Page:EB1911 - Volume 14.djvu/313

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
300
ILKESTON—ILLE-ET-VILAINE

and in 1874 typewriters. The last-named industry was sold to the Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict Company in 1886, and soon afterwards, on the failure of the original Remington company, the fire-arms factory was bought by a New York City firm. A store was established on the present site of Ilion as early as 1816, but the village really dates from the completion of the Erie canal in 1825. On the canal list it was called Steele’s Creek, but it was also known as Morgan’s Landing, and from 1830 to 1843 as Remington’s Corners. The post-office, which was established in 1845, was named Remington, in honour of Eliphalet Remington; but later the present name was adopted. The village was incorporated in 1852. Ilion is a part of the township of German Flats (pop. in 1900, 8663; in 1910, 10,160), settled by Palatinate Germans about 1725. The township was the scene of several Indian raids during the French and Indian War and the War of Independence. Here General Herkimer began his advance to raise the siege of Fort Schuyler (1777), and subsequently Ilion was the rendezvous of Benedict Arnold’s force during the same campaign.


ILKESTON, a market town and municipal borough, in the Ilkeston parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, 9 m. E.N.E. of Derby, on the Midland and the Great Northern railways. Pop. (1891) 19,744, (1901) 25,384. It is situated on a hill commanding fine views of the Erewash valley. The church of St Mary is Norman and Early English, and has a fine chancel screen dating from the later part of the 13th century. The manufactures of the town are principally hosiery and lace, and various kinds of stoneware. Coal and iron are wrought in the neighbourhood. An alkaline mineral spring, resembling the seltzer water of Germany, was discovered in 1830, and baths were then erected, which, however, were subsequently closed. The town, which is very ancient, being mentioned in Domesday, obtained a grant for a market and fair in 1251, and received its charter of incorporation in 1887. It is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 2526 acres.


ILKLEY, an urban district in the Otley parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 16 m. N.W. from Leeds, on the Midland and the North-Eastern railways. Pop. of urban district (1901) 7455. It is beautifully situated in the upper part of the valley of the Wharfe, and owing to the fine scenery of the neighbourhood, and to the bracing air of the high moorlands above the valley, has become a favourite health resort. Here and at Ben Rhydding, 1 m. E., are several hydropathic establishments. The church of All Saints is in the main Decorated, largely restored in 1860. Three ancient sculptured crosses are preserved in the churchyard. The institutions include a museum of local antiquities, a grammar school, the Siemens Convalescent Home and the Ilkley Bath Charitable Institution. The fine remains of Bolton Abbey lie in the Wharfe valley, 5 m. above Ilkley. Ilkley has been identified with the Olicana of Ptolemy, one of the towns of the British tribe of the Brigantes. There was a Roman fort near the present church of All Saints, and the site has yielded inscriptions and other small remains. Numerous relics are preserved in the museum.


ILL, a river of Germany, entirely within the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. It rises on a north foothill of the Jura, S.W. of Basel, and flows N.N.E. parallel with the Rhine, which it enters from the left, 9 m. below Strassburg. Its course lies for the most part through low meadowland; and the stream, which is 123 m. long, receives numerous small affluents, which pour out of the short narrow valleys of the Vosges. It is navigable from Ladhof near Colmar to its confluence with the Rhine, a distance of 59 m. It is on this river, and not on the Rhine, that the principal towns of Upper Alsace are situated, e.g. Mülhausen, Colmarl, Schlettstadt and Strassburg. The Ill feeds two important canals, the Rhine-Marne canal and the Rhine-Rhone canal, both starting from the neighbourhood of Strassburg.


ILLAWARRA, a beautiful and fertile district of New South Wales, Australia, extending from a point 33 m. S. of Sydney, along the coast southwards for 40 m. to Shoalhaven. It is thickly populated, and supplies Sydney with the greater part of its dairy produce. There are also numerous collieries, producing coal of superior quality, and iron ore, fireclay and freestone are plentiful. The Illawarra Lake, a salt lagoon, 9 m. long and 3 m. wide, is encircled by hills and is connected with the sea by a narrow channel; quantities of fish are caught in it and wild fowl are abundant along its shores. The chief towns in the district are Wollongong, Kiama, Clifton and Shellharbour.


ILLE-ET-VILAINE, a maritime department of north-western France, formed in 1790 out of the eastern part of the old province of Brittany. Pop. (1906) 611,805. Area 2699 sq. m. It is bounded N. by the English Channel, the Bay of St Michel and the department of Manche; E. by Mayenne; S. by Loire-Inférieure; and W. by Morbihan and Côtes-du-Nord. The territory of Ille-et-Vilaine constitutes a depression bordered by hills which reach their maximum altitudes (over 800 ft.) in the N.E. and W. of the department. The centre of this depression, which separates the hills of Brittany from those of Normandy, is occupied by Rennes, capital of the department and an important junction of roads, rivers and railways. The department takes its name from its two principal rivers, the Ille and the Vilaine. The former joins the Vilaine at Rennes after a course of 18 m. through the centre of the department; and the latter, which rises in Mayenne, flows westwards as far as Rennes, where it turns abruptly south. The stream is tidal up to the port of Redon, and is navigable for barges as far as Rennes. The Vilaine receives the Meu and the Seiche, which are both navigable. There are two other navigable streams, the Airon and the Rance, the long estuary of which falls almost entirely within the department. The Ille-et-Rance canal connects the town of Rennes with those of Dinan and St Malo. The greater portion of the shore of the Bay of St Michel is covered by the Marsh of Dol, valuable agricultural land, which is protected from the inroads of the sea by dykes. Towards the open channel the coast is rocky. Small lakes are frequent in the interior of the department. The climate is temperate, humid and free from sudden changes. The south-west winds, while they keep the temperature mild, also bring frequent showers, and in spring and autumn thick fogs prevail. The soil is thin and not very fertile, but has been improved by the use of artificial manure. Cereals of all kinds are grown, but the principal are wheat, buckwheat, oats and barley. Potatoes, early vegetables, flax and hemp are also largely grown, and tobacco is cultivated in the arrondissement of St Malo. Apples and pears are the principal fruit, and the cider of the canton of Dol has a high reputation. Cheese is made in considerable quantities, and the butter of Rennes is amongst the best in France. Large numbers of horses and cattle are raised. Mines of iron, lead and zinc (Pont-Péan) and quarries of slate, granite, &c., are worked. There are flour and saw-mills, brick works, boat-building yards, iron and copper foundries and forges, dyeworks, and a widespread tanning industry. Sail-cloth, rope, pottery, boots and shoes (Fougères), edge-tools, nails, farming implements, paper and furniture are also among the products of the department. The chief ports are St Malo and St Servan. Fishing is very active on the coast, and St Malo, St Servan and Cancale equip fleets for the Newfoundland cod-banks. There are also important oyster-fisheries in the Bay of St Michel, especially at Cancale. The little town of Dinard is well known as a fashionable bathing-resort. Exports include agricultural products, butter, mine-posts and dried fish; imports, live-stock, coal, timber, building materials and American wheat. The department is served by the Western railway, and has over 130 m. of navigable waterway. The population is of less distinctively Celtic origin than the Bretons of Western Brittany, between whom and the Normans and Angevins it forms a transitional group. Ille-et-Vilaine is divided into the arrondissements of Fougères, St Malo, Montfort-sur-Meu, Redon, Rennes and Vitré, with 43 cantons and 360 communes. The chief town is Rennes, which is the seat of an archbishop and of a court of appeal, headquarters of the X. army corps, and the centre of an académie (educational division).

In addition to the capital, Fougères, St Malo, St Servan,