The village stands on the southern slopes of the steep Castle Hill and derives its name from the Celtic word ‘creig’ meaning crag or rock. There has been a settlement here since at least 685 AD, when King Egfrid of Northumberland granted the village, together with all the land within a three mile radius, to St Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne. Shortly afterwards St Cuthbert founded a monastery, which apparently existed until the Danish invasions of late ninth century.
Crayke Castle, built c.1450 by Robert Neville, then Bishop of Durham, occupies the site of a former Norman motte-and-bailey fort. In 1647, Parliament ordered that the castle should be ‘rendered untenable and with no garrison maintained in it’. and in 1648 the manor of Crayke was sold to …show more content…
Allenson’s son Charles repaired and restored the 15th Century Great Chamber and this is essentially all that remains of the subsequent Castle today in the guise of the impressive vaulted kitchen.
This village is delightfully situated on the southern declivity of a lofty detached hill or mount, on the summit of which stands the ruins of Crayke Castle, which is supposed to have been a Roman fortress, and which in the time of the Saxons was a royal palace. From hence is a most extensive and delightful prospect of the forest of Galtres, and the beautiful and picturesque vale of Mowbray; so called from its ancient owner Roger de Mowbray, who was bowman to William Rufus, and possessed one hundred and forty manors in England and twenty in Normandy. He was the founder of the monasteries of Newburgh and