Cowthorpe: what to know before moving day
The village is a few roads around Oak Road, which runs through the middle, with War Field Lane heading south, The Green and Pinfold Rise close by, and Wetherby Lane and Tockwith Road leading out west and east. The Nidd is the northern boundary, and the map shows the Goosemoor nature reserve just outside the houses.
Cowthorpe is known for the Cowthorpe Oak, a tree so large that its canopy was said to cover half an acre. Turner sketched it, a pub was named after it, and it finally died in 1950. The church, St Michael's, is Grade I listed and was consecrated in 1458. If you live in an old cottage or a converted barn, check how wide the doors and any narrow stairs are before booking a big wardrobe or sofa.
Cowthorpe was in the West Riding until 1974 and in Harrogate borough until 2023. North Yorkshire Council runs it now, and it sits in the Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale and Tockwith ward.
How the van gets to Cowthorpe
Leave Wetherby on the A168, which runs beside the A1(M) past junction 46. After the turn for Kirk Deighton there is a junction for Cowthorpe, and the minor road through the village carries on east to Tockwith. The river crossings nearby are at Walshford to the west and Cattal Bridge to the east, which is worth knowing if a second address is on the Hunsingore side of the Nidd.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 50 to 60 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Services for Cowthorpe
Each service below links to its Wetherby page, which covers how the job works in and around Wetherby.
Cowthorpe: questions before you book
Cowthorpe comes up as Tockwith on some forms. Is that wrong?
No. Cowthorpe's own parish was abolished on 1 April 1937 and merged with Tockwith, so Tockwith is the civil parish. The postcode district is still LS22, the Wetherby one, while Tockwith village is YO26.
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): LS22 5EY is in Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale & Tockwith ward, North Yorkshire, parish of Tockwith
- Cowthorpe: in the civil parish of Tockwith, 3 miles north of Wetherby, parish abolished 1937 and merged with Tockwith, West Riding and Harrogate history, minor road to North Deighton and the A168 and to Tockwith, River Nidd with bridges at Walshford and Cattal Bridge, St Michael's Grade I consecrated 1458 (Wikipedia)
- Cowthorpe Oak: canopy said to cover half an acre, sketched by Turner, a public house named after it, died 1950 (Wikipedia)
- A168: runs from Wetherby beside the A1(M), past junction 46, with a junction for Kirk Deighton and then one for Cowthorpe (Wikipedia)
- OpenStreetMap map data (API extract around the village): Oak Road, War Field Lane, The Green, Pinfold Rise, Wetherby Lane, Tockwith Road, St Michael's Church, Goosemoor Nature Reserve, The Byre and The Granary