1031 



BIDFORD. 



BIJANAGtHUR. 



1032 



being within four miles of the sea, and having at full tide sufficient 

 depth of water at the quay to allow vessels of 500 tons burden to 

 come up and unload. The river is here about an eighth of a mile in 

 width, and is navigable for small craft about eight miles from the 

 mouth of the harbour. Vessels of 60 or 70 tons burden can by 

 lowering their masts pass under Bideford Bridge, and sail up the 

 river to the basin of the Torridge Canal. On December 31st 1852 

 there were registered as belonging to the port of Bideford 63 vessels 

 under 50 tons burden, the aggregate tonnage of which was 2101 ; 

 above 50 tons 78 vessels, aggregate tonnage 8730, with one steamer 

 of 74 tons. The number and tonnage of vessels entered and cleared at 

 the port during the year 1852 were Coastwise, inwards, 723 sailing 

 vessels, 28,741 tons; 40 steam vessels, 3840 tons : outwards, 253 sailing 

 vessels, 11,824 tons; 40 steam vessels, 3840 tons: colonial and 

 foreign, inwards, 16 vessels, 3428 tons ; outwards, 12 vessels, 2376 

 tons. Ship-building is carried on at. Bideford to a considerable extent, 

 are several potteries, principally for the manufacture of flower- 

 pots. Clay of a good quality is found on land in the neighbourhood 

 belonging to Lord Clinton. Anthracite or culm is found in the 

 vicinity in sufficient quantity to be worked for economical purposes. 



Bideford has a market weekly on Tuesday; three great markets 

 held in March, May, and September ; and three annual fairs held in 

 February, July, and November. There are public and subscription 

 rooms for the accommodation of visitors, who now resort to Bideford 

 rather numerousiy in the summer. 



To the north-east of Bideford, near the mouth of the river Torridge, 

 is a beach of pebbles about three miles in length and of considerable 

 depth and breadth : these stones have been for many years used for 

 ballast and paving. The pebbles are generally round or oval, from 

 6 to 18 inches in diameter, and curiously variegated with veins 

 of different colours. The celebrated Sir Richard de Oranville, the 

 friend of Sir Walter Raleigh and the settler of Virginia, resided at 

 Bideford for many years after his expedition. 



(Lysons's Mayna Britannia ; Report of ttie Municipal Corporation 

 Commiffioners ; Watkins's History of Bideford ; Route Book of Devon ; 

 Commiiai'-'i'^.n from Bideford.) 



BIDFORD. [WARWICKSHIRE.] 



BIELEFELD, a town in Prussia, capital of a circle in the govern- 

 ment of Minden, is situated on the road from Elberfeld to Minden, 

 in 52 1' N. lat., 8 30' E. long., at the foot of the Sparenberg Moun- 

 tain, on the Lutter or Lutterbach, in the midst of a highly picturesque 

 country, and has 7000 inhabitants. The town is surrounded by 

 ramparts and a broad ditch, which have been laid out in agreeable 

 walks. The most remarkable buildings in the town are the churches 

 of St. Nicholas and St. Mary, the church attached to the Franciscan 

 monastery, and the new town-hall. Bielefeld possesses a gymnasium, 

 an orphan asylum, an infirmary, and a society of music. It is the 

 centre of the Westphalian manufacture of linen and damask cloths : 

 yarns, cottons, ribands, soap, tobacco, iron and steel, and meerschaum 

 pipe-heads are also among its industrial products; in the environs 

 are extensive bleaching-grounds. Bielefeld is 258 miles by railway 

 S.W. from Berlin. It is a first-class station on the line from Cologne 

 to Minden, from which cities it is 133 miles and 28 miles distant 

 respectively. 



BIELITZ. [MORAVIA.] 



BIELLA. [TORINO.] 



BIENNE, or BIEL. [BERN, Canton of.] 



BIERLEY, NORTH, West Riding of Yorkshire, a village and 

 chapelry, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Bradford 

 and wapentake of Morley. It is situated in 53 46' N. lat., 1 45' 

 W. long. ; 32 miles S.W. from York, and 194 miles N.N.W. from 

 London. The population of North Bierley township in 1851 was 

 11,710. The living is a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of 

 Craven and diocese of Ripon. North Bierley Poor-Law Union 

 contains Id parishes and townships, with an area of 31,776 acres, 

 and a population in 1851 of 74,491. 



North Bierley is about 2 miles S.E. from BRADFORD, with which it 

 is closely connected. The inhabitants are employed in the iron- 

 works, the mines, quarries, and coal-pits, and in various branches of 

 the woollen manufacture. The Episcopal chapel is a neat building. 

 There are Dissenting chapels ; schools are connected with both church 

 and chapels. 



lioscil. [BRABANT, NORTH ; HOLLAND, SOUTH.] 



li I K V It K. [SK I N E, Department of.] 



lUUGAR. [LANARKSHIRE.] 



BIGULKSWADE, Bedfordshire, a market-town and the seat of a 

 Poor-Law Union, in the parish and hundred of Biggleswade, is 

 situated on the great road to York, in 52 5' N. lat., 16' W. long. ; 

 distant !0$ mile* E.S.K. from Bedford, 50 miles N.N.W. from London 

 by road, and 41 miles by the Great Northern railway: the population 

 of the town in 1851 was 3976. The living in a vicarage in the arch- 

 .iiry of Bedford and diocese of Ely. Biggleswade Poor-Law 

 I 'iii'lii mntainn 26 parishes and townships, with an area of 56,730 

 acres, and a population in 1851 of 23,071. 



The manor of Biggleswade was annexed to the see of Lincoln in 

 1132 by Henry I. Bishop Holbeach surrendered it in 1527 to Edward 

 V I. It was afterwards held by lease under the crown, until it was 

 alienated to the late Sir Frances Willes. After the occurrence of a 



very destructive fire in 1785, the houses were generally rebuilt with 

 brick in a more modern style. The town is lighted with gas ; the 

 drainage is good; and considerable improvement has been effected 

 in the appearance of the town of late years. The town-hall, erected 

 in 1844, is a substantial structure of the Doric order. The parish 

 church, a handsome gothic edifice, was built in 1230. The church 

 was formerly collegiate, and several ancient wooden stalls were 

 remaining till 1832. At that time the edifice was thoroughly 

 repaired and modernised, and the interior re-arranged to afford 

 increased accommodation. The Wesleyan Methodists and Baptists 

 have places of worship in the town. There are a Free school for 12 

 poor boys; National, British, and Infant schools ; a mechanics institute, 

 and a savings bank. A stone bridge crosses the river Ivel, near 

 Biggleswade. The river has been rendered navigable to the town, 

 by which means coals, timber, and oats are conveyed for the supply 

 of the neighbourhood. Many of the inhabitants are employed in 

 the plaiting of straw. The land around the town is chiefly occupied 

 by market-gardeners who send vegetables to London, Liverpool, and 

 Manchester. A good market for corn is held every Wednesday. 

 Fairs are held on February 14th, Saturday in Easter week, Whit- 

 Monday, August 2nd, and November 8th. A county court is held at 

 Biggleswade. 



In 1770, a yellow earthen pot, containing 300 gold rose nobles of 

 Henry VI., each weighing somewhat less than a guinea, was dis- 

 covered in ploughing a field at Stratton, a short distance south-east 

 of Biggleswade. 



(Lysons's Magna Britannia ; Communication from Biggleswade.) 



BIGORRE, a district of the south of France, one of the component 

 parts of the former province of Gascogne or Gascony. It was bounded 

 W. by Bdarn, N. and E. by Armaguac and Les Quatre Vall<5es, and 

 S. by Spain, the Pyrenees serving to mark the frontier line. 



The country of Bigorre is included in the basin of the Adour. It is 

 very mountainous, especially in the southern parts ; and some of the 

 loftiest summits of the Pyrenees are either within its frontier, or very 

 little removed from it. The department of Hautes-Pyre'ne'es com- 

 prises the whole district of Bigorre, and under the head of PYRENEES 

 (HAUTES) a notice is given of its surface, soil, climate, and products. 



The chief towns of Bigorre were Tarbes, the capital, Vic-de-Bigorre, 

 Lourdes, Bagneres, Bareges, and Cauterets. The whole district was 

 divided into three parts, Les Montagues (the Mountains), La Plaine 

 (the Plain), and Le Rustan. Les Montagues were subdivided into 

 the valldes d'Azun, de Barege, de Campan, and de Lavedan. 



In the time of Julius Caesar the country of Bigorre was occupied 

 by the Bigerrones, a people or tribe of the Aquitani, from whom it 

 has derived its name. They submitted to Crassus, the lieutenant of 

 Caesar, when he attacked the Aquitani. Pliny calls them Begerri. 

 Their capital was Turba, afterwards Tarvia and Tarbn (now Tarbes), 

 called also Castrum Bigorra. There were other tribes, who were 

 included partly or wholly within the district of Bigorre ; as the 

 Tornates (people of Tournay, a town in Estarac, just on the border 

 of Bigorre), and the Camponi, who probably resided in and have 

 given name to the Vallde de Campan. In the 5th century, upon tlje 

 downfal of the Western Empire, Bigorre passed with the neigh- 

 bouring districts under the yoke of the Visigoths ; and early in the 

 6th century it was acquired by the Franks under Clovis. During 

 the troubles which marked the period of the Merovingian kings, 

 successors of Clovis, the Gascons began to extend themselves over 

 the south-western parts of France, and their leaders were created 

 dukes of Aquitaine, and acquired possession of Bigorre. In A.D. 820 

 Louis le Debonnaire erected Bigorre into a county in favour of Douut- 

 Loup, son of the duke of Gascogne. This count and his posterity 

 held the sovereignty of the district as feudal subjects of the king 

 of France for about 470 years. In 1292 there were no less than six 

 claimants for the county, and the matter in dispute was referred to 

 the parliament of Paris, which put the territory under sequestration in 

 the hands of Philip Le Bel, whose wife, Jeanne of Navarre, now 

 appeared as an additional claimant to Bigorre, on pretext of a cession 

 of the same made to her father Henri III., king of Navarre, by the 

 widow of Simon de Montfort, who had some claims upon it. In 

 1389 it was given by Charles VI. to Gaston Phoebus, count of 

 Foix, a descendant of a former count of Bigorre; and having 

 been thus united to BcSarn and Foix, it became part of the 

 patrimony of Henry IV., by whom it was re-united to the crown 

 of France. 



Until 1789 the administration of Bigorre was in the hands of a 

 parliament consisting of representatives of the clergy, the nobility, 

 and the commonalty. Each of these three orders deliberated sepa- 

 rately but met together to vote, and questions were decided by 

 majorities of two to one. The town of Tarbes was the place of 

 annual meeting, and the bishop of Tarbes was the chairman of the 

 united session. 



BIHAR. [HUNGARY.] 



BIJANAGHU'R, or BISNAGHU'R (Vijayanagara, signifying in 

 Sanscrit, the ' Triumphal Fortress'), sometimes called Anuagoondey, 

 once a Hindoo city of great importance, but now little more than a 

 heap of ruins, stands on both sides of the river Toombuddra, in 

 15 20' N. lat., 76 37' E. long. The north-west portion is often 

 called Annagoondey, and the south-east Bijanaghur. The Toombuddra 



