Kirkland has a long history centred on its
Grade I listed building,
St Helen's, the parish church of Garstang St Helen (or Churchtown) and once known as the
Cathedral of the Fylde. 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; • 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 away. St Helen's is one of only two Grade I
listed buildings in the Borough of Wyre. Although known as "The Cross", the village has an 18th-century
Grade II listed dialpost with a
sundial at its head, at the top of Church Street. There used to be two pubs: the Punchbowl and the Horns Inn. The Punchbowl has now closed. Kirkland was once a
township in the ancient parish of Garstang. This became a
civil parish in 1866, forming part of the
Garstang Rural District from 1894 till 1974. It has since become part of the
Borough of Wyre. == Geography ==