It forms a civil parish with the nearby village of Upend to its north.

A rich Cambridgeshire landowner named Oswi and his wife Leofflaed gave the parish of Kirtling to Ely Abbey around 1000.

All Saints Parish Church is a Grade I listed building, dating back to the 13th century.

[3] His granddaughter Dudleya North, an orientalist and linguist, was buried here in 1712.

John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute built almshouses in Kirtling in 1842 in memory of his late wife Lady Maria (died 1841).