History Coursework Pickering Castle

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Charlotte Wiggins        GCSE History        Miss Foden

“The reconstructive paintings of Ivan Lapper are an accurate interpretation of Pickering Castle.”

From your study of the site remains and guidebook, explain whether you agree.

I am going to look at Ivan Lapper’s paintings of Pickering castle and decide how accurate or inaccurate they are, by using written evidence from the guidebook, from the Internet, and also from my own visits to the site.

Ivan Lapper would have used some of the information that we had access to and would also have been able to refer to historical records such as The Duchy accounts. The current guidebook contains written information that I would expect to be as accurate as possible, as it is sold as an official account of the castle and its history. I examined the site, in which many of the foundations of the original buildings can be seen. It helped to see the site as I could observe whether the layouts of the buildings were located correctly in the paintings. I also used information from websites. However, my response to the original question is unsure. This is because although Lapper was employed by English Heritage to make as accurate as possible a representation of the changes in the castle’s appearance, no one can ever be sure how the castle looked in the past. It is thought that it was originally built in wood, which would have rotted away leaving no trace. Therefore Lapper logged the transition of the castle from wood to stone. However his exact dates are questionable because nobody was around to record them, and there is no reliable written evidence. Any pictures or evidence from this time are not necessarily accurate. Lapper had to use his imagination. This is a problem as his imagination is not the same as anybody elses. He is an artist historian

Lapper was commissioned by English Heritage to create paintings that were as far as possible accurate reconstructions of the castle during the 12th, 13th, and 14th century. One problem with this is that there are obvious differences between what he has painted and what is written in the guidebook. I will address these individually:

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The first picture is a reconstruction of the castle in the 12th century. The first problem with this painting is the keep, which the guidebook states was turned into stone between 1216-1236, which is in the 13th century, but it has no reference to when the keep was first built. We can never be certain, but it is likely that the keep would have been built in the 12th century, making use of the excellent natural defensive site at Pickering.

As the Castle was built on a hill, I believe that a motte would have been built there before the 12th century, ...

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