The area around Ackworth was a hotbed for dissent against the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. A revolt led by Robert Aske, styled the Pilgrimage of Grace, was thought to have marched through Ackworth on its way to capture Pontefract Castle in 1536. The rebels were eventually defeated by an army sent by Henry, and its leaders hanged at Tyburn, including Sir Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth. The nearby Priory of St Oswald at Nostell was dissolved in 1540 and the land bought by Rowland Winn. During the English Civil War, the Ackworth area was strongly Royalist, with four divisions of volunteers raised from Pontefract and surrounding villages to garrison the castle. In 1645, Ackworth was occupied by Roundhead soldiers, who damaged the church and replaced the cross on top of the medieval cross in the centre of the village with the ball shape that still sits there.