KIRKHAM, 6 miles south by the old road and about the same distance by railway from Malton, formerly an extra-parochial hamlet, is now a parish with a station on the York and Scarborough section of the North Eastern railway, in the Buckrose division of the Riding, Buckrose wapentake and petty sessional division and Malton union and county court district; it is on the east bank of the river Derwent, which is here crossed by a bridge of 3 arches and divides the East from the North Riding: it contains eight houses and is the property of the Earl of Liverpool M.V.O. Picturesquely situated on the left bank of the Derwent are the ruins of the ancient priory, founded A.D. 1121, by Walter Espec and Adeline his wife, for canons of the order of St. Augustine, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity: Espec was also the founder of Rievaulx in 1131 and Warden in 1136, and is said to have founded Kirkham as a memorial of his only son and heir, who, whilst engaged in boar hunting, was killed by a fall from his horse on or near this spot: the monastic buildings, apparently unique in their character and arrangement, originally included the priory church, about 290 feet in extreme length, consisting of nave, north transept with eastern lady chapel, south transept with eastern chapels, central tower and a choir with narrow aisles; south of the nave, and partly bounded by the transept, were the cloisters, with chapter house on the north, set back about 10 feet from the line of the original arcade, frater (refectory) on the south, and on the west the cellarium, with a vaulted undercroft, and an outer parlour with groined roof; connected with the frater at its south-east angle, and extending almost at right angles to it, was the dorter (dormitory), with another dorter placed transversely at its southern end, and both of these had also vaulted undercrofts; south-west of the frater were kitchens and offices: of the church, the principal remaining fragment is a portion of the Early English east end, consisting of the northern-most window of the triplet which lighted the choir, one jamb of the centre window and a small part of the east window of the north aisle; the bases of the eastern piers of the tower, and the lower portions of the walls of the nave and south transept and of the chapter house are also left, as well as the south and the west walls of the cloisters; the former retains a fine and highly enriched doorway of Late Norman date, c. 1150, and recessed in the latter is the lavatory, the back of which displays some beautiful traceried panelling; there are also slight remains, with the bases of columns of the undercrofts of the frater and dormitories: a little distance north of the church stands the magnificent gate-house, erected in the latter part of the 13th century (1296); the entrance, a work of rather later date than the main part of the structure, is richly ornamented with shields and figures in niches, scattered over the whole front, which has a fine moulded archway, and above it two traceried windows tinder a continuous pedimented arcading, enriched with crockets and surmounted by an elaborately wrought cornice; the shields immediately below this are those of de Clare, Plantagenet, de Roos and de Vaux; on either side the windows are those of Espec and Grevstock, and below the string-course are the shields of Roos, twice repeated, Latimer of Danby, and one with a bend, at present unidentified: outside the gateway are the remains of a cross, consisting of the trefoiled base, raised on three steps, and traditionally said to have been erected on the spot where the young Espec lost his life. In the church were buried William, son of Robert de Roos, 1258; Robert, son of William de Roos, in a marble tomb on the south side, 1285; William, son of Robert de Roos, in a like tomb on the north side, 1316; William, son of the preceding, in a stone tomb on the south side of the great altar, 1343; Alice Roos, 1429; Edmund Pole, 1446; George Gower, 1484; Ralph, Lord Greystock, 1487; the priory was surrendered 8 December, 1539, by John de Kildwick, prior and 17 canons, the value, according to Speed, being £300 15s. 6d.: there were 1,442 ozs. of plate and 7 bells: the site was partially excavated in June, 1886, under the direction of W. H. St. John Hope esq. M.A. Kirkham Hall is the property and residence of the Dowager Countess of Liverpool, who is lady of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is clay and sand. The chief crops are turnips, wheat, oats and barley. The area is 261 acres of land and 12 of water; rateable value, £429; the population in 1911 was 41.

The parish is reputed to be extra-parochial for ecclesiastical purposes.

The children of the village attend the school at Whitwell.