Richard Thirkeld (died 29 May 1583) was an English Roman Catholic priest.

From Queen's College, Oxford, where he was in 1564–5, he went to Reims, where he was ordained priest, 18 April 1579.

[1] He left 23 May for the English mission, where he ministered in or about York, and acted as confessor to Margaret Clitheroe.

On the eve of the Annunciation, 1583, he was arrested while visiting one of the Catholic prisoners in the Kidcote on Ouse bridge.

He at once confessed his priesthood, both to the pursuivants, who arrested him, and to the mayor before whom he was brought, and for the night was lodged in the house of the high sheriff.