Kirkland (literally, Churchtown - the name by which it is currently known) is a village and civil parish located on the banks of the River Wyre midway between Preston and Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire.
Kirkland forms part of the
Wyre district. It has a
long history centred on its parish church, St
Helen's, known as the Cathedral of the
Fylde. The church includes
- a "lepers' window" to enable those unfortunates an opportunity to attend its services,
- a grave marker for the village's only victim of the Black Plague,
- a large rafter, once known as the "new beam", supposedly presented to the parish by King Henry VIII at the time of the Reformation.
There are significant pointers such as a circular churchyard with several yew trees to its original use as a Druid 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 some 14 miles away.
St Helen's Church holds a Patronal Festival in August.