It is also within the Stillington ward of Hambleton District Council. The Parish Council is made of seven councillors including the Chair. The village is at an elevation of at its highest point. The nearest settlements are Easingwold to the south-west; Stillington to the south-east; Brandsby to the north-east and Oulston to the north. The River Foss lies just to the east of the village. According to the 1881 census the population of the village was 501. In the 2001 UK Census the population was recorded as 390, of which 315 were over the age of sixteen and 206 of those were in employment. There are 168 dwellings of which 102 were detached. The village is served by the Easingwold to York bus route as well as a School Bus to Easingwold School. There is a public house and several local businesses in the village. There is a sports and leisure club on the outskirts where tennis and cricket are played. Primary education is available in the village at Crayke Primary School. The school lies within the Easingwold School catchment area for Secondary education. In the Dark Ages, Crayke was home to Echa of Crayke, an eighth century Anglo-Saxon Saint, priest and monk-hermit, known for his holiness, healing and prophetic gifting. According to the York Annals, he died 767AD, and his feast day is 5 May. He is known from the Hagiography of the Secgan Manuscript, and the poem on the Saints of York by Saint Alcuin  There is a church in the village dedicated to St Cuthbert. It was so named following the time of the Danish invasions, when the body of St Cuthbert was unearthed and travelled around the north of England to protect it. The monks rested with his body at Crayke for a time. The present building was erected in 1490 in the Perpendicular style. In the 19th century there were Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels in the village as well as a Catholic chapel, all now disused. The village is the site of a 15th-century castle. The Grade I listed building was constructed around 1450. There are 28 Grade II listed buildings in the village, including the Brandsby Royal Observer Corps monitoring post that operated from 1964 to 1991 at Zion Hill Farm on Key Lane. Its purpose was to monitor radioactive fallout in the event of a nuclear war. It was built underground to hold a staff of three who could live self-sufficiently for three weeks.