Horbury Bridge: what to know before moving day
There has been a crossing here since at least the 15th century: first a wooden bridge, then a stone-arched one from the 17th century that partly collapsed in 1918, and then the present bridge, completed in 1930 and repaired in 1991 at a cost of 2 million pounds. Horbury Bridge is also where the curate Sabine Baring-Gould wrote Onward, Christian Soldiers in 1865; St John's Church, built in 1884 with stone from Horbury Quarry, grew out of his mission, and Baring-Gould Way and Sabine Fold are named after him.
Horbury and Ossett station opened here in 1840 and closed in 1970, and almost all that is left of it is the old subway under the tracks. The area now mixes houses on Bridge Road, Old Bridge Road, King Street, Jenkin Lane and the Parklands roads with businesses beside the A642, including Go Outdoors and the Bingley Arms and Horse and Jockey pubs, and there are residential moorings on the navigation. For a move off a boat, pace out the walk from the mooring to the nearest point a van can stop and tell us the distance.
How the van gets to Horbury Bridge
The A642 comes through as Bridge Road and Quarry Hill, and the B6117 leaves it here as Netherton Lane for the climb south to Netherton and Midgley. Storrs Hill Road heads north from the river towards South Ossett. From Bradford, one route is the M606 and the M62 east to the M1, then junction 40 at Ossett and the B6128 south through Ossett and Horbury down to the bridge.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 35 to 50 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Services for Horbury Bridge
Each service below links to its Ossett page, which covers how the job works in and around Ossett.
Horbury Bridge: questions before you book
Does Horbury Bridge count as Horbury or Ossett?
Horbury. Horbury Bridge and Horbury Junction are the town's two outlying neighbourhoods, and the postcode is WF4, not Ossett's WF5. The two towns do share the Horbury and South Ossett ward on Wakefield Council, which is where the confusion comes from.
Nearby areas
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): WF4 5NT is in Horbury and South Ossett ward, Wakefield, unparished area
- Horbury (Wikipedia): Horbury Bridge and Horbury Junction as outlying neighbourhoods; the wooden bridge of the 15th century, the stone bridge that partly collapsed in 1918, the 1930 bridge repaired in 1991 for 2 million pounds; St John's Church 1884 from Horbury Quarry stone; Sabine Baring-Gould and Onward, Christian Soldiers (1865); the A642 and B6128
- Horbury and Ossett railway station (Wikipedia): opened 1840 on the west of Horbury Bridge Road, closed 1970, only the old subway remains
- Sitlington (Wikipedia): the B6117 junction with the A642 at Horbury Bridge
- Ossett (Wikipedia): South Ossett's main road is Storrs Hill Road; Ossett postcode WF5 area and the Horbury and South Ossett ward
- M62 motorway (Wikipedia): the M606 joins at junction 26 (Chain Bar); the M1 interchange is Lofthouse, junction 29; junction 30 serves Wakefield
- OpenStreetMap map view (checked 2026-09-28): Bridge Road and Quarry Hill (A642), Netherton Lane (B6117), Old Bridge Road, King Street, Jenkin Lane, Parklands roads, Baring-Gould Way, Sabine Fold, Storrs Hill Road, St John church, Go Outdoors, Bingley Arms, Horse and Jockey, Horbury Bridge Residential Moorings, Calder and Hebble Navigation