A largely suburban village with 16 listed buildings, Cowley is 15.4 miles (24.8 km) west of Charing Cross, bordered to the west by Uxbridge Moor in the Green Belt and the River Colne, forming the border with Buckinghamshire.

Its independent male householders were two villagers[n 1], one cottage-owner[n 2] with one cultivated ploughland for one lord's plough team.

In 1252 Charter Rolls show that Bartholomew Peche (or Pecche), a favourite of Henry III was granted tenancy of Westminster Abbey's estate in Cowley.

[6] Before 1882, when the first important changes were made in its boundaries, the parish of Cowley spanned 300 acres (120 ha) extremely irregularly shaped but mostly south of Uxbridge, between Frays River (the county boundary, part of the braided Colne) on the west and the River Pinn, which runs into it on the east.

[5] A small piece (2 acres (0.81 ha)) of glebe land belonged to Cowley church on the other side of Hillingdon by Long Lane.

Four parts of the field north of the Greenway were also assigned to Cowley but remained detached (nos.

7), across the Pinn, also remained cut off from the rest of the parish, while the little field of glebe nearly 2 miles away in Long Lane (no.

The small cluster of homes at the village centre and dispersal of parishioners based on the old, medieval scope of the manor's lands meant a low sense of community and identity especially for outlying owners.

The manorial court for many centuries made regulations and byelaws about fencing and grazing of the open fields, pasture meadows, and commons, particularly as to the stinting of animals.

It is likely the aqueduct over the Fray's River at Cowley Lock wasn't completed until the Autumn of 1795 with measures undertaken there to allow traffic to pass through there.

[5] The opening of the Grand Junction Canal enabled the development of the brick industry in Cowley.

[5] Between the boundaries marked by the Pinn and Colne the soil is traditionally called (fertile) brick-earth which has medium permeability whereas east of the Pinn covering most of London is London clay and gravel, a mixture of good and poor drainage.

[4] The lake, which is in the Colne Valley Regional Park conservation area, is roughly the shape of the Great Britain.

[5] In the High Street, Old Vine Cottage, The Crown, and Maygood's Farm date from before 1700, and there are several detached 18th-century houses there, some of which may incorporate earlier work.

[4] The 222 Metroline London buses route also serves Cowley, providing links to Uxbridge, Yiewsley and Hounslow