﻿LOmSVILLE. 



LOUTH. 



was built in 1717, about which time the colony began to be of some 

 importance, and it soon after acquired uniTersal notoriety from having 

 been granted to the company formed by John Law at Paris in 171G, 

 and incorporated as the Mississippi Company. When the Mississippi 

 bubble burst the land was resumed by the crown, and the commerce 

 of the Mississippi declared free. The French remained in possession 

 of Louisiana up to 1762, when they ceded it to Spain. The colony was 

 much neglected by the Spaniards, and improved very slowly, notwith- 

 standing its numerous natural advantages. In ISOO Bonap.irte 

 succeeded in inducing the Spanish goyemment to re-cede Louisiana to 

 France. It was held for a time nominally as a French colony, but 

 only long enough to enable Napoleon I. to complete a sale of it to the 

 government of the United States, which he succeeded in doing in 

 1803 for the sum of 60,000,000 franca (2,400,0000. At the time of 

 the sale the inhabitants were cbieSy French and descendants of 

 French ; the whole population did not exceed 90,000 inhabitants, of 

 whom about 40,000 were slaves. Louisiana comprehended all the 

 country included in the present state of LouUiana, except the tract 

 which extends north of the river Amite, and the lakes of Maurepas 

 and Pontchartrain ; and in addition, the immense tract of country 

 included between the Mississippi River aud the Rocky Mountains. 

 The country was then divided into several territories, of which 

 Louisiana first rose to a state. Louisiana was form^^d into a state 

 in 1812. 



(Darby, Gtographical DacriptUm of the State of Lottinana ; De Bow, 

 Iniduttrial Rfaourcet, <te., of the Southern and Wa'.ern States ; Fisher, 

 St€Uutieal OazHieer of the United Stain ; SeioUh C'entm of tlie United 

 Stata ; American Almanac, 1S34; Marcon, Geological Map of the 

 Umted Siata ; Lyell, Manual, and Princij'lai of Qeolo^, Sic.) 



LOUISVILLE. [Kentccki.] 



LOUTH, Lincolnshire, a markettowD, municipal borough, and Uu 

 seat of a Poor- Law Union, in the parish of Louth, is pleasantly situated 

 at the eastern foot of the Wolds, on the bank of the little river Ludd, 

 in 53" 22' X. lat., 0° 1' W. long., distant 25 mUes N.E. by E. from 

 Ijineohi, 143 mili;s N. from London by road, and 110} miles by the 

 Orest Korthem and East Lincolnshire railways. The population of 

 the borongh in 1351 was 10,467. Tho borough is governed by 6 

 aldermen and 18 councillors, one of whom ia mayor. The lighting, 

 paving, and sewerage of the town are under the management of 

 commisaionem appointed in terms of an Act of Parliament passed in 

 1826. The living ia a vicarage in the archdeaconry and diocese of 

 Lincoln. Louth Poor-Law Union contains 8S parishes and townships, 

 with an area of 143,512 acres, and a populatioa in 1851 of 33,388. 



Louth was incorporated by Edwaid VI. The town is well built, 

 and tho streets are paved and lighted. In the town are a modern 

 guildhall, an assembly room, a public subscription librtuy and news 

 room, a small theatre, a sessions house, and a house of correction for 

 the division. A county court is held. The parish church is a 

 beantifiU edifice of the latter part of the 14th century, and consists of 

 a nave and chancel, and n. tower surmounted with n rich octangular 

 orooketed spire, 300 feet high. The church of the Holy Trinity is a 

 mean brick structure, erected in 1 834. There are chapels for Wesleyan 

 Methodists, Baptists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Koman 

 Catholics. King Edward VI.'s Free Grammar school has an income 

 from endowment of 620/. a year ; it has 6 teachers ; the number of 

 scholars in 1851 was 71. Dr. Mapletoft's Endowed Commercial school, 

 with which has been recently conjoined Hardies' foundation, contains 

 about 60 boys. There are National, British, and Infant schools; 

 a mechanics institute, with a library of upwards of 2000 volumes ; a 

 savings bank ; a dispensary, supported by public subscription ; and 

 12 bede-houses, on the same foun^tion as the grammar-school, in 

 which 12 poor women reside and have an annual allowance. There 

 are several iron foundries and tanneries, a large carpet manufactory, 

 and other establishments. On the canal from Tetney Haven to Louth, 

 an extensive traffic in com and coals is carried on. Wednesday is the 

 principal market-day ; another market is held on Saturday. Fairs are 

 held in April, September, and November. In the neighbourhood of 

 the town are some remains of Louth Abbey, founded by Alexander 

 bishop of Lincoln, in 1139, for Cistercian monks. 



LOUTH, a maritime county in the province of Leinster, Ireland, 

 is bounded N. by the county of Armagh and tho Bay of Carlin.,'ford, 

 wjiich separates it from the county of Down ; E. by the Irish Channel ; 

 8. by the county of Meath ; and W. by the counties of Meath and 

 Monaghan. It lies between 53° 43' and 54° 7' N. lat., 6° 6' and 

 6* 41' W. long. Its greatest length from north to south is 2S miles, 

 from east to west 15 miles. Louth is the smallest county in Ireland, 

 having an area of 315 square miles, or 201,434 acres, of which 178,972 

 acres are arable, 15,603 acres uncultivated, 5318 acres in plantations, 

 728 acres in towns, and 818 acres under water. Tho popuUtion in 184 1 

 was 111,979; in 1861 it was 90,812. 



Coatt-line and Surface, — From the Boyne to the harbour of Dun- 

 dalk, about 17 miles, the coast is low and comparatively level. The 

 flat and sandy beach extends in some places to a breadth of 3 miles 

 at low water. In a small bay south of Dunany Head are some reefs 

 which are covered at hit;h water, but left at a considerable distance 

 by the ebb-tide. Tho only striking elevation is Cloghcr Head, a pro- 

 montory 181 feet high, about 8 miles north from lUu Boyne. This 

 nwdlaod is th« termination of a range of hills stretching across the 



county from the north-east border of Meath. The highest summit is 

 Bt'lpatriok in the west, 733 feet. With tho excaption of this range 

 the county consists of extensive flivts aud tracts gently undulating. 

 From the head of Dundalk Bay a margin of level land sweeps round 

 the peninsula, which projects to the south-east between that bay aud 

 Carlingford Lough. This open tract is several miles wide at the 

 extremity of the peuiuaula, but is contracted to a nai-row strip along 

 the shore of Carlingford Bay aud the valley of the Newry River. 

 Within this low coast-line the laud rises into a group of mountains 

 ranging from 901 feet, the height of Dorlargy on the west, to 1935 

 feet, the height of Carlingford Mountain, which overhangs the lough. 

 This group is opened by a considei-able valley towards the south- 

 east, and on the west it is separated from the Slieve Qulliou aud 

 Forkhill groups of Armagh by a ravine traversing it from north to 

 south, and forming a direct line of communicatiou between Dundalk 

 and Newry. Through this defile tho great noi'theru road is carried 

 at a considerable height above tlie bed of a mountain stream. 



Hijdruyraphii and Communications. — By the river Boyne the county 

 ia connected with the inland navigation to Navan, while the harbour 

 of Drogheda afiords a convenient outlet for the produce of the southern 

 districts. At its first contact with the county the Boyne is joiucd by 

 the river Mattock, which forms the boundary-line for some miles after 

 flowing southward by Mellifont Abbey, from its rise on the west of 

 TuUyesker HilL The Dee rises in the north ea.'^t of Meath, and pass- 

 ing through the town of Ardee proci^e Is in an easterly direction until 

 within 4 miles of the sea, where it receives the White River. The 

 Glyde, formed by tho junction of the Lagan, which rises in Meath, 

 with a stream descending from the ' Monaglian border, crosses the 

 county through a succession of rich demesnes and low marshy lands 

 to Castle-Belliughaui, and then winding southward along the coast, 

 unites with the Dee before reaching the sea at the small port of 

 Anagasaaa. The Fane, which rises in Monaghan, runs in a direction 

 nearly parallel to the course of the Glyde, and falls into Dundalk 

 Bay at the village of Lurgan^reen. The Castletown or Dundalk River, 

 formed by the junction of several streams which come in from 

 Mouaghun, flows eastward, and receiving the Kilcurry River from 

 tho north-west, a short distance above tho bridge of Dundalk, enters 

 the bay at the harbour of Dundalk. . The Big and Little rivers fall 

 into the bay from the valley on tho south-east of tho peninsula. 

 Carlingford Lough connects the county by the Newry River aud Canal 

 with the iuland navigation of Ulster. Besides Drogheda, Dundalk, 

 and Carlingford harbours, there ore some small fishing ports on the 

 coast. The couuty is intersecteil in all directions by excellent roads. 

 The two leadiug lines are tho Great Northern road from Dublin to 

 Belfast, and the road from Drogbeila to Castle-BIaney by Ardee. The 

 Dublin and Belfast junction railway traverses tho county nearly its 

 whole length. Tho Dundalk and Euniskillon railway connects Dun- 

 dalk aud Castle-BUney, and on the south Drogheda is connected with 

 Navan by a branch of the Dublin and Drogheda railway. 



Geologi/. — The level portion of the county south of Dundalk belongs 

 to the northern clay-slats formation of Ireland. A considerable patch 

 of carboniferous limestone, skirted with a narrow belt of yellow 

 sandstone and conglomerate, occurs to the west of Ardee, and minor 

 deposits of the same rock are found along the western border of the 

 clay-slate division. Ttiis formation also occupies the level space 

 between the mountains and the shore, from the town of Carlingford 

 round to the valley of the Castletown River, as far as its junction 

 with the Kilcurry. The structure of the mountainous region is 

 similar to that of the group of Muurne, consisting of a nucleus of 

 granite supporting the clay-slate and lunestone on its flanks. 



Climate, Soil, and Produce. — Tho prevalent direction of the wind, 

 which for nine months in the year is ofi' shore, and the excellent 

 drainage of the county by its numerous streams, render tho climate 

 comparatively mild and dry. The soil of tho southern division of 

 tho couuty is well calculated for every kind of grain-crop. The tract 

 north of the Bay of Dundalk, between the mountains and the sea, 

 also produces heavy wheat crops. Farm'mg iu general is carried on 

 in a superior manner. In the mountain district the condition of tho 

 people is much inferior. Spade cultivation is here very general, and 

 the old slide car without wheels is still in use. 



The chief occupations are agricultural The linen manufacture 

 and bleaching are carried on to some extent at Ravensdale, CoUon, 

 and Drogheda. There is a large export of produce from Drogheda, 

 Dundalk, and Carlingford, aud along the coast the fishery gives 

 employment to many families. Iu 1853 there were 109,889 acres 

 under crop, of which 4201 acres grew wheat; 40,301 acres oats; 

 23,904 acres barley, here, rye, peas, and beans; 9123 acres potatoes; 

 9741 acres turuips, mangel-wurzel, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage ; 

 3134 acres vetches and other greeu crops; 2091 acres flax; aud 17,094 

 acres meadow and clover. Of plantations, in 1841 there were 6683 

 acres growing oak, ash, elm, beech, fir, fruit, &o. In 1851, on 7693 

 holdings, there were 11,314 horses, 1786 mules and asses, 27,733 

 cattle, 24,305 sheep, 15,823 pigs, 5231 goaU, 143,751 head of poultry. 

 The estimated value of tho live stock here enumerated was 326,990i 

 The fishery district of Dundalk exteuds the whole line of coast from 

 Balla^an Point to Maiden Tower, comprising 40 miles of maritime 

 boundary, which in 1853 had 115 registered fishing-vessels, employing 

 658 men and boys. 



