The village of Lastingham is located on the southern edge of the North
York Moors - 18 miles to the west of Scarborough.
Lastingham is the site of an early Celtic monastery established in the 7th century by monks from Lindisfarne. At that time the area was quite wild and remote, providing the isolation required for a spiritual life away from worldly temptations. The monastery remained an important religious site through the Anglo Scandinavian period, with the monastic church rebuilt and extended several times to form the church we see today.
Lastingham is one of the few churches in the country to have a subterranean crypt, which can now be accessed by steps descending from the church above. This crypt dates to just after the Norman conquest, and was built on the site of an earlier church and burial place of Saint Cedd - the founding monk from Lindisfarne.