Crake Trees

 Only one wing of the once grand 14th-century house of Crake Trees survives, and even this is now in an extremely dilapidated state. The earliest documentary reference to the occupation of the building dates to 1591, but it is thought to have been built for a branch of the Lancaster family, whose principal seat was at Sockbridge Hall near Penrith. In the late 16th or early 17th century, the medieval timber-framed great hall and the accompanying service range were demolished to make way for a single-storey stone-built wing combining entrance hall and kitchen, whose external wall proudly displayed the Lancaster family's coat of arms. Attached to this was a two-storey tower, also built in stone, which contained the house's smartest rooms. This remodelling was the swansong of Crake Trees: after the mid-17th century, the house was apparently occupied by tenants and the construction of a barn in the late 18th century confirms that by that date it was essentially just a farmhouse. The house was eventually abandoned at some point between 1871 and 1881 and thereafter fell gradually into disrepair, although photographs taken in 1935 indicate that it was more or less intact at that date.

In March 2000, English Heritage's Landscape Investigation and Historic Buildings Teams collaborated to record and analyse what little survives of the building, which is a Grade II Listed Building and protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The survey of the ruined building discovered evidence for a medieval timber-framed private chapel, with a finely carved stone 'piscina' - a large water basin that would have been sited near the altar. Analysis of the earthworks in the surrounding landscape identified the site of a fishpond, an essential feature of any wealthy manor complex, and possible garden terraces that may be contemporary with the remodelling of the house in the late 16th or early 17th century. The recognition of long-disused trackways shows that although Crake Trees now appears isolated in the landscape, it was once closely connected to the scatter of villages and hamlets nearby.

Crake Trees is in private ownership and is not open to the public.

The full report (ref: AI/2/2000) can be ordered online. For more information, contact Chris Dunn at English Heritage's York Office on 01904 601901  or e-mail: chris.dunn@english-heritage.org.uk