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Thackley is a small suburb near Bradford, West Yorkshire in England. The village is loosely bordered by the village of Idle to the south, to the west by the West Royd area of Shipley and elsewhere by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Thackley is the northernmost part of Bradford south of the River Aire.
The remains of a quern stone for grinding grain was found within this central area, as was a single cup marked carved rock. Leading away from the enclosure is an orthostat wall of large stones, part of a network of such walls in the wood.
Brackendale Mill was a woollen mill established circa 1800 in the north of Thackley. The mill was extended in 1829 with an engine house and water wheel and in the 1870s a steam powered weaving shed was added to the site. Today the mill building is living accommodation.
Recent dwelling development on Weavers Croft off Crag Hill Road occupies part of the site of the former Bowling Green Mills.
In 1845 railway construction began with the building of a two-track Thackley Tunnel under Thackley Hill—in use up until 1968. In 1900 a second adjacent and parallel tunnel was added on the northern side of the original to create a fast passenger line and a slow goods line on the Airedale Line.
In 1875, the Great Northern Railway opened its Shipley and Windhill Line, a double track branch line from Quarry Gap junction near Laisterdyke to Shipley and Windhill railway station, passing Eccleshill and Idle railway stations and Thackley railway station. Thackley railway station, rebuilt in 1894, is in the middle of Thackley. The line wasn't competitive and after 1931 it was made single line freight only, and progressively closed from 1966 to 1968. The route through Thackley can be easily identified today—the rails have been removed and the route is overgrown by trees but the cuttings and original railway bridges in Thackley still remain.
A trolleybus service ran from Shipley, West Yorkshire up to its terminus at Thackley Corner in the centre of Thackley. (2025). 9780951101353, Bobtail Press. ISBN 9780951101353
To the west of the village is the Burnwells and Thackley End areas of Thackley and to the east Simpson Green.
Buck Wood lies above a layer of millstone grit rock with numerous rocky outcrops, especially on the steeper slopes, where quarrying has taken place. The wood contains a mixture of habitats, with areas of both broad-leaved woodland and mixed deciduous/Pinophyta plantations. It has patches of marshland created by the many springs occurring throughout the Wood. There are fields scattered within the woodland, some used as pasture for grazing. Buck Wood has a variety of habitats and is an important reservoir for wildlife in Thackley and the surrounding area, and an area for walking and other leisure activities.
The village is the site of Thackley Tunnel, one of a pair of long railway tunnels running underneath Thackley Hill and around the north of the village. Idle (L&BR) railway station was a short lived railway station located just to the west of the western entrance to Thackley Tunnel some distance from Idle itself. There are a series of pairs of tunnel ventilation shafts across the landscape between the tunnel portals through the farms in the north of Thackley. No longer used, the (older) southerly tunnel is blocked off midway down its length and the entrance portals gated.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs parallel with the course of the River Aire in a distinctive bend around Thackley Hill. A tow path runs along the north side of the canal where the Idle and Thackley Angling Association have fishing rights.
North of Thackley adjacent to Field Wood on the canal is the listed Field Locks (1774–77) a three-rise set of locks. Just west of these locks is a long disused rail bridge part of the Esholt Sewage Works Railway belonging to Yorkshire Water. Further east is a swing bridge and Yorkshire Water's Esholt Waste Water treatment works. On the Thackley side of the canal at this point is Yorkshire Water's storm water tanks and waste water screening plant. Further east and south along the canal is Idle Swing Bridge and Thackley Canal Bridges carrying the Airedale rail line over the canal a short distance east of the eastern portals of Thackley rail tunnels.
In 2006 the area around Thackley Road, Crag Hill Road, and Park Road was surveyed as the area was under consideration for conservation area status - but this was turned down due to the area's mixture of listed buildings with some modern features adjacent to modern buildings.
Listed buildings in Thackley are to be found on Burnwells, Crag Hill Road, Ellar Carr Road, Mitchell Lane, North Street, Park Place, Park Road, Thackley Road, Windhill Old Road, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and farmhouses in an arc around the north of the village.,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and and as part of the Thackley Urban Village Project a sculpture trail has been created in Buck Wood.;
There are three public houses in Thackley, The Great Northern, The Commercial Inn, and a micropub The Black Rat. Another micropub - The Ainsbury - can be found on the corner of Thackley Road and Crag Hill Road, opposite Thackley Methodist Church.
Many of the properties in the north of the village are historic farm buildings and some have specialised in horse riding.
Keighley Bus Company also provides a half-hourly daytime service to Bingley, Keighley, Leeds and Shipley; this is operated as the Aireline 60, taking its name from the local River Aire. TLC Travel 660 service between Bradford and Shipley also runs on an hourly basis Monday to Saturday daytime. Leeds and Liverpool Canal is used almost entirely by barge pleasure craft.
The 'Friends' organise a variety of events throughout the year aimed at adding to people's enjoyment and understanding of the woodland environment. Members meet regularly for activities such as clearing the Open Air School site, cutting back overgrown bushes, planting native wildflowers and bulbs, and installing bat and . Oliver Rhodes, patron of Bradford Grammar School, resides in the Thackley area. His life is celebrated each year at the Thackley Methodist church.
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