ABBOT'S BROMLEY. 



ABERDEEN. 



territories are divided It lies S.E. of James Bay; between 48 and 

 52 N. Int., and 75 and 80 W. long. [HUDSON'S BAT TERRITORIES.] 



ABBOT'S BROMLEY. [STAFTOIIDSHIHE.] 



ABBOT'S LAXGLEY. [HERTFORDSHIRE.] 



ABDE'RA, a Greek town, situated at some distance east of the 

 mouth of the Nestus, on the south coast of Thrace. It was originally 

 founded, B.C. 656, by some Greeks of Clazomeme, who were driven 

 out by the Thracians. In B.C. 541 it was recolonised by Ionian Greeks 

 from Teos, who left their native city when Cyrus had conquered 

 Croesus, king of Lydia, and was attacking the cities of Ionia. On his 

 march against Greece (B.C. 480) Xerxes was entertained by the citizens 

 of Abdera, which must then have become a place of considerable 

 importance. (Herod, vii 120.) He halted here also on his flight after 

 the battle of Salamis. In B.C. 408 Thrasybulus reduced the city under 

 the power of Athena. (Diod. xiii. 72.) The people of Abdera had 

 gome of the Thracian tribes for neighbours, who often rendered their 

 situation uncomfortable and dangerous by their predatory incursions. 

 Oil one occasion they were rescued by Chabriaa, the Athenian general, 

 from the attacks of the Triballi. Under the Romans, Abdera wa a 

 free city. (Plin. iv. 11.) The epicure may be interested in learning 

 that mullets were plentiful and good at Abdera. Its inhabitants were 

 proverbial for stupidity, yet it was the birthplace of Demoeritus, Pro- 

 tagoras, and Anaxarchus. Herodotus (vii. 126) says that the Nestus 

 ran through the town. The exact site of Abdera is unknown. 



There was another Abdera on the south coast of Hispania Bostica, 

 founded in very early times by the Phoenicians. It was a colony or 

 a municipium in the time of Tiberius. Coins of the city are extant with 

 Phoenician characters. The site is now occupied by the town of Adra, 



ABDIE. [FLFESHIRE.] 



ABEAHKEUTAH, a large walled town, on the west bank of the 

 river Agonee, which separates it from the kingdom of Dahomey, 

 about 60 miles inland from Lagos, in the Bight of Benin, and about 

 150 miles from Abomey, the capital of Dahomey. It is in the petty 

 kingdom of Egbar, which is tributary to Yorribah, but the town itself, 

 which has sprung up within the last forty years, is independent, and 

 is governed by a chief who is not a king. The inhabitants amount to 

 upwards of 50,000, and are composed of the natives of Egba, a great 

 number of liberated blacks, many of them from Sierra Leone, and 

 several missionaries, who report that their labours have been highly 

 successful. The king of Dahomey has more than once attacked the 

 town in vain ; in 1848 one of his Amazonian regiments was almost 

 entirely destroyed by the Abeahkeutahns in one of these attempt*. 

 In June, 1850, when Captain F. E. Forbes and Mr. Beecroft were at 

 Abomey, Mr. Beecroft was told by the king himself to warn the mis- 

 sionaries to withdraw, as he was going to make war upon the town, 

 when it was explained to him that the town was hi alliance with Great 

 Britain, and that there were great numbers of free negroes and several 

 missionaries there. Nevertheless, he invaded their territory at the 

 head of a large slave-hunting force, a great part consisting of 

 Amazons, and met with a severe defeat under its walls on March 3, 

 1851, which, it is said, has greatly crippled his power. The name 

 of Abeahkeutah, which means 'under the stone,' has reference to 

 a large natural cave within the town walls, wherein the market 

 is held. A new species of silk from Houssa in the interior, and a 

 ;ir description of wool, from Quotta to the westward of Abeah- 

 keutah, hnve been recently introduced as articles of trade into England, 

 and are likely to prove valuable. 



AUKK. This word, wliirh is prefixed to the names of many places in 

 Great Britain, is a Celtic term, and means, generally, the mouth or 

 outlet of a river. It is denned by Owen as " a confluence of waters ; 

 the fall of a lesser river into a greater or into the sea : by metaphor, 

 a port or harbour." Thus, the town of Aberbrothwick, in Scotland, 

 is at the inouth of the river Brothick ; in Wales we have Abergavenny, 

 at the confluence of the Uwk and Gavenny ; Abery stwith at the outlet 

 of the river Istwith, and many others : see the following articles. 



ABERAVON, or PORT TALBOT. [GLAMORGANSHIRE.] 



ABERAYRON, or ABERAERON, Cardiganshire, a seaport and 

 market-town, and the scat of a Poor-Law Union, partly in the parish 

 of Henfynyw, and partly in that of Llanddewi Aber-arth, in the lower 

 '<u of the hundred of liar, is situated at the' mouth of the river 

 Ayron, or Aeron, in Cardigan Bay, in 52 16' N. lat. 4 16' W. long. ; 

 23 miles N.E. from Cardigan, and 220 miles W.N.W. from London. 

 The population in 1841 was 534 ; it was estimated in 1850 to be pro- 

 bably " not less than 1000." The living is a perpetual curacy in the 

 archdeaconry of Cardigan, am! diocese of St. David's. Aberayron 

 contains 14 parishes and townships, with a popu- 

 lation in 1851 of 13,220. 



Aberayron is a place of some trade : about 50 vessels belong to the 



port; "hip-building gives employment to nearly 100 hands, and the 



town is in considerable repute as a watering-place. A small harlwur 



was constructed in 1 807 by the owner of the town, and has since been 



enlarge'!. The county bunnies* is transacted in Aberayron. Thetown- 



vdifice erected in 1835, was enlarged in 1846, and in 



> and petty sessions, county courts, Ac. A 



nging to the Established Church, erected by mil wript inn 



and government grant in 1849, will accommodate nearly 3(m c liil.lr, n ; 



another school is supported by Dissenters. The town generally has 



been much improved of late yean. On the shore is a circular earth- 



work, wliich Welsh antiquaries, who fix its erection near the middlo 

 of the twelfth century, attribute to Cadwgau-ap-Bleddyu. 



(Clifl'e's Book of South Wale* ; Communications from Aberayron.) 



ABERBROTHWICK, or more commonly ARBROATH, Forfar- 

 shire, Scotland, a royal, municipal, and parliamentary burgh and 

 market-town, is situated at the mouth of the rivulet Brothick, in 56 

 34' N. lat., 2 32' W. long., 58 miles N.N.E. from Edinburgh, Arbroath 

 was created a royal burgh by charter in 1186. The burgh is governed by 

 18 councillors, one of whom is provost, and in conjunction with Bervie, 

 Brechin, Forfar, and Montrose, returns one member to the Imperial 

 Parliament. The population of the municipal burgh in 1851 was 

 8,302 ; that of the parliamentary burgh was 10,986. 



Excepting the parts of modern erection, the town is irregularly built. 

 The town-house contains several public offices, a library, and a reading- 

 room. There are two parish churches, two chapels in connection with 

 the Established Church, two Free churches, three chapels for United 

 Presbyterians, an Episcopal, an Independent, and a Roman Catholic 

 chapel; and several public schools. The Abbey of Aberbrothwick, 

 founded by William the Lion in 1178, in honour of St. Thomas-a- 

 Becket, was destroyed by the reformers in 1560 ; the last of its abbots 

 was Cardinal Beaton. Some ruins of the abbey remain. The chief 

 manufactures of Arbroath are sail-cloth, thread, and leather. These, 

 with paving-stones and grain, form its exports. Among the imports 

 are flax, hemp, linseed, and tallow. There is a small but convenient 

 harbour with a breakwater in front. The number of vessels registered 

 in the port on December 31st, 1851, was 126, of 15,251 tons burden. 

 The number and tonnage of vessels which entered and cleared at the 

 port during 1851 were : inwards, 741 vessels, tonnage, 46,367 ; out- 

 wards, 253 vessels, tonnage, 15,323. The amount of Customs duties 

 received at the port in the year ending the 5th of January, 1851, was 

 10,965M2t. 2c/. The market is held weekly on Saturdays. Four fairs 

 are held in the course of the year. By the Aberdeen Railway, Arbroath 

 enjoys direct communication with the north-east of Scotland, while 

 the line to Dundee and Perth connects it with the south of Scotland. 



(New Statistical Account of Scotland.) 



ABERCONWAY. [CONWAV.] 



ABERDARE. [GLAMORGANSHIRE.] 



ABERDEEN, a city, municipal burgh, parliamentary burgh, aud 

 the chief town of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is situated at the mouth 

 of the river Dee, in 57 8' N. lat., and 2 5' W. long., distant 111 

 miles N.N.E. from Edinburgh by road, and 129 miles by the Edinburgh 

 and Northern, Scottish Midland and Aberdeen Railways. The popu- 

 lation of the municipal burgh in 1851 was 53,808; that of the parlia- 

 mentary burgh was 71,973. The burgh is governed by four bailies, 

 and 15 councillors, one of whom is provost ; and returns one member 

 to the Imperial Parliament. 



William the Lion, the first patron of Aberdeen whose name occurs 

 in its records, granted the city two charters, dated from Perth. 

 King William established a mint here. In 1244 and 1246 the 

 city was destroyed by fire. In the latter part of the 13th century 

 and the earlier years of the 14th, Aberdeen was the scene of many 

 of the incidents of the Scottish war of independence. The citizens of 

 Aberdeen composed the force with which King Robert defeated the 

 English under John de la Mowbray and John Comyn, Earl of Buchau, 

 at the hill of Barra, 1 8 miles to the north between old Meldrum and 

 Inverury ; and hi 1408, headed by their provost, Sir Robert Davidson, 

 they were the chief means of arresting the invasion of Donald Lord of 

 the Isles, at the bloody battle of Harlaw on Donside, about 14 miles 

 north of the city. The watch-word of the day, in the former of these 

 engagements, ' Bon accord,' the citizens assumed as their motto, and 

 bear it to the present day. In 1 336, Aberdeen was burnt to the ground 

 by the English under Sir Thomas Roscelyn. The city erected on its 

 site was called New Aberdeen, in order to distinguish it from its 

 predeccjsor. The neighbouring city of Old Aberdeen, formerly called 

 Kirkton of Seaton, was, on its erection into a burgh, designated Aber- 

 <lon. During the civil wars in the reigns of Charles I. aud II.. the 

 inhabitants of Aberdeen suffered severely from the Marquis of Mon- 

 trose; first on account of their loyalty, and afterwards when he 

 changed sided, on account of their reforming zeal. In 1794, the burgh 

 obtained a police act for the paving, lighting, and sewerage of the 

 town, and for supplying water from the river Dee. The harbour has 

 been improved by the construction of an extensive wet dock. The 

 city has been adorned with many noble structures of native granite, 

 and its commerce is in a nourishing condition. 



There are twelve churches of the Establishment, seventeen of the 

 Free Church, five for United Presbyterians, five for Independents, 

 and one each for Original Seceders, Baptists, and Roman Catholics. 

 The; Episcopalians have two chapels, St. Andrew's and St. John's ; the 

 bishop of the ancient diocese of Aberdeen is primus of the Scottish 

 Episcopal Church. There is also an Episcopal chapel not under the 

 jurisdiction of the Diocesan. 



Ali.-rdeen is well supplied with the means of education. Within 

 a mile of each other are the two universities; the one, Marischal 

 Collage and University, ,jn Aberdeen, and the other the University 

 of Aberdeen and King's College, in Old Aberdeen. King's College 

 was founded in 1494, by King James the Fourth, who obtained a 

 bull from the Pope for that purpose. Ten years after, a college was 

 founded within the university by Bishop Elphinstone ; and by o 



