference will
be heard and determined according to Law and Justice, and that no person
do presume to buy or sell anything but between the rising and setting of
the Sun, and they do strictly charge and command all persons to be of good
behaviour during the continuance of this Fair.
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