East Cowton Parish information from Bulmers' 1890.

EAST COWTON:
Geographical and Historical information from the year 1890.

Wapentake and Petty Sessional Division of East Gihing - Electoral Division of Brompton. - County Court District and Poor Law Union of Northallerton - Rural Deanery of East Richmond - Archdeaconry of Richmond - Diocese of Ripon.

This parish comprises 3,310 acres, has a population of 387 souls, and is valued, for rating purposes, at £11,042. The principal owners are W. F. Webb, Esq., Newstead Abbey, Nottingham; Exors. of the late H. Hood, Esq.; the Wardens of Kirkby Ravensworth Hospital; T. C. J. Sowerby, Esq., Snow Hall, Gainford; Thomas Ness, Esq., Croft; Lieut.-Col. Godman, Great Smeaton Manor; W. Stead, Esq., Northallerton; James Stables, Esq., Horsforth, near Leeds; and Mr. J. T. W. Haswell Millar, Grange, East Cowton. The main line of the North Eastern Railway passes through the parish, a length of 2 miles 1,670 yards, and the Richmond branch over a distance of 915 yards. The soil is clay and gravel, resting on a sandy subsoil.

The village, often called Long Cowton, from its long and straggling character, is about half a mile from the Cowton station, and eight miles N.W. of Northallerton. The Church, which is of doubtful dedication, is a plain edifice, half a mile from the village, with an ancient chancel and a modern brick tower. The east window is a memorial of Mary, daughter of the late Rev. Thomas Holme, who was for twenty years head master of Kirkby Ravensworth Grammar School, and thirty years vicar of this parish. There is a marble tablet to his memory in the chancel, and another to the Rev. Thomas Jackson, who was also vicar for twenty years, and master of the above mentioned Grammar School for twenty-eight years. The living, worth £213, is in the gift of the trustees of Kirkby Ravensworth Hospital, and the master of that institution has the preference whenever it is vacant. The rectorial tithes have been commuted for a rent charge of £270, and the vicarial tithes for £213.

The school was founded by a decree in Chancery, made in 1803, to administer the funds of Kirkby Ravensworth Hospital and Grammar School, from which it receives £22 a year. The present school was built in 1843, and has an average attendance of seventy children.

The Primitive Methodists have a chapel in the village, built in 1840. There is also a Reading Room and Library, but a love of literature does not appear to be a characteristic of the villagers, and the institution is at present without a single member.

[Description(s) from Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890)]

Directories

• Transcript of the entry for the Post Office, professions and trades in Bulmer's Directory of 1890.

Scan, OCR and html by Colin Hinson. Checking and correction by Peter Nelson.