Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/241

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231

BELFORD. 231 BELL ROCK. scety, occupying a pleasant site on the Lagan, in tho j EH irbs of Malone ; two medical societies ; tho Royal Sc ety for tho Promotion of the Growth of Flax in ;. Iiimd, established in 1841 ; and tho Anacreontic I S'.ety, which holds its meetings in the music-hall. A >ng the charitable institutions of Belfast arc the fc jwing : tho Incorporated Poorhouso, for the main- teince of the aged and infirm poor and their chil- di i, supported by subscription tho building stands at tl head of Donegal-street; the House of Industry, siated in Sniithfleld; tho Fever Hospital and Dis- pi 5ary, in Frederick-street ; the Lying-in Hospital, in.he Antrim-road, founded in 1794 ; the District Liatic Asylum, on the Falls-road, erected in 1829, a

ic range of buildings with extensive grounds;

tl Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind, l>y subscription in 1845, and situated on tho i .urn-road; the Female Penitentiary, and several nevolent societies. There is a savings-bank, us established in 1816. Within the parish of are remains of several ancient forts, ramparts, ehi'.pcls. At Wolf Hill are some curious caves, cut

irth, and at Cave Hill are three, cut in tho

b. lit cliff, one above another. On the top of tho same 11 . 1,140 feet in height, is a rampart called MacArt's

t. Several cuh'ns are found, two of which are on

k Mountain, and various relics of ancient times We been discovered near them. To the south of the i the banks of the Lagan, is Ormcau, tho seat .he Marquis of Donegal. There arc numerous seats he gentry in tho environs of the town. Belfast was birthplace of Dr. Black, the distinguished chemist ; (.'.Patrick Macdowell, the sculptor; and of Sir J. u Tennent, author of " Ceylon." In this town uted, in 1704, the first English Bible published md; and in 1737, the Belfast Newsletter, the newspaper published in the north of Ireland. 1 - principal market is held on Friday. The market- . ".; are Castle-place, Mary's, and Smithfield. Sales place in tho Brown Linen Hall on Tuesday and 1 lay. Horse-fairs are hold on the 12th August and November, besides a fair on the first AVednesday ' :i month. SELFORD, a par. and market town in the northern . . of Bamborougb. ward, in the co. of Northumberland, miles to the N. of Newcastle, and 322 miles from Lidon by tho Great Northern and North-Eastern r.- ways, being a station on the York, Newcastle, a . Berwick line. It is situated in a pleasant hilly c>ntry on the sea-coast, and contains, besides the tx-n of Belford, the tnshps. of Detchant, Easing- t , Easington Grange, Elwick, Middleton, and Ross. 1 2 town, though situated in a valley, stands on rising g und commanding a good sea view, with Bamborough '. '.le in the foreground. There are two principal els. crossed by several smaller ones, the houses being B iorally neat, though irregularly built. A neat cross l ins the market place, where some business is still t isacted, although the market is now almost obsolete. A u is lighted with gas, and well supplied with

er. There are collieries, and quarries of limestone

freestone. There is much agreeable scenery in the ghbourhood. Belford is the seat of a Poor-law Union a I a County Court district. Petty sessions are held 1: tho county magistrates every alternate Wednesday, a I county courts once a month. The living is a perpet. <".* in the dioc. of Durham, val. 147, in the patron, ctho Eev. J. D. Clark. The church, erected in 1700, dedicated to St. Mary. Pro There is one chapel be- ging to the United Presbyterians, and one to the itch Church. There are National and Sunday schools. j e principal mansion is Belford Hall, the seat of the r. 3. D. Clark, to whom the manor belongs. On one

he hills in tho vicinity are some ruins of an ancient

pel. There is an ancient encampment about a mile ji the town, of a square form, with a ditch and double ifipart. The parish has several mineral springs, and ends into tho hundred of Islandshire, until recently isidered a detached part of the county palatine of Durham, but now united to Northumberland. Tho Duke of Montrose takes from this place the title of Earl Graham of Belford. The market, chiefly for corn, is held on Wednesday. Fairs are held on tho Tuesday before Whit-Sunday, the 2nd July, the 23rd August, and the 25th September, for sheep and cattle. Annual races take place in September. BELGOLY, a vil. in the bar. of Kinalea, in the co. of Cork, prov. of Munster, Ireland, 7 miles to the E. of Kinsale. BELGRAVE, a par. and vil. partly in the eastern, partly in the western, div. of the hund. of Goscote, in the co. of Leicester, 2 miles to the N.E. of Leicester, its post town. It is situated on the banks of the river Soar, and contains the chplries. of Birstall and South Thur- maston. The Syston and Peterborough branch of the Midland railway runs through the parish. The old Fosse Way also ran by it. Many of the workpeople are employed in the manufacture of hosiery and bricks. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Peterborough, of the val. with the cur. of Birstall, which is annexed to it, of 146, in the patron, of the Bishop of Lichfield. The church is dedicated to St. Peter. It is in the perpendicular style of architecture, with a Norman doorway, and contains an old font and several monuments. Tho Wesleyans, Baptists, and Primitive Methodists have chapels here ; there are also National and infant schools. The paro- chial charities, including the townlands, which produce 90, are of the annual value of 126. This place is in tho honour of Tutbury, in the Duchy of Lancaster, Belgrave gives the title of viscount to the Marquis of Westminster. The Bishop of Lichfield and Isaac Har- rison, Esq., are joint lords of the manor. BELHAVEN, a vil. in the par. of Dunbar, in the co. of Haddington, Scotland. It is pleasantly situated about I mile W. of the town of Dunbar, on a small bay of the same name, on the south coast of tho Frith of Forth, at the mouth of Beil Water, and is frequented as_ a watering place. The Hamiltons, of Wishaw Castle, in Lanark- shire, take from Belhaven the title of baron. BELHELVIE, a par. in the district and co. of Aber- deen, Scotland, 8 miles to the N. of Aberdeen. It is situated on the sea-coast, not far from the mouth of the river Ythan, and contains a serpentine rock called Portsoy marble, which is quarried at Milldens. Tho living, val. 180, is in the presb. of Aberdeen, and m the patron, of the crown. There is also a Free church at Belhelvie, and an United Presbyterian church at Shicl. On occasion of the trigonometrical survey of Scotland, a narrow strip of level pasture hind extending along this coast was selected for the measurement of the base line of 5 miles and 100 feet in length. BELL BUSK, a hmlt. in the par. of Gargrave, wap. of Staincliffo and Ewcross, in the West Riding of the co. of York, 4 miles to tho W. of Skipton. It is a station on the Skipton, Settle, and Lancaster railway. BELL, or INCHCAPE, ROCK, a dangerous reef or sunken rock off the east coast of Scotland. It lies nearly opposite the mouth of the river Tay, distant about I 1 miles to the N.E. of Fifencss, in Fifeshirc, and nearly the same distance to the S.E. of Arbroath, in Forfar- shire, and 30 N.W. of St. Abb's Head, in the track of vessels entering tho friths of Forth a:id Tay. It is about 2,000 feet in length, and 110 yards in breadth, and has 12 feet of water on it at high water. It long formed a serious obstruction to the navigation of the Frith of Tay, and was the occasion of many shipwrecks. The tradition of the bell suspended from the rock by the benevolent abbot of Arbroath (Aberbrothick), and rung by the movement of the waters, of its severance by tho malicious practical jest of tho Dutch sea rover, and of the retribution which at last came down on his own head, is graphically embodied in the well-known ballad of the poet Southey. Between (he years 1807 and 1811 a lighthouse, similar in principle to the Eddystone, was erected on this rock. It is a circular building 115 f'jet in height, 42 feet in diameter at tho base, and J3 feet at the top. The base is a solid mass of masonry for about 30 feet from tho rock upwards, half of which is below