High Ackworth: what to know before moving day
St Cuthbert's church has a 15th-century tower; the rest was rebuilt in the 1850s after a fire. The village cross, a late medieval shaft with a ball on top, stands at the road junction nearby, and in 1666 the rector Thomas Bradley built two almshouses for poor women on the green. Lowther Hospital of 1741, once almshouses and a schoolroom, is another listed building here, and The Old Hall, Grade II*, is a late 17th-century stone house behind its garden wall.
Much of the housing along Pontefract Road is listed: No. 126 is a three-storey Georgian house with steps up to the door, and Nos. 130 and 132 were one house before it was divided. Eden Place, a care home now, and the Brown Cow pub are on the same stretch, and St Cuthbert's Court, Hill Drive and Meadow Bank are newer streets close by. In a divided Georgian house the stairs are often the tight point, so send a photo of the turn along with the room list.
How the van gets to High Ackworth
The A628 runs through as Pontefract Road, leaving the village northwards as Castle Syke Hill towards Pontefract. Purston Lane, the B6421, leaves near the church and heads north to Purston Jaglin and Featherstone. A listed guide post of 1827 stands on a traffic island where Long Lane meets Pontefract Road.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 40 to 55 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Services for High Ackworth
Each service below links to its Normanton page, which covers how the job works in and around Normanton.
High Ackworth: questions before you book
Is Ackworth School in High Ackworth?
Yes. Wikipedia places the school in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract. Its main buildings are Grade I listed, and the school runs from nursery to age 18, with boarding from age 11. School runs on Pontefract Road are worth planning around on a term-time weekday.
What is the plague stone on the Pontefract road?
It is a listed stone at the junction of Sandy Gate Lane on the road into Pontefract, possibly a cross base, thought to have been used for leaving coins in vinegar during a plague. It marks the edge of the parish, not the village centre.
Nearby areas
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): WF7 7HN is in Ackworth, North Elmsall & Upton ward, parish of Ackworth, Wakefield district
- Ackworth, West Yorkshire (Wikipedia): St Cuthbert's in the centre of High Ackworth, the medieval cross near the Pontefract road junction, Thomas Bradley's two almshouses on the green in 1666, the plague stone at Sandy Gate Lane
- Listed buildings in Ackworth (Wikipedia, from the National Heritage List): St Cuthbert's (15th-century tower, rebuilt 1855), village cross, The Old Hall II*, Lowther Hospital 1741, 126 and 130-132 Pontefract Road, Eden Place, guide post 1827 at Long Lane, plague stone
- Ackworth School (Wikipedia): in the village of High Ackworth near Pontefract; nursery to 18, boarding from 11
- OpenStreetMap map view (checked 2026-09-28): Pontefract Road and Castle Syke Hill (A628), Purston Lane (B6421), St Cuthbert's Court, Hill Drive, Meadow Bank, Long Lane, the Brown Cow, Eden Place Residential Home, Ackworth Village Cross