﻿losr 



NORTHFLEET. 



NORTHUMBERLAND. 



1038 



mostly settled along the banks of the Nu Oareep and of the Orange 

 riTers. 



The colony has been distributed into four districts — Bloem Fontein, 

 Caledon River, Winbui^, and Vaal River. The principal town is 

 Sioem Fontein, situated in 29" 8' S. lat., 26° R long., on the high road 

 from the Cape Colony to NafcU. It is about 380 miles N. from 

 Orsham's Town. It contains about 1000 inhabitants, "has an Episcopal 

 church, a Wesleyan Methodist chapel, and barracks. Smithfield, 

 Winburg, and one or two other Tillages, are inconsiderable places. 

 There are three or four miasion-statioos belonging to the British, 

 French, and Prussians. 



The country appears to be well adapted for sheep pasturage and 

 the production of wool. The climate seems to have a favourable 

 influence on the fineness of the fleece. Small qunutities of gold have 

 been recently found in the neighbourhood of Smithfield. 



When the Dutch inh.ibltauta of the Cape Colony emigrated from 

 it in 1836 and foUoiving years, they settled themselves at first in 

 various parts of the territory which is now named the Northern 

 Sovereignty. In 1838 a party of them went to Natal, where they 

 were treacherously murdered by the warriors of the chief Dingaaa. 

 [Natal.] When the Dutch, who bad conquered the natives and 

 declared a republic, were obliged in their turn to submit to the English 

 in 1842, the greater part of them fled into the Northern Suverei;;aty, 

 where they founded the village called Winburg, and proclaimed a new 

 Dutch republia Little notice was taken of their proceedings till they 

 began to expel from their farms the Dutch farmers who continued to 

 acknowledge the British supremacy, and in 1845, under their leader 

 Pretoria*, prepared a large expedition to attack Adam Kok, a Oriqua 

 ebiaf in allianoe with the British. The chief applie<l to the eolonial 

 gorernment, and two regiments were immediately sent to his assistance, 

 who repolsed the revolutionary Dutch boera. Un tbo 1st of February 

 1848, Sir Harry Smith, with the aasent of the well-afiected boers, 

 erected the whole of the territory ineloeed by the Ky Qareep and the 

 Nu Oareep into a British colony. This led to another contest, in 

 whidi Sir Harry Smith defeated Pretorius and hi^ adherent* on the 

 29th of August, 1848. Pretorius fled beyond the Vaal River, and the 

 majority of the boers laid down their umi and submitted to the 

 British government. 



NORTHFLEET. [KKjrr.] 



NORTH LEACH, Qloaaesterahire, a market-town and the seat of a 

 Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Northleaob, is situated in a bottom 

 among the Cotswold Hills, near the source of the Lech, in 51° 50' 

 N. lat., 1' SC W. long., distant 20 miles E. by 8. from Qloucester, and 

 82 miles W.N.W. from London. The population of the parish in 1851 

 wa* 1852. The living is a vicarage in the archdeaconry of Bristol and 

 dioaeM of Olouceater and Bristol Northleaeh Poor-Law Union oon- 

 taioa 80 parishes and townships, with an area of 67,647 aores, and a 

 imputation in 1851 of 10,981. The church is a large handsome build- 

 ing, vrith an elegant south porch, and a lofty tower at the west end. 

 In 1559 a Free Grammar school was founded liere by Hugh Weatwood ; 

 ita income is abont 600A a year. There is also an Infant schooL 



NORTHOP. [Fu-XTSBiRi.] 



NORTHUMBERLAND, a maritime county in the north of England, 

 is bounded N. by the Tweeil, which separates it for a few miles from 

 the Scotch county of Berwick ; E. by the North Sea ; 8. by Durham, 

 from which it is divided in one part by the Derwent, and in another 

 by the Tyne ; and W. by Cumberland and the Scutoh county of Rox- 

 burgh. By the Act 7 and 8 Vict, cap. 61, Norbamahire, IsUndshire 

 (including Holy laUnd and the Fame Islands), and Bedlingtonshire 

 wan transferred from the coanty of Darbam to that of Northumber- 

 laod. The county lies between 54° 48' and 55° 42' N. Ut., 1' 22' and 

 V 88' W. long, lis greatest length from north to south is 60 miles; 

 from cast to west, between Tynemoutb and the point where the 

 Irtbing enters Cumberland, 54 miles. The moat southern part of the 

 county however, lying between the Tyne and the Derwent, is only 28 

 mila* wide; and the greater part of the northern division hardly 

 •saaads 24 mile* in breath. The area is 1952 square milea, or 1,249,299 

 •oraa. The popuUtion in 1841 was 266,020 ; in 1851 it waa 803,568. 



Swrfatt emd Oeology. — Northumberland has a rugged surfitce and a 

 takad aaped The bigbest hills are the Cheviot, which in their 

 Dortbem pari, near tlie Common Bum River, a little south-west of 

 W«oler, nacb the height of 2658 feet. At King's Seat, near the head 

 ci Ae Breamiab, the true Cheviot* are met by the Uedgehope and 

 Blaadrop range (2347 feet), and by a lower range that runs north- 

 wmt, along the border to the Beaumont River. From King's Seat 

 the ridge of the Cheviot Hills maa genanlly south-west round the 

 sourcea of the Coquet, the Reed, and the North Tyne. These bills have 

 in several inatanoes a conical form, and some are nearly perfect cones ; 

 thay are oorarad vrith a fine green turf, and afford excellent pasture 

 for vaai nnmban of sheep pecnliar to the district. Along the Cumber- 

 land border, and eapeeially toward* the south-west, the hill* are 

 extremaiy broken, dreary, and barren, but are valuable for their lead- 

 minea. From these highlands numerous ofihoota mn, generally east- 

 ward, separated by fertile dales, and stretching out in the centre of 

 the ooBoty into dnary wastes, on which arise a few rocky hills of no 

 grwt aleratioii. The hilla rantb of the Coquet form part of the 

 aKimhra moorlands which ocoapy a third part of the county, and 

 *■-- 1 an average elevation of from 600 to 1000 feet above the level of 



the sea. South of the Tyne is a group of hills separating the valleys 

 of the Tyne and the Wear. The valley of the Reed ia wet, and in 

 some parts so boggy aa to be impassable. Woods are chiefly ooufiueJ 

 to the banks of the rivers. 



The coast is low. It rung generally south by east from Warren 

 Bay, opposite the Fame Islands, to the mouth of the Tyne, and is 

 marked by numerous headlands and bays. Coquet Island, lying off 

 Hawksley Point, is neai-ly a mile long from north to south, and about 

 half a nule broad. It contains some rich pasture, aud abuuuda nitU 

 rabbits. A lighthouse has been lately erected by the Trinity boai-d, 

 at a cost of 14,000/., upon the island. IslandsUire has no cliffs, neither 

 has Bedlingtonshire. From Islandshire sand-banks (Feuham Huts) 

 run out and couuect Holy Island with the main laud, so as to render 

 the island accessible at low-water to vehicles of all kinds ; though the 

 sands are dangerous to persona not acquainted with them. Holy 

 Island is of an irregular form, nearly 4 miles long from east by south 

 to west by north, and nearly 2 miles broad from north to south. 

 The parish had in 1851 a population of 90S persons. This iaiaud 

 was called by the Britons Inis Medicante, and was afterwards known 

 by the name of Lindiafame. It was the seat of a bishoprick, aud 

 had a monastery under the government of the bishops, which was 

 subsequently reduced to be a cell of the Benedictine monastery of 

 Durham. 'The church of the monastery is now in ruins. The soil of 

 the island is rich. On the west side is a small village or town, formerly 

 much more extensive : the inhabitants are chiefly engaged in tiahiug. 

 There is a small harbour. An old castle, which during the last war 

 was occupied by a garrison sent from Berwick, stands upon a lofty 

 rock of whiustone in the south-east comer of the isle. On the north- 

 east aide of the islaml is a projecting tongue of land a mile loug, aud 

 in some parts ouly 60 yards broad, occupied by rabbits ; on one side 

 of this tongue the tide may be seen ebbing while it is flowiug on the 

 other. The Fame Islands lie to the south-east of Holy Island. The 

 group consist* of several small islets or rocks, some of which are 

 visible only at low water. They produce kelp, and some of them a 

 little grass. There are two lighthouses on two islets of tho group. 

 The population in 1851 was 20. 



The south-eastern part of the county is included in the great coal- 

 field of the counties of Northumberland and Durham. This coal-iield 

 i* skirted on the north-west by a belt of land occupied by millstone- 

 grit beyond which is a still narrower belt of laud occupied by the 

 carboniferous or mountain limestone. Nearly all the rest of the 

 county is occupied by a series of formation* comprising sandstones of 

 various kind*. Trap rocks occur in connection with both coal forma- 

 tions. A small district along the Tweed is occupied by the new red- 

 sandstone. The chief mineral product* are cmU and lead : most of 

 the coal raised i* sent ooaatwiae to London and to various southern 

 port*. The principal pita in the great coal-field are in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Tyne. 



The most important lead-mine* are in the south-west of the county, 

 near Allendale. Some gypsum is obtained in the red-saudstono 

 district, near the Tweed. Zinc-ore abounds in most of the veius pro- 

 ducing lead. There is abundance of ironstone in the strata which 

 occur in the coal-measures. Limestone aud building-stone are quarried 

 in difierent part* of the county. 



Hydrography and Communicaliotu. — The rivers of Northumber- 

 land ri*e for the most part in the eaetem slope of the hills on tho 

 western boimdary, and flow, with the exception of the Till and it* 

 feeder*, eaatward across the county to the North Sea. The Tweed 

 belongs chiefly to Scotland, but bounds the north-western angle of 

 this county. The Till rises in the eastern slope of the border range, 

 near the Horteide Hills, and, under the name of the Breamish, flows 

 first east, then north ; on reaching the neighbourhood of ilelford it 

 turns north-west, and, assuming the name of Till, flows into Norbam- 

 ahire, where it joins the Tweed on the right bonk a little below 

 Coldstream, after a coarse of about 40 miles. The Breauiiah, tho 

 Beaumont (which rises on the west side of the bills), and tho 

 Till, inclose the true Cheviot district. The Aln rises near Alcham, 

 and flowing east 20 mile* past Whittiugham and Alnwick, falls 

 into the sea at Alnmoutb. The Coquet rise* in the Cheviot Hills, 

 and flowing first *outh-ea*t, aud Uien ea*t past Rothbury, falls 

 into the North Sea just below \\'arkworth, after a course of about 

 37 miles. The Aln aud the Coquet are both navigable for a short 

 distance, the former up to Alnwick. There is a salmon fishery 

 at the mouth of these rivers, and the Aln abounds in trout. At 

 the mouth of the Coijuet, near the village of Amble, are a harbour 

 and docks; the harbour is connected by a branch railway with the 

 Newcastle and Berwick railway. The Waiubtck rises in a range of 

 hills which runs through the centre of the county, forming the eastern 

 side of the baain of the Reed, aud flows east past Murj>eth (where it 

 becomes navigable) into the North Sea. It* whole leu^ilt is 24 miles, 

 the length of the navigation 6 mile*. The Blyth rises a little south 

 of the source of the Wansbeck ; it ha* a course of above 2U mUes 

 nearly parallel to that river, and fall* into the sea at the town of Blyth, 

 of which it forms the harbour. The North i'yne rises from several 

 springs on the border. After flowing southwards, under the name 

 of the Kielder Bum, for 10 miles, it flows cast 14 miles to its junc- 

 tion with the Reed below Bellingham; from this point the stream 

 flows south-east 14 miles to the junction of the South Tyne, just 



