Pickering Lythe was one of twelve wapentakes within the historical county of the North Riding of Yorkshire, England.It was recognised within the Domesday Book as Dic, an area covering the Vale of Pickering, and swathes of land east towards the North Yorkshire coast.[4][5] The name wapentake derives from the Old Norse of vápnatak, which means "a vote of consent expressed by waving or brandishing weapons" - literally weapon-take.[15] 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.[16][17] Parts of the parish of Filey, which straddled the border between the East and North Ridings, was in Pickering Lythe, and in the wapentake of Dickering.