Cowling: what to know before moving day
Cowling was once separate hamlets, Ickornshaw, Middleton, Gill and Cowling Hill. The village most people now know grew along the Keighley to Colne road once mills were built beside it, the first being Ickornshaw Mill in 1791, with terraced cottages built for the mill workers. The terraced streets off Keighley Road include Royd Street, Gibb Street, Sun Street, Queen Street, Walton Street and Woodland Street. The mills have all closed and their sites are now mostly housing and the village hall; names such as Carr Mill Mews and Mill Croft recall them.
Because the centre moved to the main road, Holy Trinity Church, built in 1844 to 1845, and the primary school stand out between Ickornshaw and Middleton rather than in the middle of the village. The parish has 38 listed buildings, mostly stone farmhouses with stone slate roofs, the Grade II* Long Croft among them, and a small country house of the 1750s, Carr Head Hall. On Ickornshaw Moor a memorial cairn marks Philip Snowden, the Chancellor of the Exchequer who was born here.
How the van gets to Cowling
From Bradford the route is up the Aire valley to the large roundabout between Cross Hills and Kildwick, where the A6068 leaves the A629. The A6068 runs west through Cross Hills and Glusburn and becomes Keighley Road as it passes through Cowling. Gill Lane and Old Lane turn off it for the church and Middleton, and Dick Lane also leaves the main road in the village.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 30 to 45 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Also covered around Cowling
Ickornshaw.
Services for Cowling
Each service below links to its Silsden page, which covers how the job works in and around Silsden.
Cowling: questions before you book
Cowling is spelled like the aircraft part. Is it said the same way?
No. It is pronounced COH-ling. That helps if you are giving directions over the phone or checking a sat-nav voice.
Cowling is in North Yorkshire but has a BD postcode. Which council is it?
North Yorkshire Council. Cowling was in the West Riding until 1974 and in Craven District from 1974 to 2023. The BD22 postcode is a postal address only and does not make it part of Bradford.
Areas near Cowling we cover
These places have their own pages, with local detail and how the van gets there.
Nearby areas
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): BD22 0HG is in Aire Valley ward, North Yorkshire, parish of Cowling
- Cowling (Wikipedia): pronunciation, borders West Yorkshire and Lancashire, 2,355 people in 2011, former hamlets Ickornshaw, Middleton, Gill and Cowling Hill, village grew along the A6068 Keighley to Colne road with mills and terraces, Ickornshaw Mill 1791, mills closed and sites redeveloped for housing and the village hall, Holy Trinity and the school between Ickornshaw and Middleton, Long Croft Grade II*, Carr Head Hall 1750s, Philip Snowden and the cairn on Ickornshaw Moor, West Riding, Craven District, North Yorkshire Council
- Listed buildings in Cowling (Wikipedia, from the National Heritage List for England): 38 listed buildings, mostly stone farmhouses with stone slate roofs; Holy Trinity Church 1844-45
- Cross Hills (Wikipedia): the A6068 trans-Pennine route from Colne joins the A629 at the large roundabout between Cross Hills and Kildwick
- OpenStreetMap: Keighley Road (A6068) through Cowling and its junctions with Royd Street, Gibb Street, Sun Street, Queen Street, Walton Street, Woodland Street, Carr Mill Mews, Mill Croft, Gill Lane, Old Lane and Dick Lane
- postcodes.io reverse lookup at the OS Open Names point for Ickornshaw (listed under 'Also covered'): nearest postcode BD22 0ND, Aire Valley ward, parish of Cowling, North Yorkshire