Collingham: green open spaces and historic buildings

Collingham combines a green, rural village character with designated paths, riverside scenery along the River Wharfe and historic buildings. For planning your trip, it is helpful to distinguish these features: the local footpath and bridleway network is different from the long-distance cycle route, while St Oswald's Church and Manor House Barn provide distinct points of historical interest. This can help you decide whether landscape, outdoor activities or architectural history is what makes Collingham a destination for you.

Green open spaces, paths and cycling

Glebe Field and Orchard Gardens are undeveloped open spaces and contribute significantly to Collingham's green, rural character. They form a distinct landscape feature alongside the themes of paths and architectural history.

Collingham has 14 designated footpaths with a total length of 6,628 metres, as well as three designated bridleways measuring 1,835 metres in total. Each total refers to the combined length of the relevant category, not to an individual path. This distinguishes the footpath and bridleway networks without assuming a particular route. Historic footpaths connect Main Street with Church Lane and School Lane. They are typically bordered by stone boundary walls or mature hedges. This describes both specific connections between named streets and a characteristic way of enclosing the paths.

The West Yorkshire Cycle Route covers a different scale: the cycle route is 150 miles long and passes through Collingham for part of its route. Its total length should not be confused with the length of this section. For trip planning, it is useful to distinguish this long-distance cycle route from the locally designated footpaths and bridleways; the total lengths given for the two local categories do not describe the cycle route.

A shingle beach lies near the original ford, where Collingham Beck flows into the River Wharfe on its south bank. Footpaths along Collingham Beck provide access towards the River Wharfe. The beach is a specific landscape feature at the confluence; the footpaths describe a direction of travel along the beck.

St Oswald's Church and architectural history

The building of St Oswald's Church is considered to be of Saxon origin. Parts of the nave and chancel masonry date from before the Norman Conquest of 1066; the church also contains significant fragments of two Anglo-Saxon crosses. The nave and chancel are different parts of the church building. The building's Saxon origins and the dating of specific parts of its masonry are two distinct statements.

Two services are held at St Oswald's Church every Sunday. If you would like to plan a visit around a service, check the service times in advance, as the schedule may change.

Manor House Barn

Manor House Barn is a mid-16th-century barn with a timber-frame structure that was later enclosed in stone. Its description therefore covers two building phases: the timber-frame structure and the later stone enclosure. Compared with the parts of St Oswald's Church dated to before 1066, the barn is a significantly later point of historical interest in Collingham.

Discover more destinations: Pontefract, Meltham, Queensbury, Brighouse, Harden, Wetherby, Greetland, Harewood.

For the broader travel overview: West Yorkshire.