Pickering Beck

Pickering Beck is a river that runs for over 18 miles (29 km) from its source in the North York Moors National Park through the town of Pickering and on to its confluence with Costa Beck at Kirby Misperton. It is a meandering river that is fed by numerous named and unnamed becks and streams which flow over sandstone and limestone beds and an alluvia of sand, clay silt and gravel. The beck is known for flooding and in recent times has been a beneficiary of funding and experimental flood protection schemes. The beck rises at Fen Bog, a watershed between the Eller Beck to the north and Pickering Beck to the south, where rainfall from the surrounding moorland can flow in either direction. Its source lies about 2.5 miles (4 km) west of the source of the River Derwent, into which the beck ultimately drains via the Costa Beck and River Rye. It forms part of the Derwent catchment. Both Ryedale District Council and the Environment Agency acknowledge Pickering Beck as being a main river.