James Miln, a Scottish antiquary, brought to light the remains of a Gallo-Roman town. The tradition of Carnac is that there was once a convent of the Templars or Red Cross Knights on the spot; but this, it seems, is not supported by history. Similar traces were also discovered at Mane Bras, a height about 3 m. to the east. The rocks of which these various monuments are composed is the ordinary granite of the district, and most of them present a strange appearance from their coating of white lichens. Carnac has an interesting museum of antiquities.
See W. C. Lukis, Guide to the Principal Chambered Barrows and other Prehistoric Monuments in the Islands of the Morbihan, &c. (Ripon, 1875); René Galles, Fouilles du Mont Saint Michel en Carnac (Vannes, 1864); A. Fouquet, Des monuments celtiques et des ruines romaines dans le Morbihan (Vannes, 1853); James Miln, Archaeological Researches at Carnac in Brittany: Kermario (Edinburgh, 1881); and Excavations at Carnac: The Bossenno and the Mont St Michel (Edinburgh, 1877).
CARNARVON, EARLDOM OF. The earldom of Carnarvon was created in 1628 for Robert Dormer, Baron Dormer of Wyng (c. 1610–1643), who was killed at the first battle of Newbury whilst fighting for Charles I., and it became extinct on the death of his son Charles, the 2nd earl, in 1709. From 1714 to 1789 it was held by the family of Brydges, dukes of Chandos and marquesses of Carnarvon, and in 1793 Henry Herbert, Baron Porchester (1741–1811), was created earl of Carnarvon.
His great-grandson, Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th earl of Carnarvon (1831–1890), was born on the 24th of June 1831. He succeeded to the title in 1849, on the death of his father, Henry John George, the 3rd earl (1800–1849). Soon after taking his degree at Oxford he began to play a prominent part in the deliberations of the House of Lords. In 1858 he was under secretary for the colonies, and in 1866 secretary of state. In this capacity he introduced in 1867 the bill for the federation of the British North American provinces which set so many political problems at rest; but he had not the privilege of passing it, having, before the measure became law, resigned, owing to his distaste for Disraeli’s Reform Bill. Resuming office in 1874, he endeavoured to confer a similar boon on South Africa, but the times were not ripe. In 1878 he again resigned, out of opposition to Lord Beaconsfield’s policy on the Eastern question; but on his party’s return to power in 1885 he became lord-lieutenant of Ireland. His short period of office, memorable for a conflict on a question of personal veracity between himself and Mr Parnell as to his negotiations with the latter in respect of Home Rule, was terminated by another premature resignation. He never returned to office, and died on the 29th of June 1890. As a statesman his career was marred by extreme sensitiveness; but he was beloved as a man of worth and admired as a man of culture. He was high steward of the university of Oxford, and president of the Society of Antiquaries. The 4th earl was succeeded by his son, George Edward Stanhope Molyneux (b. 1866).
CARNARVON, a market town and municipal borough, and the county town of Carnarvonshire, north Wales, 68½ m. W. of Chester by the London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 9760. It stands very nearly on the site of Caer Seint, capital of the Segontiaci, and was fortified in 1098 by Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester, after Roman occupation, a fort, baths and villa, with coins and pottery, having been exhumed here. As the castle was begun only in 1284, Edward II., supposed to have been born in its Eagle Tower on the extreme west, can only have been born outside. The castle is an irregular oblong building on the west of the town, surrounded by walls and having thirteen polygonal towers. There is still much of the town wall extant. The parish church (Llanbeblig) is some half-mile out of the town, the institutions of which include a town and county hall, a training college, and a gaol for Anglesey and Carnarvonshire jointly. Manufactures in the town are scanty, but Llanberis and Llanllyfni export hence slates, “sets” and copper ore. A steam ferry unites Carnarvon and Tan y foel, Anglesey, while a summer service of steamers runs to Menai Bridge, Bardsey, &c. The borough forms part of a district returning a member to parliament since 1536. To this district the Reform Act added Bangor. The county quarter sessions and assizes are held in the town, which has a separate commission of the peace, but no separate court of quarter sessions. Three weekly Welsh (besides English) newspapers are published here.
CARNARVONSHIRE (Welsh Caer’narfon, for Caer yn Arfon), a county of north Wales, bounded N. by the Irish Sea, E. by the county of Denbigh, S.E. by Merioneth, S. by Tremadoc and Cardigan Bays, S.W. by Carnarvon Bay, W. by the Menai Straits (separating the county from Anglesey), and N.W. by Conway Bay. Area, 565 sq. m. There is, owing to the changed bed of the Conwy stream, a small detached part of the county on the north coast of Denbighshire, stretching inland for some 2½ m. between Old Colwyn and Llandulas. About half the whole length of the county is a peninsula, Lleyn, running south-west into the Irish Sea, and forming Cardigan Bay on the south and Carnarvon Bay on the north. The county is rich in minerals, e.g. lead, copper, some gold. Its slate quarries are many and good. Its mountains include the highest in England and Wales, the summit of Snowdon (Wyddfa or Eryri) being 3560 ft. The principal mountains occupy the middle of the county and include Carnedd Llewelyn (3484 ft.), Carnedd Dafydd (3426), Glydyr Fawr (3279) and Glydyr Fach (3262), Elidr Fawr (3029), Moel Siabod (2860), Moel Hebog or Hebawg (2566). The valleys vary from the wildness of Pont Aberglaslyn gorge to the quiet of Nant Gwynnant. Those of Beddgelert and Llanberis—at the south and north base of Snowdon respectively—are famous, while that of the Conwy, from Llanrwst to Conway (Conwy), is well set off by the background of Snowdonia.
The largest stream is the Conwy, tidal and navigable for some 12 m. from Deganwy; this rises in Llyn Conwy, in the south-east, divides Carnarvon from Denbigh (running nearly due north) for some 30 m., and falls into the sea at Deganwy. The Seint (wrongly spelled Seiont) is a small stream rising in Snowdon and falling into the sea at Carnarvon, to which it gave its old name Segontium (Kaer Seint yn Arvon in the Mabinogion). The Swallow Falls are near Nant Ffrancon (the stream of the Beaver or Afanc, a mythological animal). Nant Ffrancon leads north-west from near Capel Curig and Bettws y coed and past Bethesda, reaching the sea in Beaumaris Bay. The lakes, numerous and occasionally large, include: Llyn Peris and Llyn Padarn at Llanberis, north of Snowdon; Llyn Ogwen, north of Glydyr Fawr; Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Eigiau, both north of Capel Curig; Llyn Llydaw, on Snowdon; Llyn Cwellyn, west of Snowdon; Llyn Gwynnant, east of Snowdon; Llyniau (Nant y llef or) Nantlle, near Llanllyfni; Llyn Conway.
The greater part of the county, including the mountainous Snowdon district and nearly all the eastern portion of the promontory of Lleyn, is occupied by rocks of Ordovician age, the Arenig, Bala and Llandeilo series. These are dark slates and thin-bedded grits with enormous masses of interbedded igneous rocks, lavas and ashes, the product of contemporaneous volcanoes. At the base of Snowdon are Bala grits and slates, above them lie three beds of felspathic porphyry, which are in turn succeeded by a great mass of calcareous and sandy volcanic ashes, while upon the summit are the remnants of a lava sheet. The whole mountain is part of a syncline, the beds dipping into it from the north-west and south-east.
Next to the Ordovician, the Cambrian rocks are the most important; they are found in three separate areas; the largest is in the north-west, and extends from Bangor to Bethesda, through Llyn Cwellyn and Llanwada to the coast near Clynnogfawr. The second area lies west of Tremadoc, which has given its name to the upper division of the Cambrian system. The third forms the promontory south of Llanenga. Cambrian slates are extensively quarried at Penrhyn, Llanberis and Dinorwic. Pre-Cambrian schists and igneous rocks occupy a strip, from 2 to 3 m. wide, along the coast from Neirn to Bardsey Island. A very small area of the Denbighshire Silurian enters this county near Conway near the eastern border; it comprises Tarannon shale and Wenlock beds with graptolites.
The striking headland of the Great Orme as well as Little Orme’s Head is composed of carboniferous limestone, containing corals and large Productus shells. A narrow strip of the same formation runs along the Menai Straits for several miles south of the tubular bridge. At the southern extremity of the limestone a small patch of coal measures is found.
Glacial drift—gravel, boulders and clay—is abundant along the northern coast, and in the neighbourhood of Snowdon it is an important feature in the landscape; massive moraines, perched blocks, striated stones and other evidences of ice action are common. On The greater part of the county, including the mountainous Snowdon district and nearly all the eastern portion of the promontory of Lleyn, is occupied by rocks of Ordovician age, the Arenig, Bala and Llandeilo series. These are dark slates and thin-bedded grits with enormous masses of interbedded igneous rocks, lavas and ashes, the product of contemporaneous volcanoes. At the base of Snowdon are Bala grits and slates, above them lie three beds of felspathic porphyry, which are in turn succeeded by a great mass of calcareous and sandy volcanic ashes, while upon the summit are the remnants of a lava sheet. The whole mountain is part of a syncline, the beds dipping into it from the north-west and south-east.
Next to the Ordovician, the Cambrian rocks are the most important; they are found in three separate areas; the largest is in the north-west, and extends from Bangor to Bethesda, through Llyn Cwellyn and Llanwada to the coast near Clynnogfawr. The second area lies west of Tremadoc, which has given its name to the upper division of the Cambrian system. The third forms the promontory south of Llanenga. Cambrian slates are extensively quarried at Penrhyn, Llanberis and Dinorwic. Pre-Cambrian schists and igneous rocks occupy a strip, from 2 to 3 m. wide, along the coast from Neirn to Bardsey Island. A very small area of the Denbighshire Silurian enters this county near Conway near the eastern border; it comprises Tarannon shale and Wenlock beds with graptolites.
The striking headland of the Great Orme as well as Little Orme's Head is composed of carboniferous limestone, containing corals and large Productus shells. A narrow strip of the same formation runs along the Menai Straits for several miles south of the tubular bridge. At the southern extremity of the limestone a small patch of coal measures is found.
Glacial drift—gravel, boulders and clay—is abundant along the northern coast, and in the neighbourhood of Snowdon it is an important feature in the landscape; massive moraines, perched blocks, striated stones and other evidences of ice action are common. On
