Kirkburton has a busy high street with range of independent shops on the main route through the area, off Penistone Road. It is a village, civil parish and local government ward in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire. It is 5 miles (8.0 km) south east of Huddersfield, in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees.
Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the township comprises the villages of Kirkburton and Highburton and several hamlets, including Thunderbridge, Thorncliffe, Storthes Hall, Burton Royd, Riley, Dogley, Common Side, Causeway Foot, Lane Head and Linfit.
Kirkburton is the home to Kirkburton First School and Kirkburton Middle School.
The village has a (partially manned) police station, masonic hall, public houses, purpose built health centre (opened October 2005) and dental surgery.
Kirkburton Church is dedicated to All Hallows, the church was built in 1190 and is a Grade I listed building. Most of the structure is 13th century although parts have been rebuilt. The tower was added in the 15th century. Inside the church is a late-medieval nave ceiling, large wooden pulpit, stone font and Elizabethan and Jacobean pews. A small window in the chancel may have opened from the cell of a hermit. A restored 10th-century stone crucifix can be found inside, supporting the belief that another church or Christian settlement may have existed on this site. The church has undergone extensive restoration. The churchyard has also undergone landscaping and is a designated wildlife sanctuary.
