GILLING, a parish comprising the chapelries of South Cowton and Eryholme, and the township of North Cowton, in the eastern division, and the townships of Eppleby and Gilling in the western division, of the wapentake of GILLING, North riding of the county of YORK, and containing 1673 inhabitants, of which number, 921 are in the township of Gilling, 3 miles (N. by E.) from Richmond. The living is a vicarage, in the. archdeaconry of Richmond, and diocese of Chester, rated iu the king'sbooks at£23.11.5., and -in the patronage of John Wharton, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Agatha, retains some traces of Norman architecture, and was appropriated, in 1224, to the monastery of St. Mary, in York. There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. Gilling is a place of great antiquity, and remarkable as the scene of the murder of Oswyn, King of Deira, by his host, Oswin of Bernicia3 in expiation of which crime, a monastery was founded on the spot, by Queen Eanfleda, but not the slightest vestige of it now remains. There are quarries of excellent freestone, with materials drawn from which most of the bridges in the North riding are built. Sir Thomas Wharton, in 1678, founded Hartforth free school, for thirty children, and endowed it with an estate now producing about £125 a-year. There is also a school, endowed with £20 per annum by Matthew Hutchinson, in which eighty children are educated on the National plan.