Kirkland is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, located on the banks of the

River Wyre The River Wyre is a river in Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, which flows into the Irish Sea at Fleetwood. It is approximately 28 miles (45 km) in length. The river is a County Biological Heritage Site and has a sheltered e ...

, midway between

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

and Lancaster, in the English county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

. It is also the historic name of what is now the village of Churchtown, within the parish. It is part of the Wyre district. In 2001 the parish had a population of 343, decreasing to 314 at the 2011 census. Kirkland has a long history centred on its

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

St Helen's St Helens or St. Helen's may refer to: Places Australia * St Helens, Queensland (Fraser Coast Region), a locality in the Fraser Coast Region * St Helens, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a locality in the Toowoomba Region * St Helens Beach, Queens ...

, the parish church of Garstang St Helen (or Churchtown) and once known as the ''Cathedral of

the Fylde The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hi ...

''. The church features: *a "lepers' window" or " squint" to enable those unfortunates an opportunity to attend its services; *a grave marker for the village's only victim of the

Black Plague The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causin ...

; *a large rafter, once known as the "new beam", supposedly presented to the parish by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

at the time of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. There are significant pointers such as a circular churchyard with several yew trees to its original use as a

Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

temple. It was believed by some that the area may have been the site where Christian missionaries from Ireland first set foot in Lancashire at the end of the navigational portion of the River Wyre which flows to the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the C ...

some 14 miles away. St Helen's is one of only two Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

s in the Borough of Wyre. Although known as "The Cross", the village has an 18th-century

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

dialpost with a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a f ...

at its head, at the top of Church Street. There are two pubs: the Punchbowl and the Horns Inn. Kirkland was once a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

in the ancient parish of Garstang. This became a

in 1866, forming part of the Garstang Rural District from 1894 till 1974. It has since become part of the

Borough of Wyre Wyre is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 census was 107,749. The district borders the unitary authority area of Blackpool as well as the distr ...

. Along with Great Eccleston, Out Rawcliffe, Inskip-with-Sowerby and

Upper Rawcliffe-with-Tarnacre Upper Rawcliffe-with-Tarnacre is a civil parish on the Fylde, in the Borough of Wyre, in Lancashire, England. It had a population of 604 in 2001, increasing to 629 at the 2011 Census. The only settlements in the parish are the village of St Mich ...

, Kirkland forms part of the Great Eccleston ward of

Wyre Borough Council Wyre may refer to: Places * Wyre, Orkney, an island in Scotland * Borough of Wyre, a local government district in Lancashire, England ** Wyre (UK Parliament constituency) * River Wyre, a river in Lancashire, England * Wyre Forest, a woodland in ...

References

External links

* - using the name Churchtown
Lancashire ChurchesLancashire parish portalA History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 7 Pages: 313-15A History of the County of Lancaster: St Helen's Church, Kirkland
{{Borough of Wyre Civil parishes in Lancashire Geography of the Borough of Wyre The Fylde

See also

References

External links