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WKSTMEATII. 



WESTMORLAND 



Piririau a>nl fW* Tho county ii In Meath diocese, with a small 

 portion in tbt of Ardagb, and contains 68 parUhea. It it divided 

 Into Ii baroniee Brawny, Clonlonan, Corkaree, Delvin, Farbill, Fartol- 

 Ugh, Kon, KUkniny Wc'-t, Moyaahvl and Magheradernan, Moyoashel, 

 Mojguuh, and Rathconrath. The principal towns ore Muu.ino.\n, 

 ATULO.IK, and Moate, of which tho first two are noticed under their 

 reepactive title*. Mot and some of the smaller towns and principal 

 rilbcM an noticed here ; the population being that of 1851. 



JiaUinatarm ia a amall post-town on the banks of the Royal Canal, 

 nearly 10 mile* W.X.W. from Mullingar: population, 886. In the 

 town U a Roman Catholic chapcL 1'etty sessions are held here monthly. 

 Then an a dupeoeary and a Free school. Ballinalack, is situated on 

 the rir Inny, between Lough Iron and Deveragh, nearly 10 miles 

 . . from Mullingar: population, 222. In the vicinity is Wilson s 

 hoapiul and school, ra which 134 boys are maintained and educated ; 

 and there it f 1 *" a Charter school. JBallymore is a market- and post- 

 town on the road from Mullingar to Athlone, about 15 miles 8.W. 

 from Mullingar : population, 580. It ia an irregular ill -built town, 

 and contains a church and a Roman Catholic chapel. Petty sessions 

 are held monthly. Near the town are remains of a castle. Cattle 

 Pollard ia a market- and post-town on the Dublin and Granard road, 

 about 10 miles N. from Mullingar : population, 1052. The market- 

 hottee stand* in a square in the middle of the town. There are a 

 handsome modern church, a Roman Catholic chapel, a fever hospital, 

 a dupcnaary, a savings bonk, a parochial school, and a bridewell. 

 Quarter araaiona and petty sessions are held monthly ; and four annual 

 fain are held. Cattlctovm is a very small and poor post-town, about 

 5 miles N. from Kilbeggan : population, 249. There are a neat church, 

 Roman Catholic chapel, a National school, and a Roman Catholic 

 school. In it is a station of the Dublin and Galway railway. There 

 are the ruins of an ancient castle and of a monastery in the neighbour- 

 hood. CA8TLrrowUDEl.vii, the seat of a Poor-Law Union, is noticed 

 in a separate article, in which by mistake it is stated to be in the 

 county of Meath, instead of Westmeath. Clonmellan is a market- and 

 poet-town on the border of the county, about 5 miles N. from Castle- 

 towndelvin : population, 626. It is a neat little town, with a hand- 

 some church, and a dispensary. There are a considerable corn-market 

 on Tuesday and four yearly fairs. Petty sessions are held monthly. 

 KiUxyga, a municipal borough, a market-town and post-town, and 

 prior to the Union a parliamentary borough, stands on the Upper 

 Broena River, on the road from Dublin to Galway, about 5 miles W. 

 from Tyrrell's Paas : population, 1442. There are an ancient church, a 

 handsome Roman Catholic chapel, a Wesleyan Methodist meeting- 

 house, a neat market-house, and a dispensary. A branch canal runs 

 from thu town to the Grand Canal, and a considerable trade is carried 

 on by it in corn and butter. There are a brewery, a distillery, a flour- 

 mill, and a snuff-mill. Petty sessions are held monthly. Kinnrgad 

 ia a market- aud post-town at the junction of the roads from Athlone 

 and Galway to Dublin, about 12 miles E. from Mullingar : population, 

 684. There are a modem built church, a Roman Catholic chapel, a 

 dispensary, and a National school. Kmnegad has some trade, parti- 

 cularly in cheese ; and the market and an annual fair are well supplied 

 with agricultural produce. Moate-a-Grenogue is a market- and post- 

 town on the road to Athlone, from which it lies 10 miles E. : popula- 

 tion, 1979. The town consists almost entirely of one street, and is a 

 neat and clean-looking place. There are a church ; a Roman Catholic 

 chapel and convent; places of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, 

 Baptists, and Quakers ; a neat court-house ; a dispensary ; aud a bride- 

 well The trade of the place is considerable. The market is important 

 for oats ; there are four yearly fairs. The quarter sessions for one 

 division of the county are held here, and also petty sessions fortnightly 

 for the district. Mvilifamham, a village and post-town, about 9 miles 

 >>.W. from Mulliugar: population, 241. Petty sessions are held 

 monthly, and there are four yearly fairs. The picturesque ruins of a 

 Frmici'Can abbey, founded in 1236, were formerly objects of much 

 interest, but their effect has been marred by a portion having been 

 rudely covered in to form a chapel for some Franciscan friars settled 

 in the vicinity. Rathoictn ia a post-town, 13 miles W. from Mulliugar, 

 on the Sligo road : population, 337. It is a decaying place, but it 

 contains a church, a Roman Catholic chapel, a court-house, a school, 

 and a police barrack. Petty sessions are held here monthly, and two 

 fairs yearly. Tyrrdti 1'au is a market- and post-town on the road to 

 Athlone, about 5 miles E. from Kilbeggan : population, 526. It is a 

 clean and well-built little town, with a handsome modern church, a 

 Wesleyan Methodist chapel, a school-house, a dispensary, and a savings 

 bank ; and baa two yearly fairs for cattle. Just outside of the village 

 are the remains of an old castle. The town has taken its name from 

 a neighbouring pasa, formerly guarded by the castle just mentioned, 

 where the Englbh were defeated during Tyrone's rebellion by a party 

 of Irish, who were commanded bv an English partisan of the name of 

 Tyrrell. 



Westmeath returns to the Imperial Parliament two members for 

 ' : unty at Urge and one for the borough of Athlone. It is in tho 

 Mae circuit. The aesLtee are held at Mullingar, where are the county 

 jail and thn county intirmary. Quarter sessions are held there, aud 

 at lloate and Castletowndelvin, in which towns there are bridew. !!. 

 Petty session* are held in 16 places. There is a fever hospital at 

 Castle Pollard, aud there are 18 dispensaries in the county. The 



District Lunatic Asylum, to which the county is entitled to send 43 

 patients, is at Maryborough, in Queen's County. A savings bank ia 

 at Castle Pollard, and loan-funds are at Castletowndelvin, Killucan, 

 Mayne, Moate, Mullingar, Portneshangan, and St. Mary's (Athlone). 

 The union workhouses are at Athlone, Castletowndelvin, and Mulliugar. 

 The county is within the military district of Dublin. There ia a 

 barrack station at Mullingar. The stuff of the county militia in 

 stationed at Moortown. The police force, consisting of 296 meu ami 

 officers, is distributed over seven districts, comprising 48 stations, of 

 which Mullingar is head-quarters. In September, 1852, there were 

 105 National schools in operation, attended by 5033 male and 5004 

 female children. 



Hittory and Antiquities. This county was included in the kingdom 

 of Meath, of which it formed the western division. In common with 

 the rest of that kingdom it suffered severely both from the ravages 

 of the Danes and from civil dissensions, and was included in the 

 county palatine of Meath, granted by Henry II. of England to Hugh 

 le Lacy, one of the Anglo-Norman barons who assisted in the 

 reduction of the county. It was the scene of frequent hostilities for 

 several centuries between the native Irish, who were not entirely 

 expelled or subdued, and the English. Westmeath was sep: 

 'rom Meath or Eastmeath in the 34th of Henry VIII. ; at its first 

 separation it included Longford, which was not detached from it and 

 'ormed into a separate county until the reign of Elizabeth. King's 

 County, which was partly taken from Westmeath, had been formed 

 into a county in 1557, in the 5th of Philip and Mary. 



Many vestiges of antiquity are scattered through the county. 

 There are numerous ruins of ancient castles, including some erected 

 i>y the De Lacys. Sonnagh Castle, one of these, stands on the verge 

 of a small but picturesque lake. Of monastic buildings there are 

 several ruins ; and some churches, formerly conventual, are still used 

 For divine worship by Catholics or Protestants. 



WESTMORLAND, a northern county of England, bounded N. and 

 N.W. by Cumberland, S. and S.W. by Lancashire, S. S.E.,' E., and 

 N.E. by Yorkshire, and for a short distance N.E. by the county of 

 Durham. It lies between 54" 10' and 54" 42' N. lat., 2 9' and 3 10' 

 W. long. The form of the county is irregular : the greatest dimensiou 

 or length is from north-north-east to south-south-west, a little more 

 than 41 miles : the greatest breadth, measured at right angles to the 

 length, is about 32 miles. The area of the county is 758 square 

 miles ; the population in 1841 was 56,454 ; in 1851 it was 58,287. 



Surface and Otology. Westmorland is wholly mountainous. Tha 

 eastern side is traversed by the great Pennine Chain, aud the western 

 side aud the centre are occupied by the mountains of the Cumbrian 

 group, which arc separated from the Pennine Chain by the valley of 

 the Eden. 



The principal ridge of the Pennine Chain enters the county across 

 its northern border just to the south of Cross Fell, and extends across 

 Milburn Forest to the border of Yorkshire : it then turns south-south- 

 west, and runs, above Kirby Stephen, to the head of the valley of tho 

 Eden. On the west side of this ridge the mountains have a steep and 

 almost precipitous descent into the valley of the Eden ; on the east 

 they extend a considerable distance, far beyond the boundaries of 

 Westmorland, subsiding more gradually into the wide valley or plain 

 of the Tees, which occupies the south-east of the county of Durham 

 and the north of Yorkshire. On each side of the ridge numerous 

 transverse valleys are drained by small streams : those on the west 

 side falling into the Eden ; those on the east forming the upper waters 

 of the Tees, the Swale, and the Ure or Yore. The principal moun- 

 tains of the Pennine Chain in Westmorland, from north to south, are 

 Dun Fell, Dufton Fell, Eagles' Chair, Seordale Head, Warcop Fell, 

 Middle Fell, Musgrave Fell, and Helbeck Fell, all north of the depres- 

 sion through which the river Below passes. South of that depression 

 is a number of summits grouped together, and forming the district 

 of Arkengarth Forest, of which the Nine Standards (2136 feet high), 

 Dowphin Seat, Brownber Fell, and Hugh's Seat, the last on the border 

 of Westmorland and Yorkshire, are among the principal. 



The principal ridge of the Cumbrian Mountains reaches the border 

 of the county ou the west side near Helvellyn (3055 feet high), wliich 

 is just within the border of Cumberland, and runs south-east to Kirk- 

 stone Fell, at the head of the valley drained by the Coldrill, or Gold- 

 rill, otherwise the Hartsop Beck, which flows into Ulleswater : from 

 Kirkstone Fell it runs east by south, to the head of the valley of tho 

 Eden, on the eastern side of the county ; by which valley, here very 

 narrow, it is separated from the Peuuino Chain. The ridge about 

 midway between Kirkstoue Fell and the valley of the Eden is divided 

 into two parts by a depression through which the Lune passes. 

 Among the principal mountains along the ridge are Grisedale Brow 

 (988 feet high), aud Dow Crags, between Helvellyn aud Kirkstone 

 Fell: High-street and Harter Fell, near the head of Kentmere; and 

 Birkbeck Fells and Hause Hill, near tho head of Borrowdale. 



On the north side a principal branch is thrown off from the main 

 ridge at High-street, a short distance east of Kirkstone Fell, of which 

 branch Dod Hill, Place Fell, Aldsay Pike, Kidsty Pike, the peaks iu 

 Martindale Forest, and Swarth Fell are summits. This branch extends 

 nearly to the bauk of the Eatnout, a principal feeder of the Eden, 

 opposite Penrith. Ulleswater Lake, the upper part of which belongs 

 wholly to Westmorland, while its lower part ia on the border of 



