East Cowton is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

Hambleton District Hambleton is a local government district in North Yorkshire, England. The administrative centre is Northallerton, and the district includes the outlying towns and villages of Bedale, Thirsk, Great Ayton, Stokesley, and Easingwold. The dist ...

of North Yorkshire, England. It is north west of the county town of

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increase ...

History

The village is mentioned twice in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' as ''Cottune'' in the Allerton Hundred. At the time of the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

the lands of the manor were split between ''Earl Edwin'' and a small part to ''Thorkil''. After 1086 the larger part of the manor lands were taken by the Crown and the smaller area granted to ''Landric of Hornby''. The manor was granted by the Crown to the lords of Richmond, notably to Conan, the

seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...

of the lord of Richmond. From 1324 to 1548, the manor was held by Clervaux family of

Croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

. Thereafter it was conveyed to the ''Dakyns'' family until 1622 when it was conveyed to Sir Henry Anderson. In 1662 the manor was sold to

Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin, 3rd Lord Bruce of Kinloss (2 December 1599 – 21 December 1663), of Houghton House in the parish of Maulden in Bedfordshire, was a Scottish nobleman. Early life Born in Edinburgh in 1599, Thomas Bruce was the s ...

who conveyed it five years later to

John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse (or Bellasis) (24 June 1614 – 10 September 1689) was an English nobleman, Royalist officer and Member of Parliament, notable for his role during and after the Civil War. He suffered a long spell of imprison ...

, whose daughter married Sir John Webb of Great Canford in Dorset and Odstock in Wilts whose heirs held it into the twentieth century. The etymology of the village name is a combination of the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

words of ''cū'' and tūn meaning ''Cow farm''. The East is to distinguish it from other Cowton's in the area. The village used to be known as "Long Cowton" and before that "Magna Cowton".

Demography

2001 Census

According to the 2001 UK Census, the parish was 49.9% male and 50.1% female of the total population of 561. The religious make-up was 84% Christian with the rest stating no religion. The ethnic distribution was 99.4% White with a small Mixed Ethnic minority. There were 233 dwellings.

2011 Census

According to the 2011 UK Census, the parish had a total population of 533 with 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The religious make-up was 75.6% Christian, a small minority of Sikh, Buddhist and Muslim with the rest stating no religion. The ethnic distribution was 98.9% White with a small Mixed Ethnic minority. There were 241 dwellings.

Geography and governance

The village lies just to the west of the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

and was once served by Cowton railway station about half a mile away. The station building and stationmaster's house is a Grade II listed building. It lies between the

River Wiske The River Wiske is a tributary of the River Swale in Yorkshire, England. The Wiske gives its name to several villages it passes through. The name Wiske is derived from an Old English word ''wisca'' meaning a water meadow. It was once known as t ...

and its tributary, The Stell. The minor road between the

A167 The A167 and A167(M) is a road in North East England. It is partially a trunk road and partially a motorway, where it is commonly referred to as Newcastle Central Motorway. Most of the road’s route was formerly that of the A1, until it was ...

and B1263 runs through the village. The villages of Birkby,

Great Smeaton Great Smeaton is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton District, Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on elevated ground near the River Wiske, which is a tributary of the River Swale. The parish population at the Unite ...

, Little Smeaton and North Cowton all lie within of the village. The village lies within the Richmond UK Parliament constituency. East Cowton lies within the Swale electoral division of North Yorkshire County Council and the Cowtons ward of Hambleton District Council.

Community

The village school is called East Cowton Church of England Primary School. It has around 40 pupils. It is within the catchment area of

Northallerton School Northallerton School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. The school is located over two sites on Brompton Road and Grammar School Lane. History The school was founded in 13 ...

for secondary education to the age of eighteen. The village post office also functions as the village shop. The village public house is called ''The Beeswing Inn'', it is named after the northern racehorse

Beeswing Beeswing may refer to: * Potassium bitartrate, a sediment from winemaking, used in cooking as "cream of tartar" * Beeswing (horse), a 19th-century champion racehorse from Northern England * "Beeswing", a song on Richard Thompson's 1994 album ''Mirr ...

whose most notable victory was the 1842

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,014 ...

. She won an incredible 51 out of the 64 races that she entered. Of the 57 races in which she finished Beeswing only finished lower than 2nd place on one occasion.Ahnert, Rainer L. (editor in chief), "Thoroughbred Breeding of the World", Pozdun Publishing, Germany, 1970 The village is served by the No 72 bus, which runs between

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and

. There is also a local cricket club.

Religion

All Saints' Church is to the west of the village. A Grade II listed building, it is a red-brick structure erected in 1910. There is evidence of a 13th-century church in the village dedicated to St Mary, which fell into disrepair. Cowton Cemetery is about half a mile west of the village on the road towards North Cowton on the site of the old church. The

Primitive Methodists The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834). In the United States, the Primiti ...

built a chapel, no longer in use, in 1840.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire