E O M 



444 



R M 



Komncy, a house which he had built at Hampstead ; but finding 

 Rorosey. that n ; g health declined, he revisited his native county 

 * ~Y"*- / in 1 799, and at Kendal, where he took up his re- 

 sidence, he died in November 1802, in the sixty- 

 eighth year of his age. 



ROMNEY, a town of England in Kent, and one of 

 the cinque ports, stands on high ground in the centre 

 of Romney Marsh. It consists principally of a broad 

 well-paved street, crossed by another, in which stands 

 the brotherhood house, where the mayors, &c of the 

 Cinque Ports formerly assembled. The market house, 

 which is a modern edifice, is situated in the principal 

 street. The church of St. Nicholas, which is ancient, 

 contains a great variety of monuments. It has three 

 aisles and three chancels, and at its west end, a square 

 tower. Romney returns two members to parliament. 

 Old Romney, about two miles from New Romney, 

 consists only of about twenty houses and a church. 

 Near the road from Dymchurch towards Romney, 

 extensive ranges of barracks for infantry and cavalry, 

 were erected about the end of the last war. Popula- 

 tion of New Romney, 850. See the Beauties of' Bug- 

 fund and Wa.'es, Vol. VIII. p. 1142. 



ROMNEY MARSH. See KENT, Vol. XII. p. 438. 

 iROMSEY, a market town in Hampshire, is situated 

 on the river Test or Anton, between Salisbury and 

 Southampton. The principal public buildings are the 

 audit-house, which is a large square building, support- 

 ed by pillars, and standing near, the centre of the town: 

 the town-hall, which is a small old building; the ab- 

 bey church and presbyterian meeting-house. The 

 church is an interesting and spacious Gothic building, 

 in the form of a cross, consisting of a nave, aisles, a 

 north and south transept, a choir or chancel with aisles, 

 three small chapels or oratories at the east end, two 

 small semicircular chapels at the angles of the tran- 

 septs, with the choir, and a low tower rising on four 

 lofty arches. On the outer wall of the south transept, 

 is a-remarkable bas-relief of our Saviour on the cross, 

 near which is a square hole or recess in the wall, the 

 use of which is not known. At a little distance, a 

 finely. ornamented Saxon arch connects the church and 

 cloisters. Marks of cannon balls, said to have been 

 fired during the civil wars, are seen on the outside of 

 the north transept. A very particular account of this 

 church, by Dr. Latham, will be found in \heArchceolo- 

 gia. The corporation consists of a mayor, recorder, 

 six aldermen, and twelve burgesses. The town is sur- 

 rounded by pleasant meadows, which irrigation, by 

 means of the rivers, has rendered very productive. 



There was formerly a considerable clothing trade 

 carried on here, but it has almost wholly declined ; 

 and the operative inhabitants are employed in some 

 paper works, and a manufactory of sacking. They 

 carry on also some trade in beer, and there are some 



Roof. 



corn mills in the vicinity. Sir William Petty was born 

 here in 1623. 



In 1821, the population of the entire parish of Rom- 

 sey, including Romsey extra and infra, was 5128, of 

 which the families employed in trade were 532. See 

 The Beauties of England and Wales, Vol. VI. p. 224 ; 

 and the Archceohgia, Vols. XIV. and XV. 



RONA, NORTH, a small island in the Northern Sea, 

 about sixteen leagues N. W. of the Butt of Lewes, and 

 considered as the most north-western point of Europe. 

 Dr. MacCulloch found that it was thirteen miles far- 

 ther to the north than it is laid down in the maps. It 

 is somewhat more than a mile long, and about half a 

 mile broad at the widest. The southern cliffs are from 

 thirty to sixty feet high ; but on the north, they rise 

 to 500, and contain an immense cave, with a wide aper- 

 ture, and probably of a considerable depth, as it ap- 

 peared to Dr. MacCulloch as bUck as night. On the 

 west angle of the island, the sea commits terrible ra- 

 vages. From the angles, the land rises with a gentle 

 and even swell towards the north and east. It is co- 

 vered with a compact turf, excepting a few cultivated 

 acres in the middle. 



The island is inhabited by one family, who cultivate 

 about six or seven acres, and feed fifty sheep. The 

 fuel used is turf, and water is obtained from holes in 

 the rocks. The farmer's house is an excavation cover- 

 ed with turf and straw. Dr. MacCulloch has given a 

 long account of his visit to this island in his Highlands 

 and Western Isles of Scotland, Vol. III. p. 301323. 



RONA, or RONAY, an island of Scotland intheHebri- 

 des, lying bet ween the mainland and the Isle of Sky. It is 

 about fivemileslongandonebroad, forming asortof high 

 irregular ridge, and separated from Rasay, to which it 

 belongs, by a strait barely navigable, and containing 

 the small island of Maltey and some islets. " Among 

 the rifts and intervals, says Dr. MacCulloch, scarcely 

 worth the name of valleys, there are found patches of 

 beautiful green pasture, and now and then the black 

 hut of some small tenant. The little arable ground 

 which occurs in Rona, surrounds the scattered village 

 that lies at the bottom of the bay of Archasig Hirm, 

 which contains all the population of the island." This 

 bay, which is about the middle of the island, has deep 

 water and clear ground, and is perfectly land-locked, 

 with a double entrance. The surface of the island is 

 tolerably level, and the soil fertile. There are nume- 

 rous caves on its rocky coasts, some of which contain 

 fine stalactites. See Macdonald's Agricultural Survey 

 of the Hebrides, p. 774; and Dr. MacCulloch's High- 

 lands and Western Isles of Scotland, Vol. III. p. 380. 



RONALDSHEY, NORTH, or RONALD'S ISLAND. 

 See ORKNEY ISLANDS, Vol. XVI. p. 8. 



RONALDSHEY, SOUTH. See ORKNEY ISLANDS, 

 Vol. XVI. p. 6. 



ROOF. 



ROOF is the name given to the covering of a house 



'or building of any kind, of whatever materials the 



roof is composed ; but in carpentry, it is limited to the 



timber work or framing by which the external covering 



of the roof is supported. 



In our article on the theory of CARPENTRY, we have 

 already treated, in a popular manner, of the resistance 

 of beams to cross strains, whether the straining forces 

 act perpendicularly, or obliquely to the length of the 

 beams, and whether the beams are supported at one or 

 both ends; and in our article on practical carpentry, 

 is given a great deal of practical information on the 



subject of roofing in general; on circular, elliptical, 

 and polygonal roofs ; on the covering of circular roofs ; 

 on trusses or framings of carpentry ; with the dimen- 

 sions and representations of some of the most cele- 

 brated roofs that have been constructed. 



In the present brief article, we purpose to treat very 

 generally of the equilibrium of a framing of timber or 

 an assemblage of beams ; and to add a notice of some 

 roofs and framings which have not been given in the 

 preceding part of the work. 



When the distance between two walls, or the width 

 of a river is too great to he crossed by a single beam, 



Rons 



[I 



Ronald - 

 shey. 



Roof. 



