357 



CARRICKFERGUS. 



CARTAGENA. 



3o8 



CARRICKFERGUS, Ireland, a county of a town, a sea-port town, 

 and parliamentary borough, is situated iu 51 42' N. lat., 5 47' \V. 

 long. ; distant 112 miles N. from Dublin, and 9 miles N. from 

 Belfast by the Carrickfergus branch of the Belfast and Bullymena 

 railway. The population of the town in 1851 was 3543. Carrickfergus 

 returns one member to the Imperial Parliament. It is governed by 

 town commissioners. The borough income iu 1850 was about 82K. 



The town stands on the north-western shore of Belfast Lough at the 

 junction of the small river Undhum with the sea, and is favourably 

 situated for commerce and manufactures. The houses are generally 

 of stone and slated. The principal street, called High Street, is ter- 

 minated by the former county jail and court-house. The county 

 business is now however transferred to Belfast. At the opposite end 

 of the main street where it diverges, one branch leadiug to. the quays 

 and castle, and auother to the Belfast road, is the market-house, 

 a respectable building, erected in 1755. The parish church of St. 

 Nicholas, an ancient and commodious cruciform edifice, is situated on 

 rising ground on the southern side of the town. The chancel window 

 is of stained glass, and represents St. John baptizing Christ in the 

 river Jordan. The old steeple at the west end of the building was 

 taken down in 1778, when the present handsome spire was erected. 

 The Presbyterians, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, Romau Catho- 

 lics, and Unitarians have places of worship. On a rock projecting 

 into the sea is the castle, an extensive and imposing pile. It is still 

 kept up as an arsenal, and is mounted with heavy guns. A small pier 

 pi. >jects from the southern extremity of the rock on which the castle 

 is built, and incloses a dock where vessels of 100 tons can lie at 

 the quay. An extensive fishery in carried on in the vicinity ol 

 Carrickfergus. The town is not lighted, and water is procured from 

 pumps. 



Carrickfergus Castle is supposed to have been founded by De Courcey 

 about the end of the 12th century. From the middle of the 14th to 

 the end of the 16th century it was the only stronghold north of 

 Dumlaik which remained uniformly in the hands of an English gar- 

 rison, and to the loyalty of the townsmen of Carrickfergus ja chiefly 

 to be attributed the recovery of the Northern Pale in the reign of 

 Elizabeth. The castle was besieged and taken by Edward Bruce in 

 1315. In 1386 the town was burned by the island Scots, and suffered 

 again in 1400. In 1555 the Scots, under Mac Donnrll, lord of Can- 

 tyre, laid close siege to the castle till July 1566, when Sir Henry 

 Sidney relieved the garrison with great slaughter of the besiegers. 

 In 1573 the town wai burned by Brian Mac Phelimy O'Neill, chief 

 of Claneboy, who was hanged here along with Mac Quillan, chief 

 of the Route, in 1575; the same year Sorley Buy Mac Dounell (a 

 son of Mac Donnell of Can tyre, who had seized upon Mac Quillau's 

 country a short time before) attacked the town and was repulsed with 

 great loss. Sir Henry Sidney found the place in a very impoverished 

 condition. The town had already begun to be walled with an earthen 

 rampart in 1574, and in 1575 the corporation agreed with Sir Henry 

 to build a stone wall 7 feet thick and 18 feet high round a part of 

 the town. The work however was not completed till 1608, when 

 after various delays the walls were finished with a wet ditch and 

 seven bastions. In the wars consequent on the rebellion of 1641 the 

 inhabitants had their full share of the troubles of the times. Ou 

 August 29th, 1689, it surrendered to Duke Schomberg, commanding 

 the army of William III. On Saturday June 14th, 1690, King William 

 I here in person, and immediately proceeded southward, on 

 that important campaign which at the Boyne decided the future pros- 

 pects of both countries. On the 21st February 1760, Commodore 

 Tbourot arrived in the bay with oue 44-gun frigate and two sloops of 

 war, and having disembarked about 800 men, attacked the town, 

 which together with the castle he carried after a smart action the 

 same day. Five days later the French forces re-embarked, having 

 taken a supply of victuals and ammunition from Belfast, and were 

 captured on the 28th off the Isle of Man, after a severe action with 

 Commodore Eliot, in which Thourot was killed and 300 of his men 

 killed and wounded. The last scene of violence connected with the 

 history of this veteran fort was the capture of the Drake, a British 

 sloop of war, in the roads opposite the town by Paul Jones, in the 

 Ranger, an American vessel, on the 24th of April 1778. 



Of the antiquities of Carrickfergus the castle is the most interesting. 

 The castle rock, from which the town takes its name (meaning the rock 

 of Fergus, an Irish king of that name, drowned there in pagan times), 

 rises gradually to an elevation of about 30 feet towards the sea, and 

 ii entirely occupied by the works of the fortress, consisting of a double 

 ballium, or upper and lower yard, with batteries mounting about 25 

 pieces of cannon. In the upper yard stands the keep, a square tower 

 90 feet high, formerly entered by an arched doorway in the second 

 story. The court-house and jail occupy the site of a Franciscan monas- 

 tery, founded here iu 1232 by the famous De Lacey, who was buried 

 within the precincU in 1264. Half a mile west of the town is the 

 site of the priory of Woodbnrno or Goodburne, on the banks of the 

 Woodburne River, which has here some pretty falls. Part of the town 

 wall and one of the gates are still standing. 



The C' itton trade was at one time carried on with vigour here, but 

 it has declined. There are three extensive flax spinning-mills, a 

 muslin bleach-green, and a linen bleach mill and green in the vicinity. 

 Some trade is also carried on in tanning, brewiug, and distilling. 



(M'Skimmin, History and Antiquities of Carrictfergia, 8vo. Belfast, 

 1823; Thorn, Iriih Almanac.) 



CARRICKMACROSS, county of Mouaghan, Ireland, a market and 

 post-town and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Carrick- 

 macross and barony of Farney, lies in 53 58' N. lat., 6 43' W. loug., 

 50 miles N.N.W. from Dublin : the population in 1851 was 2534. 

 Carrickmacross Poor- Law Union comprises 14 electoral divisions, with 

 an area of 60,664 acres, and a population in 1851 of 28,207. 



The town is well bui.t of stone, and consists of one main street, on 

 the line of road from Ardee to Monaghan, having the market-house in 

 the centre, with two lateral streets terminating in the Dundalk road 

 on the east. Near the parish church are the ruins of a castle built 

 here by Robert, third earl of Essex, about 1621. The market-house 

 was built from the materials of this castle in 1780. On the western 

 side of the town, between the main street and a small river, is one 

 of the residences of the Shirley family, the principal proprietors of 

 this district. There are in the town a brewery, malt-stores, and an 

 extensive distillery. There is a large weekly market for corn and 

 provisions. 



(Fraser, Handbook for Ireland; Account of the Territory or Domi- 

 nion of farney, by E. P. Shirley, Esq., London, 1845.) 

 CARRON. [STIRLINGSHIRE.] 

 CARSHALTON. [SURREY.] 



CARTAGENA, a towu and sea-port of Spain, in the province of 

 Murcia, is situated on the shore of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea, in 

 27 36' N. lat., 1 W. long., 30 miles S.S.E. from the city of Murcia. 

 The population in 1845 was 27,727 ; in 1786 the population was 

 60,000. The bay forms a natural harbour capacious enough to contain 

 the largest fleets, and is encompassed by hills which shelter it from 

 all winds ; the entrance is narrow, and is covered by a lofty island, 

 La Isoleta, also called La Escombrera : the depth of water is 30 feet 

 close to the shores. Forts and batteries on La Isoleta and on the hills 

 defend the harbour and town. The great arsenal, once the largest in 

 Europe, is now in a state of dilapidation ; the pavements are broken 

 up, the long ranges of magazines and store-rooms are empty and 

 deserted. The dockyards also, whence many of the great Spanish 

 ships of war were launched, are now unoccupied, and the whole pre- 

 sents a scene of comparative ruin and desolation. 



The town occupies the declivity of a hill and a small plain which 

 extends to the harbour. It is inclosed by wa Is, and near the centre 

 the ruins of a Moorish castle crowu the summit of a precipitous hill, 

 which rises above a large pile of buildings called the Marine School. 

 The town contains some good streets, but all the pavements are in a 

 bad state except that of the Calle Mayor, the principal street, which 

 is paved with flat stones. A fiue red marble is used not only in the 

 buildings but for the commonest purposes, such as curb-stones. All 

 the old streets have a Moorish aspect ; the houses are irregularly built, 

 and most of them have look-out towers (mirudores) ; the windows are 

 generally small, barred with iron, *nd where exposed to the sun 

 screened with coloured matting. The cathedral is of Moorish archi- 

 tecture, and seems to have been a mosque ; it is surmounted by a 

 dome, and the interior consists of several small naves. There are 

 several other churches, a town-hall, a custom-house, a royal hospital, 

 a theatre, and a bull-arena. The town is unhealthy owing to an adja- 

 cent swamp, and the water is brackish. It communicates with the 

 river Segura by the Lorca Canal. The loss of the Spanish American 

 colonies put aa end to the best part of its commerce, aud what 

 remained has mostly been transferred to Alicante. It has some 

 manufactures of sail-cloth and glass, and expoi ts barilla. The tunny- 

 fishery is valuable, and the silver and lead mines in the neighbouring 

 Sierra de Almagrera have of late years been reopened, and are now 

 wrought profitably by several joint-stock companies. 



Cartagena was a colony of Carthage, and was built B.C. 242 by 

 Hasdrubal, the son-in-law of Hamilcar Barca, and bis successor in 

 Spam. It was named Carthago Nova to distinguish it from the great 

 city of Carthage in Africa. The Greek name was Kopxi''-"' n N<o. The 

 old city seems to have stood on the site of the present town, was 

 strongly fortified, and was 20 stadia in circumference (2 miles, 50 

 yards). It was the great seat of the civil administration and military 

 power of the Carthaginians in Spain. Here Hannibal regularly estab- 

 lished 1'is winter quarters, and here he received the ambassadors from 

 Rome. It was taken by assault by the Roman general P. Scipio 

 (afterwards Scipio Africanus the Elder) B. 0. 210. Under the early 

 Roman emperors it was a colony, and had the full title of ' Colouia 

 Victrix Julia Nova Carthago.' The mines were wrought by the Car- 

 thaginians and afterwards by the Romans, who are stated to have 

 employed 40,000 men in them. 



(Ford, Handbook of Spain; Haverty, Wanda-ings in Spain, 1843; 

 Poly bins, x. 10, 11, 15 ; Strabo, iii. p. 158.) 



CARTAGENA, a sea-port in the republic of New Granada, on the 

 northern shore of South America, is situated in 10 25' 48" N. lat., 

 75 30' W. long., about 70 miles S.W. from the mouth of the 

 Magdalena. The harbour of Cartagena is oue of the safest and most 

 convenient in all America. It is formed by two islands extending 

 along the coast southward and northward. The most southern island, 

 jailed Tierra Bomba, is about two miles long and wide, and between 

 t and the Cape Barn is the narrow entrance of the port called Boca 

 2hiea. The northern island is on an average hardly half a mile wide, 



