ULSTER . 423 



companies of London, to wliom it still belongs. A Doric column commemorates 

 tlie glorious siege of 1689. A few miles to the westward of* Londonderry, 

 already Ijeyond the borders of the county, are the Grianan of Aileach, remarkable 

 as a specimen of the fortifications erected by the ancient Irish. On the western 

 shore of Lough Foyle are Morille, a rising watering-place, and Greencastle, where 

 the outward-bound American mail-packets call for telegrams. The railway which 

 skirts the eastern shore of the lough runs for a considerable distance alono- an 

 embankment raised upon land formerly flooded by the sea, but now drained and 

 brought under cultivation. Newtown Limavadij and Dungiven are on the Roe, 

 which descends from the Sperrin Mountains and flows into Lough Foyle. Coleraine, 

 on the Lower Bann, has already been referred to. It has for its outports Port- 

 steicart and Portnish. Higher up on the Bann is Kilrea, and near Lough 

 Neagh Maglierafelt. All these towns of Londonderry largely depend for their 

 existence upon the linen industry. 



Tyrone is an inland county, stretching from the Donegal Mountains to 

 Lough î^eagh and its tributary, the Blackwater. It is traversed by the Foyle, 

 or Strule, and for the most part covered with hills, except in the east, where 

 an extensive plain of considerable fertility lies along the shore of Lough 

 Neagh. Onuujli, the county town, stands on the river Strule (the Upper Foyle) 

 in a fertile district, and carries on trade in corn and linen. Newtown Stewart, at 

 thq head of the navigation of the river, is a small manufacturing village ; whilst 

 Stvahnne, the most populous town of the county^ owes its prosperity entii-ely 

 to the linen trade. In the plain bordering upon Lough Neagh are Cookstown, 

 with flax-mills; Stewartstown, with limestone quarries; and Dungannon, with 

 collieries at Coal Island. Clogher, an episcopal village, and Aughnacloy are on the 

 Blackwater. 



The county of Armagh slopes from the barren mountains near the coast to 

 the fertile plain at the head of Lough Neagh. Armagh, the seat of the Protestant 

 primate of all Ireland and of a Catholic bishop, is one of the most celebrated 

 and beautiful cities in the country.. It is built on a hill, and its ancient cathedral, 

 founded by St. Patrick, looks down upon the amphitheatre formed by its 

 marble houses. Near it is a famous observatory, founded in 1789 by Primate 

 Robinson. Keadij, to the south of Armagh, is a small manufacturing town. 

 Portadown, on the Upper Bann, is favourably situated for commerce, as a canal 

 connects it with Newry, and through the Bann and Lough Xeagh with Ennis- 

 killen. Lurgau, to the east of the Bann, is the principal seat of the linen trade 

 in the county. 



The county of Monaghan is intersected in its centre by a vale, through 

 which passes the Ulster Canal, and which the Inny drains into the Erne, 

 and the Blackwater into Lough Neagh. Lofty hills, culminating in Slieve 

 Beagh (1,258 feet), bound this vale in the north, and a somewhat lower range 

 separates it from the maritime plain of Louth. Monaghan, in the centre of 

 this vale, has a little trade in flax and corn, whilst Clones, on the Inny, is 

 interesting on account of its monastic ruins, supposed to date back to the fifth 



