Osmotherley’s situation on elevated ground with a good water supply lent itself to the establishment of human habitation from an early period. The first real documentary reference to a settlement here is its listing as “Asmundrelac” in the Domesday Book in 1055, although archaeological evidence suggests human activity in the surrounding moorland from about 8000 BC. The name means a “ clearing belonging to Asmund “, and Domesday records arable land sufficient for 2 ploughs.

The church shows evidence of Saxon and Danish influences, before the Normans made a more permanent impression. Osmotherley then became part of the County Palatine of Durham whose Bishop was henceforth Lord of the Manor. Along with the rest of the district the village suffered from repeated Scots raids during the 13th and 14th centuries which no doubt destroyed many of the earlier buildings.