17 



ORLEANAIS. 



OlttKKIRK. 



IB 



tons; iod there cleared 213 sailing-vessels of 11,171 tons, and 51 

 steam- vessels of 16,026 tons. The cathedral of St. Magnus at Kirkwall 

 is one of the most remarkable specimens of middle-age architecture in 

 Scotland. The erection of the cathedral appears to have been com- 

 menced by Earl Hacon in 113S, but probably only a small portion was 

 completed by him. The nave, northern side, and most of the lower 

 part of the building, is Norman, or transition to the early English 

 style. The upper part is chiefly early English. It is a cruciform 

 structure, 226 feet long and 56 feet wide. The building ia used as the 

 pariah church. Close to the cathedral are the ruins of the bishop's 

 palace, and of the palace of Earl Patrick Stewart, the last feudal earl 

 of Orkney, who was executed for high treason in the reign of James I. 

 There are in the town a chapel of ease, a Free church, a spacious new 

 chapel for the United Presbyterians, a chapel for Independents, and 

 an Endowed Grammar school of great antiquity. Stronmut, a burgh 

 of barony and sea-port, situated towards the south-western extremity 

 of Pomona, in 58 5S' X. lat, 9 18' W. long., has also a good harbour. 

 The population in 1851 was 2055. The town, which ia irregularly 

 built, contains Established, Free, and United Presbyterian places of 

 worship ; two schools, supported by subscription ; a public library ; 

 and a museum of natural history. It has considerable trade. The port 

 is subordinate to Kirkwall. 



Hiitory, Antiquitiet, <te. The Orkneys were early taken possession 

 of by the Northmen, and remained subject to the kings of Norway and 

 Denmark till 1468, but had their own earls, who governed them almost 

 as independent sovereigns. The islands were the general rendezvous 

 of the piratical fleets which so often devastated the coasts of England 

 and France. In 1468 they were mortgaged to Scotland for 50,000 

 florins, the dowry of Queen Margaret of Denmark ; the pledge was 

 never redeemed, and from that time the islands have belonged to 

 Scotland. 



The inhabitants are partly of Scotch and partly of Norwegian 

 descent. While the iln.i belonged to Denmark the Norwegian 

 language was exclusively in use, but the None has been long extinct 

 A few relics of the Udal tenure, the universal tenure of land among 

 the free nations of the north, may however still be found. In cha- 

 racter, manners, and language, the inhabitants now differ little from 

 the Scotch lowlanders. 



Throughout the island are to be found numerous traces of the early 

 and pre-historic races of Europe, the moat interesting memorial of 

 whom ia perhaps what is called the ' Standing Stones of Stennia.' The 

 dwarfie-atooe of Hoy is well known. Cromlechs, tumuli, and Picta- 

 houses (as they are called) have been found in various localities. The 

 remains of the more important ecclesiastical and feudal period have 

 been already referred to, in addition to which may be mentioned 

 Noltland Castle in the island of Westra, of which the massive gate- 

 house and fragment* of the walls an still standing. 



Indtutry. Some yean ago the inhabitants of the islands derived 

 considerable profit from the preparation of kelp. The manufacture is 

 now almost extinct, and the consequence has been an extension of 

 agriculture, and the rise of the herring- and cod-fisheries into a branch 

 of industry of great importance. Upwards of 700 boat* are now 

 employed in the herring-fishery. The cod-fishery is prosecuted in the 

 months of May and June, before the great shoals of herrings appear on 

 the const, and is alio of great importance. The women find some 

 occupation in straw-plaiting. A number of young men leave the 

 country to enter the merchant navy. A few also go every year with 

 the whale-ship* to Davit's Strait* 



Rtlu/iout WorAip and Education. Since the commencement of the 

 present century a great improvement has taken place in the character 

 of the instruction given to the inhabitants of the Orkney Islands. The 

 religious movement* of the Scottish mainland have extended their 

 influence to the islands, and the three great divisions of Presbyterians 

 are fully represented. The Established Church has 21 congregations. 

 the Free Church 14, and the United Presbyterians have 12 ; there are 

 also some congregations of Independents. In the united county of 

 Orkney and Shetland in 1851 there were 147 day schools with 6501 

 scholars, and 130 Sabbath schools with 6527 scholars. 



ORLE'ANAIS, a former province of France, now forms the depart- 

 ments of LOIB-ET-CHER, LOIRCT, and portions of those of EUBE-ET- 

 LOIB. and NICVBE. It was divided into Orleanai* proper, capital 

 / Orleans ; Qatinais, of which MontargU was the chief town ; Beauce, 

 capital Chartrea ; Dunois, chief town Chateau-Dun ; .Venddmois and 

 Blaisois, of which the respective capitals were Venddme andBloU; 

 and Sologne, of which the chief town was Romorantin. 



ORLEANS, a city in France, capital of the department of Loiret, 

 is situated on the right bank of the Loire, 76 miles by railway 8. by 

 \V. from Paris, 70 N.E. from Toun, in 47* 64' 9' N. lat., 1* 55' 48" 

 E. long., at an elevation of 381 feet above the sea, and had 43,405 

 inhabitant* in the commune at the census of 1851. This towu 

 occupies the site of the ancient Aurdianit, which according to 

 LVAnville bad the earlier name of Uenabum, a town plundered and 

 burnt by Julius Ctesar ('Bell. Gall.' vii. 3-11) ; but some recent anti- 

 quaries contend that Oim occupies the site of Oenabum. It was 

 besieged by Attila in 451, but relieved by the Romans commanded 

 by Aotins, who defeated Attila under it* walls. Orleans subsequently 

 passed into the hands of the Franks, and became the capital of a 

 petty kingdom. The Northmen captured it in 855, and again in 865. 



OIOO. DIV. VOL. IV. 



On the accession of Hugues Capet, who had inherited the duchy of 

 Orleans, the town became one of the most important places under the 

 crown. It was besieged for seven months in 1428 by the English under 

 the Duke of Bedford, but they were obliged to raise the siege with 

 disgrace by Joan of Arc, and never after recovered their superiority. 

 At this time the towwgave the title of duke to a branch of the house 

 of Valois, which afterwards came to the throne in the person of 

 Louis XII. The town suffered much during the religious wars of 

 the 16th century. 



Orleans stands in a plain gently sloping down to the liver : tbe 

 circuit of the ramparts, which are now converted into a promenade, 

 forms an arc of a circle about three miles in extent The side of the 

 town along the bank of the Loire is about a mile and a half, and the 

 length of the principal street from the north entrance into the town 

 to the bridge over the Loire is about three-quarters of a mile. Orleans 

 is surrounded by numerous country-houses, and has large suburbs, 

 of which that of Olivet is on the south side of the river. Some parts 

 of the town are well laid out, with wide and clean streets and well- 

 built houses. The line of street from the Paris road to the bridge is 

 on the whole the finest, especially that part which lies between the 

 bridge and the Place du Mai-troy, in which is erected a statue of 

 Jeanne d'Arc. But in the older parts of the town the streets are ill 

 laid out nud ill paved, and the houses are built generally of wood. 

 The bridge over the Loire is 1089 feet long and consists of 9 arches, 

 of which the central one has 108 feet span. There is a handsome 

 quay near the bridge ; and between the bridge and the suburb of 

 Olivet ia a public walk. This suburb abounds with country-houses 

 and with nursery-grounds. 



The gothic cathedral of Sainte-Croix is one of the finest religious 

 edifices in France. The present structure was commenced by Henri IV., 

 and has been only lately finished. The architecture has excited much 

 admiration, especially that of the portal entrance ; the two towers of 

 the front are of surpassing elegance and lightness. The church of 

 St-Aguan, the finest except the cathedral, is a beautiful gothic building, 

 although now without nave or steeple. The church of St.-Piei re-le- 

 Puellier, the oldest in the town, is remarkable only for its antiquity. 

 Other remarkable structures in Orleans are the church of St-Euvertc, 

 now used as a storehouse, while the tower is turned into a shot-foundry ; 

 the chapel of St-Jaques, now a salt-store ; the town-house, which was 

 long converted into a museum and picture-gallery, has been recently 

 repaired ; the house of Agnes Sorel in the Rue-du-Taboury ; the court- 

 house ; and the house of Francois I. in the Rue-de-Recouvrance. The 

 town has a public library of 26,000 volumes, a theatre, and a botanic 

 garden. A new bronze statue of Jeanne d'Arc is about to be erected 

 in front of the newly-repaired town-hall 



The chief manufactures of Orleans arc hosiery, refined sugar, 

 vinegar, bleached-wax, blankets, and counterpanes. To these articles 

 of manufacture must be added cotton- and woollen-yarn, fine woollen- 

 cloths, flannels, hats, files, rasps, and other tools, glue, leather, tin-ware, 

 and earthen-ware. There are numerous breweries and dye-houses. 

 Trade is carried on in the above articles, and in wine, brandy, corn, 

 flour, wool, hide*, iron, salt, hoops, dye-stuffs, saffron, fire-wood, timber, 

 oak-planks, coals, groceries, and spices. Its situation on the Loire, 

 which is navigated by small steamers and communicates with the 

 Seme by means of cauals, and on th a railway, to which the lines con- 

 necting Bourdeaux, Nantes, Lyon, and the south of France with Paris 

 converge renders Orleans the centre of a very considerable commerce 

 and of a large transit trade. 



Orleans gives title to a bishop, whose see is the department of Loiret. 

 It is the seat of a High Court, which has jurisdiction over the depart- 

 ment* of Indre-et-Loire, Loiret, and Loir-et-Cher. The Univenity- 

 Academy of Orleans has been recently suppressed by a law passed 

 under the Empire, and the department of Loiret is now included 

 within the limits of the University-Academy of Paris. The town 

 also possesses tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a com- 

 mercial court, an exchange, a college, a council of prud'hommes, a 

 theological college, and gratuitous schools of design and architecture. 



(Dictionnaire de la France.) 



ORLEANS, NEW. [Nsw OBLEASS.] 



ORLEANSVILLE. [ALOERIE.] 



OKLETON. [HEREFORDSHIRE.] 



ORMSBY, GREAT. [NORFOLK.] 



ORMSKIRK, Lancashire, a market-town and the seat of a Poor-Law 

 Union, in the parish of Ormskirk, is situated in 53 34' N. lat, 2 52' 

 W. long., distant 42 miles S. by W. from Lancaster, 219 miles N.W. 

 by N. from London by road, and 21 2 4 miles by the North- Western 

 and East Lancashire railways. The population of the town of Orms- 

 kirk in 1851 was 6548. Ormskirk Poor-Law Union contains 21 parishes 

 and townships, with an area of 58,736 acres, and a population in 1851 

 of 38,316. The town of Ormskirk is lighted with gas. The church 

 is mostly modern, with a few portions of late perpendicular character: 

 it has a large western tower at the end of the nave, and another tower 

 and spire at the west end of the south aisle. There are chapels for 

 Wesleyan Methodists, Independents, and Unitarians. Near the town 

 is a large Roman Catholic chapel. The Free Grammar school, founded 

 in 1614, baa an income from endowment of about 1502. a year, and 

 had 27 scholars in 1852. There are also united charity schools, two 

 literary societies, a dispensary, and a savings bank. Hand-loom silk- 



