SOUTH COWTON is a township in Northallerton union and county court district. The church of St. Mary is an ancient building of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch with parvise and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 3 bells, one of which was re-cast in 1883 at the cost of Miss Amy Stobart: it is partly fitted with oak stalls: the east window displays a shield of arms of the Conyers family, supported by an angel, and under it the inscription “Cristofer Conyers;” below this window are three effigies in alabaster, one being the recumbent effigy of a knight in armour and the other two female figures, but without arms or inscription: over the porch are the arms of Conyers impaling Wycklifte, and the legend: “Orate pro anima Ricardi Conyers et Alicise uxoris suce,” and the former founded in the church a chantry dedicated to Our Lady: the nave and tower were restored in 1883 at a cost of upwards of £1,000, the expense of restoration of the nave being partly defrayed by the late W. Stobart esq. of Pepper Arden: there are 150 sittings. The register dates from the year 1568. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £135, with 2 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the vicar of Gilling, and held since 1907 by the Rev. Thomas Ernest Robert Wilford M.A. of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. Pepper Arden, occupied by William Hopper Williamson esq. J.P. is a handsome mansion about half a mile from the church, situated in a park of 235 acres, with extensive gardens and pleasure grounds. The tower of Cowton Castle, built by Sir Richard Conyers in the 15th century, is still standing, but the main building has been converted into a farm house. Miss Webb, of Newstead Abbey, Notts, who is lady of the manor, and the trustees of the late W. Stobart esq. (d. 1905) are the principal landowners. The soil and subsoil are clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans and turnips. The township contains 2,240 acres of land; rateable value, £1,713; the population in 1911 was 176; the population of the ecclesiastical parish in 1911 was 435.