Buttercrambe: The tiny Yorkshire village with a huge amount of history

Surrounded by arable farmland as far as the eye can see, Buttercrambe’s western entrance has not one, but three signs warning HGV drivers that Buttercrambe’s main thoroughfare is unsuitable for their vehicles.

As if to remind visitors they are still in the 21st century one of the signs states: “Do not follow satelite navigation instructions.”

Either side of the narrow lane there are expansive grass verges and after passing the village’s sole residential development of more than a few properties, there’s Fold Court, a series of farm buildings converted into office spaces.

Alongside a picturesque water pump and some more agricultural buildings there’s Home Farm, a Scottish bothy-style property thought to be the village’s oldest home, dating back at least 400 years.

A short distance along the lane there’s a grassy path leading to St John the Evangelist Church on a site used for worship since the 13th century, although the church’s earliest record is of a woman who was buried there in 1404.

The sandstone and limestone Grade II*-listed chapel was rebuilt in the 15th century and again in the 1870s and features a distinctive bellcote with pyramidal roof between the nave and chancel.

It also houses several monuments to members of the Darley family, which owns the majority of buildings in Buttercrambe.

In front of the church are several cottages, the most substantial of which was, until Victorian times, the village pub, The Nag's Head.

Almost directly opposite the former pub is the main entrance to Aldby Park, where there is a grade II listed early 18th century lodge.

The historic estate has been extensively remodelled and replanted with terraces by the river featuring displays of primulas and ferns, beside which are two mounds, linked by an ancient earthen rampart.

It’s believed to be the site of a Roman or Brigantine fort. Commanding views of the Yorkshire Wolds, historians have concluded its strategic purpose was to watch over the Derwent crossing.

It is thought to be among a number of Roman settlements in the area.

To the west of Buttercrambe, what is believed to have been a camp of sufficient size to house an auxiliary cavalry Ala or mixed regiment of infantry and cavalry known as a cohors equitata, was identified by cropmarks on aerial photographs in 1995.

The site is understood to date from the immediate decades before the establishment of Roman York.

However, the Roman site at Aldby Park, known as Edwin's Castle, has been identified as among the most sacred in Christian England, being the site of a failed assassination of Edwin of Northumbria on Easter Eve, 626.

The incident, described by Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, led to the adoption of Christianity by the Northern Kingdom.

Bede wrote that Edwin has been living at a royal vill, a moated palace, near the River Derwent when an envoy sent by the King of Wessex “suddenly rushed upon him with a poisoned dagger” only to be intercepted by a nobleman who took the blow.

Hours later his Queen Ethelburga gave birth to Edwin’s first son, who was baptised a Christian, before the king went through the ceremony.

As such, the house is said to preserve the site where Paulinus converted King Edwin to Christianity.

By Henry II's reign the land was part of the possessions of the de Stutevills, who sold the manor in 1557 to William Darley.

One successor, Henry Darley, was elected for Malton to the Long Parliament and, declaring against the King, helped seize Hull when the Governor, Sir John Hotham, to return it to King Charles I in a last-ditch bid to avoid a civil war.

Another successor, Richard Darley, led moves to improve navigation of the Derwent and in a request that would shape the sport of horseracing, asked his son Thomas, a trader in the east Mediterranean, to send him an a pure Anazah Arabian colt for his stud at Aldby Park in 1703.

After being shipped from Syria, the estate became the home of the Darley Arabian, of whom there is a life-size portrait in the hall.

The horse became one of three foundation stallions from which all English thoroughbreds are derived.

Following the death of her brothers, in the 1720s Richard’s daughter Jane oversaw the building of the site’s current three-storey red brick property.

The house, which fell into disrepair after being requisitioned by the army in the Second World War was restored during the 1960s and again following a devastating fire which burnt through every floor just days before the millennium.

Nearly 70 officers from across North and East Yorkshire, the border of which is along the river, battled the blaze thought to have been sparked by chimney soot, pumping water from the Derwent in a bid to save the property’s array of artworks.

As well as being used to power a corn mill, the 17th century premises of which overlooks the village’s eastern entrance, where the river is known for its river lamprey population.

The Environment Agency and Durham University have studied the stretch of river to find ways to help the creatures access upstream spawning grounds.

The river can also impede the movement of humans. In December it was reported Buttercrambe Bridge had again become “flooded and impassable”.

When traffic is heavy on the A64 between Scarborough and York, the 18th century bridge can become congested as motorists take to the back roads.

The bridge often causes issues with motorhome and caravans caught out by the 2.55-metre width restriction.