ARDECHE. 



ARDENXE. 



in all probability one* entirely covered or filled up with streams of 

 lava. At intervals it presents imssns of columnar basalt, from 100 

 to ISO feet huh, which have bean spared by the torrent that has 

 won iU way through the valley. The hills that screen the valley 

 an duUted with wood in parts; in parts they display the naked 

 granite or gneiss of which thoir mass is composed. The current of 

 lava that onoa covered the valley of the Volane U traceable to the 

 orator called Coupe d'Auac which rises above the left bank of the 

 river opposite Antraiguee. Villenmn^de-Berg, built on a high hill 

 above the Claduegne in a fertile district, 1 4 miles S.S.E. from Privas, has 

 MOO inhabitant*. In the neighbourhood much silk and good wine are 

 produced. There is an obelisk in the town to the memory of Olivier 

 dc Serrea, a native of the place, who first introduced the mulberry 

 into France. Wrier*, an episcopal town on the right bank of the 

 Rhone, situated among limestone rocks 19 miles S. by E. from Privas, 

 has a population of 2708. It was formerly the chief town of the 

 province of Vivaraia, and stands in a district covered with vineyards 

 and plantation* of the olive and mulberry. It is an ill-built town. 

 The cathedral, situated on a lofty eminence, the episcopal residence, 

 and the ecclesiastical seminary are the chief public buildings ; there 

 is an observatory in the town, which has also woollen cloth and silk 

 factories, and some trade in corn, silk, and wine, Vivien has given 

 title to a bishop since A.D. 420, when the see was transferred hither 

 from Alba Augusta, which was in that year destroyed by the 

 AVn-p"i La- Voutte, situated on the slope of a steep hill above the 

 Rhone, 6 miles E.S.K. from Privas, has 2459 inhabitant*. The old 

 oVtle, formerly belonging to the house of Ventadour and an occasional 

 residence of Louis XIII., u now occupied by an iron company, which 

 has four large furnaces here and two steam-engines ; the iron mines 

 in the neighbourhood abound in very rich ore. There is a reformed 

 church in the town. 



In the second arrondissement the chief town U L'Argentiire or 

 Larytntiire, which is situated in a picturesque valley screened by 

 high mountains, on a mountain stream called Ligne, a feeder of the 

 Ardeche, 20 miles S.\V. from Privas and 736 feet above the sea level, 

 in 44* 82' 31' N. lat, 4 17' 34" E. long., and has a tribunal of first 

 instance, an agricultural society, and a population of 3088. The town, 

 originally called Segnalieres, took its present name from the silver-lead 

 mines in the neighbourhood, which are now no longer worked. The 

 principal buiUIing is the parish church, which is built in the gothic 

 style, but of different ages. In the neighbourhood are extensive 

 grottoes and other natural curiosities the result of volcanic action. 

 Silk tlmm** reeled silk, leather, ropes, wine, and cattle are the chief 

 items of the commerce of the town. Burnt, 8 miles N. from Largeu- 

 tiere, situated at the foot of a rook of granite which is crowned by the 

 ruins of an old castle, has 3436 inhabitants, who manufacture blankets 

 and silk. The torrent of Bunet, a feeder of the Ardeche, traverses 

 the town. MoHlpaat, a poor gloomy town of about 3000 inhabitants, 

 is situated at the southern base of a branch of the Coiron Mountains, 

 in the valley of Fontaulier, about 2 miles S. from Bur/et Cutlery, 

 asm, knitted woollen waistcoats, and thrown silk are the chief indus- 

 trial products. Situated near the hue of division between the tem- 

 perate and the higher and colder districts of the department, MomV 

 poxat forms a sort, of entrepot for the products of both. There is 

 some trade in corn and timber. From the conical volcano of Oravenno 

 with ite docp cup-shaped crater, to the south of the town, flowed the 

 lava-stream* that now cover the valley of the Fontaulier. The cone 

 itself is bare, but the hill-sides and the valley are luxuriantly clothed 

 with plantations of sweet chestnut, mulberry, and vines. On the 

 north of the town is another volcano, that of Chambon, but iU 

 enter if all furrowed with chasms, and ite bare and angular sides 

 display the tnssans of granite displaced by 

 Farther up the valley, near the village of Pal, is the crater .if N 

 which is above 2500 yards in circumference, and has in its centre a 

 small conical hill covered with beech and firs. This is said to be the 

 ancient volcano in this district Tharyit, in the same volcanic 



district, 9 miles N. by \V. fp.ni Uiy.-ntutro and on the left bank of 

 the Ardeche, is built on a lava-current ulr i >*od to have 



flowed from the crater of Uravenne ul--- . m-nt> 

 2*41. The Ardecho Hows for a in 1. !. the town, along the base 

 of majestic columns of basalt Juyrute, 8 miles 8. 1. ! .argon- 



tier* on the Boauuie, a feeder of the Ardeche, lias a popul.r 

 SKI. Vall,,n, situated near the left bank of the Ardeche and the 

 " miles S.K. from Largeuticre, in a fertile district 

 oorajwl with vineyards and plantations of mulberry, walnut, and 

 other fruit-trass, has 287 inhabitant*. There are several stalactitic 

 osvenw near this place. La- Van*, 12 miles S.W. from Lanentiore in 

 a cwaMWd near the Chassezac, has silk factories and 2742 inhabitant., 

 who trad, abo in corn, wine, broadcloth, cattle, 4o. 



The third arrnnrtissoBMnt is named from iU chief town ZWiwn, 

 wkkfa stand* on the right bank of the Rhone, 25 miles N.N.E. from 

 Pnras, and M2 IW above the sea level, in 45' 4 0' 18' 



' * PI *: > -? J . U * * 7 * "WtanU The town it built at the foot of a 

 river bauk opposite the village of Tain, in the 

 Mtaa, with which it communicates by a fine suspen- 



!i 011 *"T *** m Knu>0 - II ta m " ld 

 There U a landing quay and a p.. MY public 

 walk lonf th Rhone. The most important structure in tl,,'t.,wn i* 



the college, founded by Cardinal de Tournon, and situated below the 

 bridge on the margin of the river. Above the bridge and crowning 

 the summit of a steep rock rise the picturesque towers of the old 

 castle of the dukes of Unban -Siibise, which i now used as a prison. 

 Besides the college, which waa for a time used as a military school, 

 the other institutions of the town are a tribunal of first instance and 

 au agricultural society. The trade in Hermitage and other good 

 Rhone wines, large chestnuts, silk, wool, broadcloth, and timber U 

 considerable: shoe- and glove-leather are manufactured. The Tine- 

 yard that yields the famous Hermitage wine is on a hill above the left 

 bank of the Rhuuo, in the department of Drome, and nearly opposite 

 ith of the Doux, which river enters the Rhone about half a 

 mile above Tournon. ta.-Ayrire, a market-town 20 miles W. from 

 Tournon, has a population of 2485. Annonay is described in a sepa- 

 rate article. [ANNONAY.] Lt-Ckaylard, situated in a narrow valley 

 screened by steep mountains and traversed by the Dome, a feeder of 

 the Erieux, has silk-factories, tan-yards, and a population of 

 Ltt-3t<utrc, famous for its chestnuts, stands on the right bank of the 

 Doux, 12 miles W. from Touruon, and has 2423 inhabitants, who 

 manufacture coarse woollens. St.-Ptray, a small town with a popula- 

 tion of about 1000, U situated 7 miles S. from Tournon, not far from 

 the mouth of the Merdoril, a small feeder of the Rhone, in a valley 

 the doping aides of which produce some of the best white and red 

 wines of France. Near it is the castle of Beauregard, formerly used 

 as a state prison and latterly as a depot for the wine of the district. On 

 the summit of a steep rock to the south of the castle is the old manor- 

 house of CruBgol, the original seat of the dukes of Uces. A fine wire 

 .-ion-bridge across the Khone connects St-Peray with Valence, 

 the capital of the department of Drome, which is distant about 2 miles. 

 Yenunuc, situated 15 miles S.W. from Tournon, is the seat of a college, 

 a secondary ecclesiastical school, and a Calrinist church, and has 3292 

 inhabitant*. .It is the centre of a considerable woollen manufacture : 

 other industrial producta of the town are thrown silk and leather. 



The department of Ardeche forms the diocese of Viviers, and is 

 within the jurisdiction of the high court of Klines ; it is included in 

 the 8th Military Division, of which Montpellier is head-quarters. 



(Dictionnaire de la France ; Annaaire jiour 1853.) 



ARDKE, county of Louth, Ireland ; a poet and market-town, and 

 the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish and barony of Ar 

 situated in 53 52' N. lat, 6 30' W. long., 43 miles N.'from Dublin, 

 on the road from Drogheda to Caxtleblaney, and 10 miles W. from 

 the Caatlebell ingham station of the Dublin and Belfast Junction 

 railway : the population of the town in 1851 was 2752, exclusive of 

 872 inmates of the Union Workhouse. Ardee Poor-Law T'ni..n 

 includes 13 electoral divisions, with an area of 96,210 acres, and a 

 population in 1841 of 43,348, in 1851 of 82,768. 



The town, situated on both banks of the Dee, an inconsiderable 

 river running in an artificial channel lately cut l.y <}:; Drainage 

 Commissioners, consists of four principal streets formed by tin- 

 section of the leading road from Drogheda to Carrickmacross, with 

 the roads to Duudalk and Dunleer. The principal features of the 

 town are a square castle, now used as a bridewell ; a plain church, 

 and a large Roman Catholic chapel ; several malting establishment*, 

 a tannery, and porn-mills. Quarter and petty sessions are held here : 

 there are a union dispensary, and a savings bank. A sub-inspector 

 of the constabulary force is stationed at Ardee. Eight fain are held 

 in the course of the year. At the south entrance of !)> town stands 

 a high artificial mount, bearing the remains of an octagonal tower, 

 probably the ballium of the castle built here in the 15th century by 

 Uogur de Pipard. 



ArJee is so called from Alh-air-tlec, the 'Ford on the Dee.' It i . 

 ntill the ceutre of a considerable trade in com :.ml iltural 



products; and in tho early history of tho Kn^'Hi-h !';]( occupies.* 

 prominent place as the frontier town towards tin? lri!i 

 Orghiallio. It was nail \ Sir 



I'h'-lim O'N.-ill :ind the Irish inaurf(<nt- in li!41. It -um.il 



2 members to the hi-h j..i-! ; :.:n. n<, l.n- \\-UH disfranchised at the time 

 >f the I'nion. (Wright's Louthiana ; Ordnance Survey.) 



ARDKX. [WARWICKSHIRE.] 



'I'.NNK, ih- name from ancient times applied to a rugged hilly 

 t h fin-cuts, that stretches across parts of France, 



Belgium, and the Prussian province of Lower Rhine, from the Sambre 

 Moselle. Julius Cicsar (' Bell. Hull.' v. 3.) calls it ' Arduenna 

 Sylva,' and says that it oxteml.-'l from th< Khine through the t 

 lies of the '1 . .f the Remi, that is, to the Mouse. 



In another passage ('BelLOall.'vi. 29.) he makes it extend westward to 

 rvii that is, as far as the Sambre, or perhaps to the Schelde : 

 and as the text now stands, tho length is given at 500 Roman miles ; 

 bvit this it an error most pn.i copyists, for the true length 



does not exceed at the utmost 1GO miles. The name is also v 

 .1 ' 



The high-lands of the Ardenno reach an elevation of about 2000 

 feet above the sea level, and belong to the system of the Vosgee 

 Mountains. They are part of a chain which springs from the 

 Vosges to the westward of Epinal and forms the watershed between 

 the Mouse and the Moselle. Westward, the Ardenne extends into the 

 departmenta of Nord and Aisne ; and thence stretches in a crescent 

 form to tho Roer. Tho hilly parts of Luxembourg, as well as the 



