Whitkirk is a town in the
county of
West Yorkshire,
England, near
Leeds. The parish church is the resting place of
engineer John Smeaton (1724-1794) who in 1756 designed the
Eddystone Lighthouse It was operated until 1877 when it was was replaced and rebuilt on
Plymouth Hoe. Smeaton also built
Ramsgate[?] harbour and the
Forth and Clyde Canal.