Editing Whitkirk (section)

==History==
[[File:Houses on Colton Road, Whitkirk, Leeds, West Yorkshire.jpg|thumb|left|Character properties on Colton Road]]
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A church is recorded in the [[Domesday Survey]] (1086) as belonging to the manor of Gipton and Colton, and as Whitkirk is the only known medieval church in these area of Leeds, it is reasonable to assume that it is an earlier building replaced by [[St Mary's Church, Whitkirk|the current Whitkirk church]] which is being referred to. This would suggest there was a late Anglo-Saxon church at least. The first mention of Whitkirk itself was in 1154–66, in the Early Yorkshire Charters referring to "Witechirche", meaning "white church".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ekwall|first1=Eilert|title=The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names|date=1960|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-869103-3|page=514|edition=4}}</ref> The name has Old English origins, with the ‘chirche’ element subsequently being replaced by the Old Norse ‘kirkja’. It is possible that the church was the focus of settlement activity at this period extending into the later medieval era.<ref>{{cite web|title=Whitkirk Conservation Area Appraisal|url=http://www.leeds.gov.uk/docs/whitkirk%20conservation%20area%20appraisal%20and%20management%20plan%20final%20version.pdf|website=leeds.gov.uk|accessdate=6 March 2017|page=5|format=PDF|date=13 March 2009}}</ref>

Hollyshaw Lane, which links Whitkirk with Cross Gates, was formerly known as "Allershaw", referring to local [[alder tree]]s (cf. the derivation of the [[Chapel Allerton#Name|name of Chapel Allerton]], another Leeds suburb). The lane originally led northwards from Whitkirk to [[Seacroft]].<ref name=gill>Gilleghan, J. (1992), ''Scenes from East Leeds'', p. 12, Leeds: Kingsway Press</ref>

The renowned civil engineer [[John Smeaton]] was born in the local parish of [[Austhorpe]] and is buried in Whitkirk churchyard.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Whitkirk – St Mary's Church, Whitkirk|url=https://whitkirkchurch.org.uk/history/|website=whitkirkchurch.org.uk|accessdate=6 March 2017}}</ref>