East Cowton is a village and civil parish in the former Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England.

At the time of the Norman conquest 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.

In 1662 the manor was sold to Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin who conveyed it five years later to John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse, whose daughter married Sir John Webb of Great Canford in Dorset and Odstock in Wilts whose heirs held it into the twentieth century.

[3][4] The etymology of the village name is a combination of the Old English words of cū and tūn meaning Cow farm.

The religious make-up was 75.6% Christian, a small minority of Sikh, Buddhist and Muslim with the rest stating no religion.

[1] The village lies just to the west of the East Coast Main Line and was once served by Cowton railway station about half a mile away.

[16] There is evidence of a 13th-century church in the village dedicated to St Mary, which fell into disrepair.