Crayke is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England, about east of Easingwold.

Etymology

The name ''Crayke'' is of Brittonic origin, derived from the neo-Brittonic

Cumbric Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...

''crẹ:g'', meaning "a crag" or "prominent rock" ( Welsh ''craig''). This derivation may refer to the topography associated with the Northumbrian monastery at Crayke.

History

There is evidence that there has been a settlement here since the times of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The village is named in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as ''Crec'', part of the ''Yarlestre'' hundred and noted as belonging to the Bishop of Durham. The parish was formerly a detached part of

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

(until 1844), due to its connection with

St Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...

and the

Diocese of Durham The diocese of Durham is a diocese of the Church of England in North East England. The boundaries of the diocese are the historic boundaries of County Durham, meaning it includes the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne and contemporary ...

, which owned Crayke Castle. The seventh-century king Egfrid granted Crayke to the church in 685 to be used by Cuthbert on his visits to

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, to which end Cuthbert founded a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

here. Cuthbert died in 687AD. The monk Aediluulf wrote a poem '' Carmen de Abbatibus'' between 803 and 821 about the history of his monastery, and some scholars propose that the monastery, which was in the circle of Lindisfarne, was in Crayke. (For instance,

Michael Lapidge Michael Lapidge, FBA (born 8 February 1942) is a scholar in the field of Medieval Latin literature, particularly that composed in Anglo-Saxon England during the period 600–1100 AD; he is an emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a Fellow ...

in ''Anglo-Latin Literature 600–899'', Hambledon Press, London 1996) According to the chronicler Symeon, the Northumbrian King Aelle appropriated Crayke and used it as his headquarters during the unsuccessful campaign against the Danes in 867. He also reports that when the congregation of St Cuthbert was wandering homeless during the seven-year period 875–882 the monks remained four months at Crayke. In Norman times the Bishops of Durham constructed a castle over the monastic cemetery, though no traces now remain. Links with Cuthbert and the bishopric of Durham are recognised in the dedication of the 1436

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church to St Cuthbert, and the naming of the

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

as the ''Durham Ox'', (an allusion to the foundation myth of Durham).

Governance

The village lies within the Thirsk and Malton UK Parliament constituency having previously been in the Vale of York UK Parliament constituency. It is part of the Easingwold electoral division of

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

. From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the district of Hambleton, it is now administered by the unitary

. The Parish Council is made of seven councillors including the Chair.

Geography

The village is at an elevation of at its highest point. The nearest settlements are Easingwold to the south-west; Stillington to the south-east; Brandsby to the north-east and Oulston to the north. The River Foss lies just to the east of the village. According to the 1881 census the population of the village was 501. In the 2001 UK Census the population was recorded as 390, of which 315 were over the age of sixteen and 206 of those were in employment. There are 168 dwellings of which 102 were detached. The village is served by the Easingwold to York bus route as well as a School Bus to Easingwold School. There is a public house and several local businesses in the village. There is a sports and leisure club on the outskirts where tennis and cricket are played.

Education

Primary education is available in the village at Crayke Primary School. The school lies within the Easingwold School catchment area for Secondary education.

Religion

In the Dark Ages, Crayke was home to Echa of Crayke, an eighth century

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

Saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

, priest and

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

, known for his

holiness Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

, healing and prophetic gifting. According to the York Annals, he died 767AD, and his

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

is 5 May. He is known from the

Hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

of the Secgan Manuscript, and the poem on the Saints of York by

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...

There is a church in the village dedicated to

. It was so named following the time of the Danish invasions, when the body of St Cuthbert was unearthed and travelled around the north of England to protect it. The monks rested with his body at Crayke for a time. The present building was erected in 1490 in the Perpendicular style. In the 19th century there were Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels in the village as well as a Catholic chapel, all now disused. William Ralph Inge, author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and dean of St Paul's Cathedral was born in Crayke in 1860.

Notable buildings

The village is the site of a 15th-century castle. The

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building was constructed around 1450. There are 28 Grade II listed buildings in the village, including the Brandsby Royal Observer Corps monitoring post that operated from 1964 to 1991 at Zion Hill Farm on Key Lane. Its purpose was to monitor radioactive fallout in the event of a nuclear war. It was built underground to hold a staff of three who could live self-sufficiently for three weeks. It reported to No 20 Group headquarters in

The 17th-century Crayke Manor is Grade II* listed.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire