Last Christmas we compiled a feature on some of Yorkshire’s historic estate villages, some of which are still in the hands of the same families who have owned them for hundreds of years.
We featured well-known villages such as Harewood, Sledmere and Wentworth, all popular with visitors, as well as some lesser-known examples. The article was so popular that we have detailed several more below. Not all are still in the ownership of the original lords of the manor, and in some cases only a few estate properties remain, but all carry signs of their feudal pasts.
This village near Easingwold has been shaped by two rival estates. For over 1,000 years, the manor of Crayke and its castle were owned by the Bishops of Lindisfarne and later Durham - thus the pub being called the Durham Ox. They didn't sell the land and building (retaining the rectory) until 1827, by which time the castle had become a farmhouse. It has been in private ownership ever since - at one time being the residence of the current MP for Thirsk and Malton, Kevin Hollinrake. There is also 18th-century Crayke Hall, which had land holdings built up by the Bowman family. Crayke Castle was replaced by a new manor house in the 17th century, and it was later bought by the Cliffs, brick manufacturers in Leeds whose descendants still retain holdings in the village. In 1999, there was a symbolic union of the two estates when the new owners of Crayke Hall bought an antique dining table from the departing owners of Crayke Castle that Winston Churchill reputedly sat at Photo: James Hardisty
The Dugdale family have owned Crathorne, near Yarm, since 1844. Having made their money in Lancashire cotton, they bought the estate and hall, which they rebuilt in the early 1900s, from the Crathornes, who had lived in their ancestral village since the 14th century. Although they sold the hall to a hotel chain in the 1970s, the Dugdales still farm locally and have 40 cottages, plus commercial property including a farm shop and pub. They've even built new homes in recent years. Photo: National World