FROM time to time, I am asked why an inn at Crayke, near Easingwold, just north of York, should be named the Durham Ox when it is a considerable distance from Durham. The reason is the long association between this village and Durham, along with Crayke’s link with St Cuthbert, plus an ancient Scandinavian legend set in Crayke castle. There is no space in this diary for that legend but it will surely follow.

So far as the Durham Ox is concerned, some modest research on the internet tells me there are other Durham Ox inns much further away, with one dating to 1764 in Warwickshire, another dating to 1780 at Ilkeston, in Derbyshire, and yet another in Leicestershire. Those two 18th century inns appear to have changed their names because the famous animal was not born until 1796 and did not achieve its celebrity status until around 1801.

The Durham Ox Inn at Ilkeston once doubled as a jail with the prisoners being kept in the cellars, but I believe the total number of Durham Ox inns was in the region of 30 before being reduced to about 19 some six or seven years ago.

Other inns associated with this famous ox are known simply as The Ox Inn, but a few carry the name Ketton Ox because this great animal was born and bred at Ketton Hall, near Darlington.

Its owner was Charles Colling and although the ox was a spectacular size and most handsome, it did not make national news or reach hero status until it was sold for what was then a colossal sum of £250. The purchaser was a showman called John Day who lived in Lincolnshire and he took the ox on a grand tour of England in a specially-built carriage hauled by four horses.

The shorthorn ox attracted so much attention that it spent one entire year on show in London. Its image was painted many times and its fame produced a range of blue and white china crockery.

It is claimed the ox was by no means the largest in the country, but it was a beautiful beast with classic features, hence its popularity.

It was also said to have a very calm and gentle temperament.

Sadly, the end came in 1807 when the ox slipped as it was leaving its transport in Oxford and injured its hip.

Nothing could be done by way of a remedy and as the beast was in constant pain, the famous Durham Ox was slaughtered on April 15, 1807. It is still remembered in those inn signs, and on the increasingly rare examples of blue and white pottery that bear its distinctive image.

Crayke’s other link with Durham is St Cuthbert. The ancient parish church is named in his honour and it has a long Catholic history.

It is unusual because it is named after its founder, St Cuthbert, and not its patron saint. It was modernised as long ago as the 15th century and the pulpit dates to 1637.

The castle is even more ancient, dating to Saxon times but later being developed as a splendid stone structure that became the property of the Bishops of Durham, along with the rest of the estate.

They always spent part of their year at Crayke Castle, and it has also hosted five reigning sovereigns. It is now privately owned.

The reason for their presence was that Crayke became part of County Durham. This happened because there was a long tradition that any place where the bodily remains of St Cuthbert rested, while fleeing from Viking raiders would become part of Country Durham. And the remains of Cuthbert did rest at Crayke, in fact hidden there for four months.

This is the story. Cuthbert was renowned for his devotion to his church and to God, being a monk with a rare mixture of practicality and intellect.

He worked as a shepherd in his youth and received instruction in his faith from St Aidan of Melrose Abbey, later becoming an itinerant preacher before rejoining the monks of Melrose where he later became prior. In 664, he and his abbot went to Lindisfarne Abbey where he became its prior, but in 676 he withdrew to the Farne Islands where he lived for a time as a hermit.

In 684, he became Bishop of Lindisfarne but died in 687 whereupon his tomb became a shrine for pilgrims.

Eventually, his remains were transferred to Durham Cathedral to protect them from the Danes but, according to verbal history, they were later removed following the Reformation to protect them from desecration by the Protestants. There is a story that, today, three English Roman Catholic Benedictine monks know the whereabouts of his remains but are sworn to secrecy.

Thus the remains, if any, in Durham Cathedral might not be those of St Cuthbert. His ring continues to be worn by the Roman Catholic bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.

So what happened to his remains?

When Cuthbert died on the Farne Islands in 687, his remains were buried on March 20, now his feast day.

When his grave was opened 11 years later, the body had not decomposed and so the tomb was re-sealed. News of this miracle spread quickly and a shrine was established at his grave. In 793, Vikings raided the Farne Islands, but Cuthbert’s tomb was spared so the monks returned.

However, another raid was threatened and, worried about the desecration of Cuthbert’s body, the monks fled with the inviolate body, also placing the remains of St Aidan in the coffin.

They headed for the mainland.

For the next seven years, they toured the North of England with the coffin being carried by seven trusted men. No-one else was allowed even to touch the coffin and they succeeded in keeping Cuthbert safe from the Vikings and other raiders.

They were supported by gifts of food, money and shelter and finally, in 883, arrived at Chester-le-Street where they settled. They remained for 100 years, but a new threat from marauding Danes sent them once again journeying with Cuthbert’s body. However, in 685, two years before Cuthbert’s death, King Egfridus had given him “the town of Crayke and three miles around it”. That is when Cuthbert founded the church on Crayke’s hilltop.

In 1104, when Cuthbert’s body was still at Chester-le- Street, it was re-examined and still found to be inviolate and even flexible. That was when a start was made on the building of Durham Cathedral and so eventually his remains were buried there, one reason being to protect them. When the commissioners of Henry VIII came to Durham Cathedral in 1537 to list its possessions, the coffin of St Cuthbert was again re-opened in the search for valuables and they found the body still in perfect condition. They placed it in the inner vestry to await the King’s wishes for disposal.

It is said that Catholic monks had no intention of allowing their saint’s remains to be left to the whim of the reforming King Henry and so Cuthbert’s body was concealed, probably somewhere within the Cathedral.

In 1827, when his tomb was re-examined, the body inside had decayed although vestments remained. It was believed a substitute body had been used with the real remains of St Cuthbert being safely removed by Roman Catholic Benedictine monks.

His true place of burial remains a secret – so the story goes!