Crayke, Yorkshire Genealogy

England Yorkshire Yorkshire Parishes  North Riding  Crayke



Parish History
St Cuthbert Crayke is an ancient parish a parish in the Bishopric of Durham. It was given by Egfrid, King of Northumberland, to St. Cuthbert, in the year 685, by whom it came to the church of Durham; about which time the said St. Cuthbert founded a monastery here. 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. Near the ruins of the castle stands the church, which is dedicated to St. Cuthbert.

CRAIKE, or Crayke (St. Cuthbert), a parish, in the union of Easingwould, W. division of the wapentake of Bulmer, N. riding of York, 3 miles (E. by N.) from Easingwould; containing 579 inhabitants. Egfrid, King of Northumbria, in 685 gave this place, with land extending three miles round it, to St. Cuthbert; and a monastery is mentioned by Simeon of Durham as existing here, at the time of the Danish invasion in 883, when the bones of St. Cuthbert were brought to Craike, villam vocabulo Crecam, for refuge. Etha, a hermit, who lived here at an earlier period, is noticed as a famous saint by the same authority. The parish comprises by measurement 2756 acres, about three-fifths of which are arable, and the remainder pasture, with the exception of 10 acres of plantation. Above the village, on an eminence, stand the ruins of Craike Castle, probably built by Bishop Pudsey in Stephen's reign, now converted into a farmhouse: the estate, which was in the hands of the bishops of Lindisfarne first, and of Durham after the removal of the see, from the time of St. Cuthbert to the prelacy of Bishop Van Mildert, was sold by the latter, by virtue of an act of parliament. The ruined castle is a picturesque object to the country around, and commands a view which is only bounded by the horizon of the plain of York, and extending to the Wolds of the East riding, and the hills of Craven on either side. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Ripon: the tithes have been commuted for £678, and the glebe comprises 52 acres, with a good residence. The church is a neat edifice of the fifteenth century, with a tower. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 713-717. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50902 Date accessed: 06 April 2011.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Crayke like this:

CRAIKE, or Crayke, a parish in Easingwold district, N. R. Yorkshire; 2½ miles NE of Easingwold, and 3¾ SSW of Ampleforth r. station. It has a post office under Easingwold. Acres, 2, 779. Real property, £5, 002. Pop., 585. Houses, 121. The property is much sub-divided. Craike Hall is a chief residence. A monastery was founded in the parish, in 685; and destroyed by the Danes in 882. A castle in the Tudor style, square, four-storied, and embattled, crowns a hill commanding an extensive view; is mostly used as a farm-house; was built by Neville, Bishop of Durham, who died in 1457; and occupies the site of an ancient castle of the Northumbrian kings. The living is a rectory in the diocese of York. Value, £672.* Patron, the Crown. The church is good; and there are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, and charities £32.

Neighbouring Parishes
Brandsby, Yorkshire Coxwold, Yorkshire Easingwold, Yorkshire Marton cum Moxby, Yorkshire Stillington, Yorkshire

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

This ancient parish (AP) was created before 1813. Church of England records began in 1558. A detached part of County Durham, and part of the Bishopric of Durham. A parish in the wapentake of Bulmer within the jurisdiction of the archdeaconry and peculiar jurisdiction of the Dean and Chapter of Durham.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/HBT/25-27 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. Crayke was part of the North Durham references in the Durham Bishop’s Transcripts collection 1700-1900 and is also in Durham Bishop's Transcripts: The Howe Manuscript Collection

The dates of the post-1760 transcripts have been noted in detail and sometimes only cover years. For most parishes in the collection there are gaps in the sequence of transcripts. It is advisable to consult the original parish registers for these years and events.

Poor Law Unions
Easingwold Poor Law Union, Yorkshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Yorkshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.