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Oxenhope is a village and civil parish near Keighley in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The population was 2,476 at the time of the 2001 census and had increased to 2,626 at the 2011 Census. Oxenhope railway station is the terminus for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway heritage railway.
Leeming Reservoir was constructed between 1872 and 1873 to supply the many mills in the area. Its construction necessitated the closure and demolition of at least two mills and their associated houses.
The modern village of Oxenhope encompasses what were originally the separate settlements of Uppertown, Lowertown, Leeming and Horkinstone. The historic hamlets of Marsh and Shaw are also included in the village. The area became known as Oxenhope when the Railway Company named the station serving the area and opened the line from Keighley in 1867. Until then the name Oxenhope referred to a small settlement between the hamlet of Marsh and Haworth.
The street pattern of Oxenhope was much altered when the railway arrived. It had originally been intended that the railway would terminate at Haworth; however the owners of Lowertown Mill in Oxenhope persuaded the railway company to extend the line. It was found impracticable to take the railway as far as Lowertown because of the gradients that would have been required. As a compromise, the railway company built a road from its station to Lowertown, appropriately named Station Road. The bridge by which this road crosses Leeming Water is of the same construction as many of the railway's bridges.
Each summer the village holds an annual Straw Race. The race was inaugurated in 1976 and since then has raised £300,000 for charity from its participants via sponsorship. Competitors are required to carry a bale of straw between five public houses in the Oxenhope area (including the Waggon and Horses, The Bay Horse and The Lamb) and drink a beer in each pub. The last stretch to the Dog & Gun Pub is uphill, past Leeming Reservoir. Many of the competitors wear fancy dress.
On 6 July 2014 Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France from York to Sheffield, passed through the village. The subsequent Tour de Yorkshire cycling event also passed through the village in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
In 1920 five people died when a charabanc on its way to a knur and spell match in Colne overturned near St Mary's Church. This became known as the Oxenhope Charabanc Disaster.
The Church of England 19th-century parish church of St Mary the Virgin is on Hebden Bridge Road and has some interesting glass by the William Morris company. The church was founded by the Rev. Joseph Brett Grant at the behest of Patrick Brontë. Grant worked to fund the building of the church and a National School; Charlotte Brontë records that he wore out 80 pairs of shoes in his quest to do so. The foundation stones of the church were laid down in 1849.
The station was also used in the TV mini series The Great Train Robbery (starring Luke Evans) in 2013.
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