Whitkirk

Whitkirk is a suburb of Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near Leeds.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The parish church is the resting place of civil engineer, mechanical engineer and physicist John Smeaton (1724-1792). Among numerous projects, Smeaton designed the Eddystone Lighthouse, Ramsgate harbour, the Forth and Clyde Canal, and numerous bridges.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The name Whitkirk derives from the area's Norman heritage. Whit meaning white, and kirk meaning church, St Mary's church is central to the area, and gave the area its name.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Located next to Temple Newsam, Whitkirk is linked to the stately home of Temple Newsam House. Road and street names are often associated with medieval paths to Temple Newsam. For example Kingsway, Knightsway and Baronsway all lead towards the house and would have been used in the past by the different classes of nobility.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

County: Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count. Counts are called "earls" in post-Celtic Great Britain and Ireland - the term is from Old Norse jarl and was introduced by the Vikings - but there is no correlation between "county" and "earldom." Rather, t...

West Yorkshire: West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in England, corresponding roughly to the core of the West Riding of the traditional county of Yorkshire. It borders on Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire....

England: :For an explanation of often confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology)....