Chambers's encyclopædia Volume 1 ; a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people
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Paperback
(RareBooksClub.com, May 17, 2012)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 Excerpt: ...part, separates A. from Monaghan. The rocks of A. are--Lower Silurian in the south and middle of the county; the trap of Antrim, with the underlying greensand, around Portadown; carboniferous limestone in the basins of the Black-water, and its tributary the Callan; granite in the mountains of the south-east; and tertiary strata bordering Lough Neagh. The soil is fertile except in the southern extremities. In 1868, 179,598 acres--nearly half the county--were in crop, the principal crops being oats, potatoes, wheat iind flax. The stock in that year was 18,943 horses, 72,176 cattle, 8043 sheep, 21,647 pigs. The north and central parts of A. exhibit a dense population, low hills cultivated to the tops, hedgerows, orchards, and thickly scattered farm-steadings. Pop. in 1861, 189,382, shewing a decrease of 6702 in ten years. The county is mostly in the diocese of Armagh, and contains 28 parishes and parts of parishes. It returns three members of parliament--two for the county, and one for the city. The chief towns are A., Lurgan, Portadown, and Newry. A Km Aiiii, the capital of the county of A., in a carboniferous limestone district, in the north-west of the county. It is stuated round the base and on the slopes of a gentle eminence, hence its original name, Ard-Magha, 'the high field.' It is well built, of limestone. The only edifice of other material is the cathedral, which is built of red sandstone, and is cruciform--184 by 119 feet--crowning the central eminence, and is supposed to occupy the site of that erected by St. Patrick in the 5th c. It has recently been repaired and beautified, chiefly at the cast (£10,000) of the present Lord Primate, Lord Beresford. Lesser eminences rise on the north-east and south of A. A new Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral o...