In 1585 the Thirty Men of Kirkham, a group which administered parish business, took control of the school. By the early part of the seventeenth century, the school had fallen into disrepair and had been without a master for seven years. Isabell Birley, an alehouse keeper, came to the rescue in 1621, presenting the Thirty Men of Kirkham with £30 for the restoration of the school. In 1655 Henry Colburn, an
old boy of the school, left money and land to the school in his will, putting it in the trust of the
Worshipful Company of Drapers in London. Then began a long partnership between the company and the school, which has continued to the present day, though the Drapers surrendered control of the school in 1944, having endowed it with large extensions in 1938. The present school building was built between 1909 and 1911 when the front range and the headmaster's house were constructed to a design by the architect F. H. Greenaway of London. partnership with
BAE Systems was first established in 1994. In July 2013, the school provided accommodation for teenagers attending BAE Systems' "taster weeks" The school applied to host a Pre-Games Olympic Training Camp before the
2012 Summer Olympics, in London. In recent years Kirkham Grammar School has produced a number of rugby players who have appeared at the highest level of the sport,
Richard Wigglesworth and
Kieran Brookes were part of the 2015
England's Six Nations squad, while
Kieran Marmion was part of the
Ireland squad. In
Sevens rugby
Daniel Bibby and
Richard de Carpentier have represented
England in the
HSBC World Sevens Series where they came across fellow Old Boy Adam Newton playing for
Spain. In 2016
Daniel Bibby became the first
alumnus of the school to become an Olympian gaining a silver medal for Great Britain at the Rio Games in Sevens. ==Development==