BAXAGHER. 173 BANBURY. pt by a few artillerymen attached to the coast brigade. ic trade of the place has declined of late years, not- thstanding the introduction of steamers and the im- ovements in the navigation of the river Shannon, lich up to 1841 was crossed by a curious old bridge of arches. This has been replaced by a modern struc- rn of very handsome proportions, erected among the irks of the Shannon commissioners which have added
- much to the improvement of this town, although they
13 said to have materially injured the neighbouring ] ids, owing to the quantity of water brought down and 1 1 sufficiently carried off. The construction of a rail- y to Clara, connecting Banagher with the two great 1 os of Ireland, will no doubt improve the commercial
- ispccts of the town. The parish church, which is near
i ! entrance of the town, is a handsome building, of
- ;ind of spurious Gothic, with tower and spire ; it
h been lately much improved internally by the in- t duction of an organ, and other modifications. There i i Roman Catholic chapel, a plain building; an excel- 1 t Royal school, one of six in Ireland; parochial and I tional schools, a dispensary, and a reading-room. A ] ice station is established, and petty sessions are held i 'e a fortnight. Not far from the town is Cloghan ( <tle, an ancient seat. Some ruins of Garry Castle are ikr the Little Brosna. The market, chiefly for corn, i m Friday. Fail's are held on the 1st May, the loth fcotember and three following days, the 28th October, and 1 8th November. The September fair is for cattle, &c. BANAGHER, a par. in the bars, of Keenaght and 'l-keeran, in the co. of Londonderry, prov. of Ulster, 1 land, 2 miles to the S.W. of Dungiven. It lies in a nuntainous country, near the sources of the river Roe, a t contains the vil. of Feeny. The par., which includes a (mall tract of bog, was formerly more extensive til at present, embracing an area of 32,475 acres, Bfch is now reduced to 23,896 ; the change being O'flsioned by a new parochial district having been fcned of parts of Banagher and of the adjoining ]< ifh of Upper Cumber, which at the last avoidance I'.aiuig'her, in 1850, was constituted into a distinct !' Jsh. Limestone and a beautiful freestone are obtained ii ibundanco. The beautiful crystals called Irish dia- n ids are found here, many of them of large size and b liant colour. One found in 1796, named the Dun- g ;n crystal, is of extraordinary size, weighing 841bs. U i linen manufacture and bleaching, onco carried on ii he parish, have been discontinued for many years. 'I : living is a rect. in the dioc. of Derry and Raphoe, < ' he val. of 550, in the patron, of James Ogilby, Esq., Ii ce of the Skinners' Company. The church, a hand- s IB structure, with a tower and spire, was erected in 12. In addition to the parish church, a small but taste- I y-built chapel of case has lately been erected in the v age of Feeny, two miles from the parish church. In i rhapel evening service on Sundays is regularly con- d ted by the incumbent or his curate. In a secluded v. ey, watered by a small stream, stand the beautiful rns of the ancient church, and those of a small build- ir called the Abbey. There are remains of two other c) rches in the parish, a vitrified fort, an old cross, and a monument to St. O'Heney, the traditional founder of tl church. Among the pleasant residences are Ash- pi c, Knockan, Banagher Cottage, &c. ANBRIDGE, a market town in the par. of Sea- p; ick, and bar. of Upper Ivcagh, in the co. of Down, p;|r. of Ulster, Ireland, 12 miles to the N. of Newry, ai 76 miles from Dublin. It is connected with the II 'lin and Belfast Junction railway by a branch line to S -va. The town is situated in a fertile and wcll-cul- ii ted country, on the banks of the river Bann, which ' n issod by a handsome stone bridge, erected in the 1N32. It is one of the principal manufacturing t< is in Ireland. Linens of all kinds are made, bleached, HI finished here. The number of webs completed in a y has exceeded 60,000. There are extensive thread ni ufactories, and great chemical works. The town is w .in three miles of the Newry canal, and contains, ai rding to the census of 1861, 777 inhabited houses, with a population of 4,032, of whom 1,198 belong to the Established Church, 1,018 are Roman Catholics, 1,650 Presbyterians, 70 Methodists, and 96 of other deno- minations. There is a handsome market-house and a townhall, both erected by the Marquis of Downshire. The parish church is a fine modern structure in the form of a cross, with a tower and spire. The Presbyterians, of various sections, have three chapels in the town, and there are others for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists. A Echool for boys and girls has a revenue of 50 per annum, paid by the rector to the teachers. The Pro- vincial Bank of Ireland and the Ulster bank have branches here. A dispensary has been established. Banbridge is the seat of a Poor-law Union and of a presbytery. It lias a chief police station, and petty sessions are held once a fortnight There is a handsome cenotaph in memory of Capt. Francis Crozier, who commanded H.M. ship Terror, in tho expedition to the northern regions under Sir John Franklin ; it is erected in the square opposite the parish church, and near the house in which Captain Crozier was born. The town contains many good residences, and in the vicinity are numerous seats of the gentry and superior farm-houses. Among the seats are Ballievey House, Chinauly, The Rector}', Millmount, Huntley Glen, &c. The Marquis of Down- shire is proprietor of the town. Monday is tho market day. Fairs are hold once a month throughout the year, and a great horse fair is held in January. This town was formerly called Ballyvally, but received its present name on occasion of the building of the original bridge in 1712. BANBRUSNA, a hmlt. in the bar. of Corkaree, in the co. of Westmeath, prov. of Leinster, Ireland, 5 miles from Rathowen. BANBURY HUNDRED, one of the fourteen hunda. or subdivisions of the co. of Oxford, situated at the northern extremity of the co., and bounded on the N. by the cos. of Warwick and Northampton, on the E. by the co. of Northampton, and on the S. and "W. by the hund. of Bloxham. There are two detached parts of this hund., one nearly enclosed by the hund. of Bloxham, the other by the hunds. of Chadlington and Wootton. It contains the chief part of the pars, of Banbury, Charlbury, and Cropredy, the whole of Clattercote and Swalcliffe pars., and the ext. par. libs, of Cornbury Park and Prescott. The hund. comprises an area of about 21,200 acres. BANBURY, a par., market town, and municipal and parliamentary borough, chiefly in the hund. of Banbury and co. of Oxford, but partly also in the hund. of King's Sutton, in the co. of Northampton, 23 miles to the N. of Oxford, and 73 miles to the N.W. of London, or 77 miles by the London and North- Western railway, with which it is connected by a branch line from Bletchley. It is also a station on the Oxford and Birmingham section of the Great Western railway. The town stands in a pleasant valley on the banks of the river Cherwell, and includes the hmlts. of Neithrop, Grimsbury, Nethercote, Wickham, and Hardwick. It is a place of great anti- quity, and was called by the Saxons Banesbyrig. Roman relics have frequently been found in the town and neigh- bourhood. In the first half of the 12th century a fortress was founded here by Alexander do Blois, Bishop of Lincoln, then lord of the manor of Banbury. It continued to be the occasional residence of the bishops till the reign of Edward VI. Danesmore, a level tract 3 miles from Banbury, was the scene of the battle of Banbury in 1469, when tho Yorkists, led by the Earl of Pembroke, were totally defeated by tho great Earl of Warwick, the kingmaker, and last of the Barons. Pembroke and his brother, and several other gentlemen, were captured the day after, and beheaded. The manov came into Ihe possession of the crown in tho reign of Edward VI., and the castlo was granted by Queen Elizabeth to the Saye and Seles of Broughton. During the Civil War of the 17th century the castle was first garrisoned for the parliament, but was surrendered to the royalists in 1642, after the battle of Edgehill. It stood a siege of thirteen weeks in 1644, and another of ten weeks in 1646, when it was given up to the parlia-
