Pickering Castle was a motte-and-bailey castle built by the Normans as part of the suppression of Northern England in the late 11th century. Fearing a Scottish invasion, the last monarch to spend money on upgrading its defences was Edward II, who ordered the addition of a stone curtain wall around the outer bailey, featuring four towers.

In the late medieval period no expense was spent and it had such little defensive capability that it played no part in the English Civil War. It was owned by the Crown until 1926 and is now managed by English Heritage.