It is named after, and intimately connected to, Crook Hall which once stood nearby.

First documented in the Boldon Book as “Cruketon pays four marks.” It is also listed in Bishops Hatfield's survey (1381) as, "John de Kirkby held the vill of Crokhogh and a hundred acres of arable arid woodland, by knight's service and 2s.

The present Crookhall village was created in about 1844 when George Baker, MP of Crook Hall started to exploit the coal reserves on his estate.

[2] Coal mining began in 1838 with boring operations followed in 1838 by the opening of the Stockerley House Pit and Crook Hall Colliery.

[4] Crook Hall itself served as one of two Catholic seminaries created in England when the students at the English College, Douai, France were expelled in 1793 after the French Revolution.