ATHERTON. 



ATHOS. 



642 



heads of weapons were dug up, one of which is now in the Ash 

 molean Museum at Oxford. 



(Bartlett's History and Antiquities of Mancetter; Communication 

 from A theritone.) 

 ATHERTON. [LANCASHIRE.] 

 ATHESIS, RIVER. [ADIGE.] 

 ATHLONE, Westmeath and Roscommon counties, Ireland ; partly 

 in the parish of St. Mary's and barony of Brawney, on the Leinster 

 side of the Shannon, and partly in the parishes of St. Peter and Kil- 

 toom, in the barony of Athlone, on the Connaught or right side of that 

 river ; a post-town and parliamentary borough, and the head of a 

 Poor-Law Union. It is situated in 53 25' N. lat., 7 56' W. long., 76 

 miles W. from Dublin by road, and 78 miles by the Midland Great 

 Western railway : the population of the town in 1851 was 6,218, 

 exclusive of 1766 persons in the Union Workhouse. The government 

 of the borough, which returns one member to the Imperial Parliament, 

 is vested in town commissioners. Athlone Poor-Law Union comprises 

 19 electoral divisions, and has an area of 150,768 acres, with a popula- 

 tion in 1851 of 46,775. 



Athlone occupies a central and commanding site on the principal 

 road leading into the province of Counaught, which here crosses the 

 Shannon, about two miles below Lough Rea by the only bridge on its 

 course through a distance of nearly thirty miles. The old bridge, 

 for which the present fine structure has been substituted by the 

 Irish Board' of Works, was erected in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 

 and was very inconvenient, having a roadway of only 12 feet in width. 

 A still older bridge appears to have stood here as early as the reign of 

 King John, to which period the foundation of the castle is referred. 

 The castle, which has been altered and enlarged from time to time, 

 stands on an eminence on the right bank of the river, commanding 

 the bridge and its approaches. It is now a place of considerable 

 strength, containing two magazines, an ordnance-store, an armoury 

 for 15,000 stand of arms, and barracks for 1500 men, and with its 

 various works covers an area of 15 acres. The principal part of the 

 western or Irish town is grouped in an irregular circuit round the 

 castle, with long suburbs extending on the main road towards Balli- 

 nasloe. On the Leinster side of the river the town consists principally 

 of one long street occupying the leading road to Dublin. In this divi- 

 sion is the market-place ; and here are the better class of private 

 residences. The houses on both sides of the river are built to the 

 water's edge, which is approached "by narrow and repulsive lanes. 

 The rapid caused by the ford at this part of the river is avoided by a 

 canal which runs at the back of the town on the Connaught side, and 

 continues the navigation to Lough Rea. The Shannon is navigable 

 for 71 miles higher up. Athlone has two churches of the establish- 

 ment, two Roman Catholic parochial churches, a Franciscan and an 

 Augustinian chapel, and Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist meeting- 

 houses. There formerly was a considerable trade in the manufacture 

 of coarse hats, but it has declined. There are in or near the town a 

 distillery, a brewery, and a tannery. In the town are a sessions court- 

 house, a bridewell, and two loan-funds. Tuesday and Saturday are 

 the market-days : fairs for horses and cattle are held on January 23rd, 

 March 21st, May 24th, and on September 4th, 5th, and 6th. Quarter 

 sessions for Roscommon are held at Athlone. A brisk trade is carried 

 on with Limerick and Dublin by means of the Shannon navigation 

 and the Grand and Royal canals. 



After the battle of the Boyne, Athlone was held for King James by 

 Colonel Richard Grace, who defended it successfully against King 

 William's army under General Douglas, in 1690 ; but in the next siege 

 by General Ginkell, in 1691, the town was taken after an obstinate 

 resistance, and the governor fell in the assault. Athlone gave the title 

 of earl in the Irish peerage to the family of Ginkell. 



(Weld's Survey of Roscommon ; Thorn's Irish Almanac.) . 

 ATHOL (that is, ' pleasant land ' ), a district in the north of Perth- 

 shire, in Scotland, bounded on the N. and on the N.W. and W. by 

 Badenoch and Lochaber, in Inverness-shire ; S. by Breadalbane and 

 Strathmore ; E. by Forfarshire ; and N.E. by Mar, in Aberdeen- 

 ihire. The district is estimated to contain 450 square miles. The 

 country comprises a part of the great Grampian chain, and these 

 mountains are intersected by narrow glens, watered by rapid rivulets, 

 which by their junction form the rivers Edendorn, Bruar, and Tilt, 

 which fall into the river Garry. This becomes a tributary of the 

 Tumel, which flows along the south part of the district into the Tay. 

 The whole district of Athol is included in the basin of the Tay, for 

 the Airdle water, which carries off the streams of the eastern parts, 

 falls into the Ericht, the Ericht into the Isla, and the Isla into the Tay. 

 The hills of this district. were formerly clothed with timber, but 

 wood is now found only in the most sheltered places. Once one of 

 the best hunting districts in Scotland, it is now in a great degree 

 devoted to the pasturage of sheep and cattle. A number of red deer 

 still remain in the forest of Athol, containing about 100,000 English 

 acres, which is set apart for them, and kept free from intrusion. 

 Fallow deer are found on the south side of the range of bleak hills 

 which separate Badenoch from Athol, occasionally on the summits, 

 but generally in the glens of Tilt and Bniar. 



In Athol is the Pass of Killiecrankie, celebrated for its picturesque 

 beauties and for the victory and death of Grahame of Claverhouse, 

 Viscount Dundee, in 1639. 

 OEOO. DIV. VOL. r. 



Glen Tilt, along which a principal branch of the river Tay pursues 

 its course for about ten miles above Blair Athol, is to the geologist 

 classic ground; the observations which Dr. Hutton first made on the 

 granite veins exposed in that valley form no unimportant part of the 

 Plutonic theory. A detailed account of the geological appearances 

 which present themselves in this interesting spot has been drawn up 

 by Dr. M'Culloch, and is published in the third volume of the 

 ' Transactions of the Geological Society.' Lord Webb Seymour's 

 description, which is no less elaborate, was drawn up nearly at the 

 same time, and may be seen in the ' Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh." 



ATHOS. The peninsula of Chalcidice, which formed part of ancient 

 Macedonia, and is included in the present Turkish eyalet of Saloniki, 

 extends south-eastward into the ^Egean Sea between the Stryinonic 

 Gulf and the Thermaic Gulf (now called the gulf of Orfano, or Con- 

 tessa, and the gulf of Saloniki respectively), and terminates in three 

 remarkable peninsular projections resembling the prongs of a trident. 

 The most western of the three was called Pallene (now Kassandhra), 

 the central one Sithonia, which is washed on the west by the Toronaic 

 Gulf, or gulf of Kassandhra, and on the east by the Siugitic Gulf, or 

 gulf of Monte Santo ; the eastern prong was called Acte, the southern 

 extremity of which was formed by Mount Athos properly so called. 

 But the name Athos was applied also to the whole of this mountninous 

 peninsula, which is joined to the mainland by the low flat isthmus 

 near the site of Acanthus. (Herod, vii. 22.) The peninsula as well as 

 Mount Athos itself are now called Monte Santo, or Agion-oios, both 

 implying ' holy mountain,' from the number of monasteries, chapels, 

 and other sacred spots scattered round its sides. Some of tho monas- 

 teries, of which there are twenty, are inclosed by high turretod walls. 

 The number of monks alone in these establishments is supposed to 

 exceed 8000, exclusive of lay brethren, artificers, and labourers. The 

 antiquity of these foundations is traced to the reign of Constantine ; 

 and authentic documents are still extant proving their existence in 

 the time of Nicephorus Phocas, A.D. 961. No female, even of the 

 animal kind, is permitted to enter the peninsula. The states that 

 belong to the Greek Church have each one monastery at least upon 

 the 'holy mountain,' which is visited periodically by Russian, Bulga- 

 rian, Servian, and Greek pilgrims, who contribute to the support of 

 the monks. The monks also trade with Salonica and Smyrna in fruits 

 of which the various species of nuts form the chief portion. The 

 gardens of the monasteries, which are very extensive, produce both 

 fruits and vegetables of aU kinds, and are kept in the highest order, 

 as well as the ' metochi,' or farms attached to the several monasteries ; 

 these are scattered over all the most fertile spots of the peninsula. 



As described by Lieutenant Smith, in the Royal Geographical 

 Journal (vol. vii.), the peninsula, which is 40 miles in length and about 

 4 miles in average width, is rugged and intersected by numerous 

 ravines. From the isthmus the ground rises rather abruptly to about 

 300 feet, and for twelve miles the peninsula presents a hilly table-laud 

 about 600 feet high, and for the most part finely wooded. At the 

 termination of this distance the peninsula is narrowed to less than two 

 miles, but immediately expands to the average of four miles, and at 

 the same time assumes a mountaiuous character, two of tho heights 

 reaching respectively 1700 and 1200 feet above the sea. Four miles 

 farther south, at nearly equal distance from either shore, is the town 

 of Karyes, prettily situated amidst vineyards and gardens. Imme- 

 diately south of the town the ground rises to 2200 feet, an:l a broken 

 country covered with dark forests extends to the foot of Mo unt Athos, 

 which rises abruptly above the sea to the height of 6350 feet. The 

 lower bed of the mountain is composed of gneiss and argillaceous 

 slate, the upper part of gray limestone ; the cone of Mount Athos is 

 white limestone. The peak of Athos is situated in 40 9j' K. lat., 

 24 19' E. long. 



On the sides of the mountain are vast forests of pines, oaki, and 

 chestnuts ; the pines grow to an immense size. The appearanoa of 

 ;he mountain is very magnificent, standing in lonely majesty at the 

 ^rmination of ridges of considerable elevation. The shores at its 

 jase are so steep that there is no anchorage for vessels, the small craft 

 ;hat trade here being obliged to keep constantly under sail whi !e Inking 

 n their cargoes : within a quarter of a mile of the coast Ihera are 

 from 80 to 100 fathoms water. The dangers of the shores of Athos 

 were experienced by the Persian fleet under Mardonius (Herod, vi. 44), 

 which was completely destroyed by a storm on this coast. Herodotus 

 vii. 22) enumerates five towns within the peninsula of Atlios Dion, 

 Jlophyxos, Akroth6on, Thyssos, and Kle6nse. 



The isthmus by which Acte is joined to the mainland is now 

 called Provlaka, supposed to be a corruption of ripoouAa|, the (jau.il in 

 ront of the peninsula. The canal of Xerxes is still most distinctly 

 .o be traced all the way across the isthmus from the gulf of Monte 

 Santo to the bay of Erso in the gulf of Contessa, with the exception 

 of about 200 yards in the middle where the ground bears no nppuar- 

 ance of having ever been touched. But as there is no doubt of the 

 whole canal having been excavated by Xerxes (Herod, vii. 37, 122, 

 and Thucyd. iv. 109), it is probable that the central part as sfter- 

 wards filled up in order to allow a more ready passage into anl out 

 of the peninsula. In many places the canal is still deep, swdiupy at 

 he bottom, and filled with rushes and other aquatic plants : i.ljo rain 

 and small springs draining down into it from the adjacenMia^hts 



2 T 



