COWTON (SOUTH), a chapelry in that part of the
parish of GILLING which is in the eastern division of
the wapentake of GILLING, North riding of the county
of YORK, 5 miles (N. E. by E.) from Catterick, containing
148 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy,
in the archdeaconry of Richmond, and diocese of
Chester, endowed with £600 royal bounty, and £200
parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Vicar
of Gilling. The chapel is dedicated to St. Mary. On
the moor between this and North Cowton was fought
the famous battle of the Standard, in 1138, between
the English and the Scotch, when the latter were defeated
with the loss of eleven thousand men: the spot
is still called Standard Hill, and the holes into which
the slain were thrown, the Scots' Pits.