Soothill: what to know before moving day
The name comes from the Old English 'sot', a place where wood was burnt. Soothill was a township of Dewsbury parish, became a civil parish in 1866 and was split in 1894 into Soothill Nether and Soothill Upper. Howley Hall, the Elizabethan house Sir John Savile built in the 1580s and now a ruin, stands in Soothill and has been a scheduled monument since 1997.
By the station the buildings are mainly stone. Station Road has rows of three-storey warehouses and showrooms from the 1860s and 1870s, listed and left over from Batley's shoddy trade, and a 16-arch viaduct of 1848, the Union Mill Viaduct, carries the railway. Around them are Grange Road Industrial Estate, Batley Business Park, The Mill Outlet, and houses on Lady Ann Road, Broomsdale Road and Oxford Terrace. If you live in a converted warehouse or mill, tell us about lifts, long corridors and where the loading door is.
Soothill was on the Great Northern Railway's Leeds to Batley branch but never had a station of its own; the line closed in 1953 and Soothill Tunnel, north-east of the settlement, is bricked up.
How the van gets to Soothill
Batley station, on the Huddersfield line, sits at the heart of this part of Soothill. By road, the A652 Bradford Road runs about 250 metres from the station and is the way in from Birstall and junction 27 of the M62. The B6124 follows Station Road and Soothill Lane, and Grange Road and Rouse Mill Lane carry the B6128.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 25 to 35 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Services for Soothill
Each service below links to its Batley page, which covers how the job works in and around Batley.
Soothill: questions before you book
Why do old records put Soothill in Dewsbury parish?
Because until 1866 it was a township in the parish of Dewsbury. Today Soothill is a village within the town of Batley, in the Batley East ward of Kirklees, with a WF17 postcode.
Where do trains from Batley station go?
Off-peak on weekdays, Northern runs two Leeds trains per hour, and hourly trains to Bradford Interchange and to Wigan Wallgate by way of Manchester Victoria. The station is unstaffed, and only platform 1 has step-free access.
Nearby areas
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): WF17 5SZ is in the Batley East ward of Kirklees, unparished
- Soothill (Wikipedia): village in Batley, 1.5 miles north-east of Dewsbury, north of Hanging Heaton, name from Old English 'sot', township of Dewsbury parish, civil parish 1866, split 1894, GNR branch with no station, line closed 1953, Soothill Tunnel bricked up
- Batley (Wikipedia): Howley Hall in Soothill built in the 1580s by Sir John Savile
- Howley Hall (Wikipedia): ruined Elizabethan house, scheduled monument since 1997
- Listed buildings in Batley: Station Road warehouses of 1864-c.1880, the shoddy trade, the 1848 railway viaduct of 16 arches
- Batley railway station (Wikipedia): Huddersfield line, Northern services to Leeds, Bradford Interchange and Wigan Wallgate via Manchester Victoria, unstaffed, step-free access on platform 1 only
- OpenStreetMap map view (checked 2026-09-28): Batley station, Station Road and Soothill Lane (B6124), Grange Road and Rouse Mill Lane (B6128), Bradford Road A652 about 250 m, Union Mill Viaduct (Grade II, 1848), Grange Road Industrial Estate, Batley Business Park, The Mill Outlet, Lady Ann Road, Broomsdale Road, Oxford Terrace