Crambeck Village was developed in 1989 by converting and rebuilding properties previously owned by the Castle Howard Regional Community Home.   The Home was founded by Lord Carlisle in 1856 who installed the Rev. Ishmael Fish as its first supervisor.   Responsibility for the Home changed over the years and its name changed from the Castle Howard Reformatory at Crambeck to Castle Howard Farm School to Castle Howard Approved School before being renamed as the Castle Howard Regional Community Home by Humberside County Council in 1974.

The home was a reform school and housed young lads who had fallen foul of the law or who were in need of special care due to family problems.   There were secure detention facilities for serious offenders, whilst others had an opportunity to learn worthwhile trades such as farming and motor mechanics.   There was a fine gymnasium which was widely used by local sporting clubs and a cinema used by the pupils and visitors.

One project carried out by the boys in the Agriculture class was to develop the nature trail down the edge of the stream beside Crambeck Village. They surveyed and recorded hundreds of wildlife species and excavated the woodland pond to turn a marshy area into the healthy habitat for freshwater creatures that we have today.

At the bottom of Crambeck Lane are the few cottages that remain from the old hamlet of Crambeck.   Back in the 1950s there was a narrow road which went from Castle Howard Station, along the east side of the railway line to the Crambeck level crossing.   Several cottages were sited along this road and rented out by Castle Howard. You can find an account about life in these cottages, written by Norman West who spent his childhood in Crambeck, on the Castle Howard Station website – www.castlehowardstation.com.

Close to the cottages were the ruins of an old flax mill and, during the war, a saw mill was constructed, where trees from the woodland over the Derwent would be towed over the river by rope for processing and then loading onto trains.   A coal yard, supplying the Castle Howard Estate, was also a prominent feature of this area and its remains can be seen to this day.