Cowley in Oxfordshire is a residential and industrial area within the city of Oxford, originating with the former villages of Cowley, Temple Cowley and Cowley St John.

The Cowley area underwent massive transformation from 1912 when William Morris established the Morris Motor Company and began manufacturing at a disused military training college. He expanded into 'The Old Tin Shed' in 1914 and then into a huge complex of purpose built production lines in Cowley, as Morris pioneered Henry Ford-style mass production in the UK.

From the 1920s through to the 1960s Cowley expanded into a huge industrial centre, with large areas of housing for the new workers attracted to the area. During the 1960s the centre of Cowley was redeveloped into the Templar's Square shopping centre.

By the early 1970s over 20,000 people worked in Cowley at the vast Morris Motors and Pressed Steel Fisher plants.

The Morris factory is now owned by BMW. It remains the largest industrial employer in Oxfordshire and is now the production centre for the Mini.

Cowley was also home to the Oxford Steam Plough Company, founded in 1868, later to become John Allen & Sons. In the early 1980s, the works closed, and the site is now home to the John Allen Centre retail park.