Thornhill: what to know before moving day
St Michael and All Angels, the parish church, is Grade I listed and keeps a collection of Anglo-Saxon crosses. Thornhill Hall, seat of the Saviles, was besieged and destroyed in 1648, and its ruins and moat, which still holds water, are in Rectory Park. The Old Rectory was home to John Michell, whose 1771 scientific gathering brought Benjamin Franklin to Thornhill.
Coal mining shaped the place: an explosion at Combs Pit in 1893 killed 139 miners, and Thornhill Colliery closed in 1971. The village takes in Overthorpe, Thornhill Edge on the scarp above Howroyd Beck, the Combs and Fox Royd. The Town has a Co-op and The Scarborough pub, the Savile Arms is on Church Lane, Thornhill Community Academy is on Valley Drive and the junior school is on Edge Lane.
How the van gets to Thornhill
OSRM takes only a short piece of the M606 before following the A638 towards Dewsbury, then the B6117 by Walkley Lane, Heckmondwike Road, Thornhill Road, Slaithwaite Road and The Common, roughly 35 to 45 minutes from Bradford. In the village the B6117 carries on as The Combs, Church Lane and Hostingley Lane.
The drive from Bradford is roughly 35 to 45 minutes. That is an estimate from route data, not a timed run, and traffic changes it.
Also covered around Thornhill
Combs, Overthorpe, Thornhill Edge, Fox Royd.
Services for Thornhill
Each service below links to its Ossett page, which covers how the job works in and around Ossett.
Thornhill: questions before you book
Where does Thornhill end and Thornhill Lees begin?
Thornhill Lees is the lower part, in the valley by the Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation, while the village proper is on the ridge. The old Thornhill station, closed at the end of 1961, was in Thornhill Lees. Both use WF12, so give the street name as well.
Nearby areas
Where the local details on this page come from
Checked on 28 September 2026 against:
- Postcode lookup (postcodes.io, ONS data): WF12 0JS is in Dewsbury South ward, Kirklees, unparished
- Thornhill (Wikipedia): ridge south of the Calder, absorbed into Dewsbury County Borough 1910, Anglo-Saxon crosses, Thornhill Hall destroyed 1648 with ruins and moat in Rectory Park, John Michell and Benjamin Franklin 1771, Combs Pit 1893 (139 killed), Thornhill Colliery closed 1971, Thornhill Lees, Thornhill Edge, Overthorpe, Fox Royd
- Thornhill railway station (Wikipedia): in Thornhill Lees, closed on the last day of 1961
- OpenStreetMap map data: St Michael and All Angels (Grade I), Thornhill Rectory Park, The Town, Co-op, The Scarborough, Savile Arms (Church Lane), Thornhill Community Academy (Valley Drive), junior school (Edge Lane), B6117 The Common, The Combs, Church Lane, Hostingley Lane, Combs, Thornhill Edge
- OSRM route estimate from Bradford city centre (OpenStreetMap road data, checked 2026-09-28): M606, A638, B6117 Walkley Lane, Heckmondwike Road, Thornhill Road, Slaithwaite Road, The Common