Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/708

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700

LONDON. 700 LONDONDERRY. prices are issued, so that all who send messages may know precisely the amount they will have to pay. The annual expense incurred by tho commissioners of her Majesty's works and buildings amounts on an average to about i'425,000 per annum, which is raised by a par- liamentary grant, amounts received on emergencies from the civil contingency fund, and sums arising from the sale of old materials, plant, &c. Some of the principal items of expenditure are about 50,000 a-year for main- taining and repairing the royal palaces ; about 95,000 for the royal parks, pleasure gardens, &c. Of these last, St. James's, the Green and Hyde Parks, cost about 25,000 ; tho Botanic Gardens and the pleasure grounds at Kew, about 21,000 ; the Regent's Park, about 8,000 ; Kensington Gardens, nearly 5,000 ; and Victoria Park, rather over the same amount; Hampton Court park and pleasure grounds, about 3,000 ; Bushey Park, about 2,500 ; and Greenwich Park, nearly 2,000. In 1864, 46,444 were voted for the maintenance and expenses of tho Houses of Parliament ; and 39,829 10s. lid. spent. The keeping in order and winding of the great clock cost 117 10s. ; and works of art for the decoration of the "Palace of Westminster," 3,657 lls. lid. ; 4,795 were spent for the erection of new stables for the Speaker of the House of Commons, 29,394 2s. 9d. upon the new Foreign Office, and 1,182 17*. Id. in improvements of the site of Downing-street. A grant of 12,000 was voted by Parliament for the improvement of tho ap- proaches to Westminster Bridge by the removal of those buildings which obstruct the view from Great George- street, and such other alterations as might be deemed necessary. Of this sum, however, only 1,762 Is. 5d. were used, so that the balance still remains in hand to be applied for this or any other similar purpose. Full details of these expenses, and of all matters connected with the proposed alterations and improvements of the metropolis, are to be found in the " blue books " and parliamentary papers relating to London, which are from time to time published (by authority) by the Queen's printer, whose offices are situated in New-streot-square. There are also an infinite number of works upon the his- tory of London, its food, antiquities, inhabitants and their ways of life, curiosities in a word, everything relating to it already published, and fresh maps, guide and hand- books are constantly issuing from the press. The mere titles of books relating to London fill upwards of fifty leaves in the old large folio catalogue of printed books in the British Museum, while one whole volume in the supplementary catalogue is devoted to the same subject, the titles in it occupying 120 leaves, or 240 pages, ex- clusive of an alphabetical index of contents, consisting of 21 leaves, or 42 pages. There are also several works upon London, entered in the " King's " and tho " Gren- ville" catalogues of printed books, and in the "King's Catalogue of Maps and Drawings" the list occupies from page 187 to page 208; in the supplementary catalogue of maps, from leaf 1 2 to leaf 105, or 93 pages, are^taken up with it, exclusive of a table of contents, arranged under tho following heads : Maps of the Country round London ; Geological Maps ; Maps for particular purposes ; Parti- cular Plans, comprising Canals, County Courts, Docks, Geological Sections, Parishes, Railways, Sewers, Streets. Then follow the General Views ; and, next, the Particu- lar Views, including Bridges, Churches, Hospitals, Inns of Court, Noblemen's and Gentlemen' s Houses; Palaces, Parks, Public Buildings, Miscellaneous Buildings, and Tables of Distances, &c. Besides this, an immense quan- tity of matter relating to London is to be found in the MS. collections, and in the printed royal 8vo catalogue of the " Manuscript Maps, Charts, Plans, and Topogra- phical Drawings," 52 pages are occupied with the titles of maps, plans, views, &c., of several of its most interest- ing localities and buildings. The earliest map is that of " London as it was in 1560." It is in the King's Library, and was reprinted by Vertue in 1737. Next comes Ralph Aggas's celebrated Map of 1578 ; then follow maps and views published at various intervals down to modern times, when their name is " legion." The earliest draw- ings of London are those by Anthony Wyngaerde, in tho Bodleian Library at Oxford, of royal palaces and oth buildings ; and in the Print Department of tho Briti Museum is an engraved fac-simile of one of them, call " London, "Westminster, and Southwark, as they a' peared in 1513." With these "appliances and means' at hand, therefore, the student need have no difficulty i: tracing pretty accurately the various alterations whii ' have taken place in the arrangement and appearance the metropolis from the time of Henry VIII. to our 01 days. With regard to London as it now is, and as will be in each successive year, independently of various books and works already referred to, as bi so constantly issued from the press, ample information will be found in the Post Office London Directory, which is published in Old Boswell-court, Strand, laid before the public annually, under the immediate special patronage of her Majesty's Postmaster-Gen< This most useful work, which has now reached its 6 year of publication, contains 2,582 closely-printed exclusive of advertisements, &c., and forms a pi vnde mecum to London. It is preceded by a most exi lent map, and contains an official directory, a street directory, a commercial directory, a trades' directory, law, court, parliamentary, postal, city, conveyance, bank- ing, and assurance directories, besid'es a variety of other useful information, the whole of it so arranged as to be most easily referred to, and embracing every detail con- nected with the localities of the metropolis and the occupations of its inhabitants. It is taken in at a great many shops, public-houses, hotels, clubs, &c., BO that the casual visitor finds no difficulty in meeting with it ; and although it is necessarily somewhat bulky in form, it is at any rate a convenient and trustworthy guide to " the great and busy hive" of modern London. LONDON, a hmlt. in the par. of Old Clceve, co^ Somerset, 2 miles S.W. of Watchet. It is situated near the Bristol Channel, and is a meet for the West Somerset hounds. LONDON-COLNEY, a chplry. in the pars, of St. Peter's and St. Alban's, bund, of Cashio, or lib. of St. Alban's, co. Herts, 6 miles N. of Barnet. This place takes its name from the London road, which here crosses the Colne by a bridge of seven arches. The living is a perpet. cur., val. 100. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a modern edifice partly erected by a grant from the Parliamentary Commissioners. The site was given by the late Earl of Hardwicke, who settled 40 towards the support of the minister. There is a National school, with an endowment of 25 per annum. LONDONDERRY, a maritime co. in the prov. of Ulster, Ireland, b6unded on the N. by Lough Foyle and the Atlantic Ocean, on the S. by Tyrone, on the E, by Lough Neagh and the co. Antrim, and on the W. by the co. Donegal. Its greatest length from N. to S. is 40 miles, and its greatest breadth from E. to W. is 34 miles, comprising 518,493 acres, of which about 318,28! are under cultivation, 180,709 uncultivated, 7,718 in plantations, 10,327 under Water, and 1,559 in towns and roads. According to Ptolemy it formed part ol the country of the Darnii, or Darini ; hence the modern designation of Derry. It was chiefly the territory of the O'Nials, O'Loughlins, O'Donnels, and the O'Cahans, or Kanes. Deny was seized by the English towards the close of Elizabeth's reign, so as to check the power of O'Nial and O'Donnel ; and when, in 1607, the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel fled, nearly all the six counties in Ulster were confiscated. King James sold the county, with all the forfeited territory, in 1609, to the twelve London companies of Clothworkers, Drapers, Fish- mongers, Goldsmiths, Grocers, Haberdashers, Iron- mongers, Skinners, Mercers, Merchant Tailors, Saltprs, and Vintners, who undertook to establish ther 'testant colony, and to expend 20,000 on the plantation, in return for the grant of extensive privileges. Four years later this company was incorporated by royal charter as " The Society of the Governor and Assistants of London of the New Plantation in Ulster, within the .Realm of Ireland," or, as it is commonly known, the Irish Society, and all the towns, manors, land^, &c.,