Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/393

BRITHDIR. 383 BRIXHAM. miles to the S.E. of Merthyr Tydvil. It is situated in the midst of the great iron and coal district of South "ii the banks of the river Rumney. The scenery of the neighbourhood is very picturesque. The inha- bitants are chiefly employed in the collieries and iron- works. The living is a perpet. cur. annexed to the rect. of Gelligaer, in the dioc. of Llandaff. BKITHDIE, a tnshp. in the par. of Berriew, hunds. of Newtown and Pool, in the co. of Montgomery, North Wal^s, 4 miles to the N.W. of Montgomery. BRITHDIK, a tnshp. in the par. of Llanrhaiadr-yn- Mochmmt, hund. of Llanfyllin, in the co. of Mont- gomery. North Wales, 4 miles to the N. of Llanfyllin. BR1THDIR, a tnshp. in the par. and borough of Llan- idloes, and hund. of the same name, in the co. of Hont- ry, North Wales. " KUTHDIR, ISAF and UCHAF, tnshps. in the par. of Dolgelly, and huud. of Talybont, in the co. of i'Hicth, North Wales. I'.UITON FERRY, a par. in the hund. of Neath, in o. of Glamorgan, South Wales, 2 miles to the S. uth. The village stands in a charming spot on roast of Swansea Bay, at the mouth of the river ii. and in a station ou the South Wales railway. Kcath canal terminates at this place. The manor igs to the Earl of Jersey. The inhabitants of the village are chiefly employed in the neighbouring Murks. The living is a perpet. cur. in the dioc. of hiff, of the val. of 121, in the gift of the Earl of Jersey. The views from the church are remarkably fine. poets Gray and Mason used to visit this place, and ier celebrated its beauty in one of his poems. BRITTENTON, a hmlt. in the par. of Standlake, hund of Bampton, in the co. of Oxford, 4 miles to the S.K. of Witncy. It is near the junction of the river Windrush with the Thames. BRITTON, a vil. in the par. of Wakefield, and wap. . L;brigg, in the West Riding of the co. of York, not i om Wakefield. The living is a cur. in the dioc. of Eipon, in the patron, of W. B. Beaumont, Esq. BRITWAY, a par. in the bars, of Barrymore and Kinataloon, in the co. of Cork, prov. of Munster, Ireland, 5 miles to the S.E. of Rathcormack. It is situated in a ile district, partly hilly, on the banks of the river Bride. The living is a rect. united with the vie. of Affhern, in the dioc. of Cork, Ross, and Cloyne. 15UITWELL, a lib. in the par. and hund. of Burn- ham, in the co. of Buckingham, 3 miles to the N.E. of Maidenhead. BRITWELL-PRIOR, or BRIGHTWELL-PRIOR, a chplry. in the par. of Newington, and huud. of Ewelme, in the co. of Oxford, 1 mile from Watlington, and 8 N.E. of Wallingford. The living is united with the rect. of Newington. The church is a small ancient building, with several brasses. Many military remains have been found in this neighbourhood, which is supposed to have been the scene of one of Hampden's battles. It was the site of a small priory, of which there are no remains. A nunnery existed here some years ago. The principal residence is Britwell Grove. BRITWELL- SALOME, or BRIGHTWELL- SA- LOME, a par. in the hund. of Lewknor, in the co. of Oxford, close to Britwell-Prior. It is situated near the ancient way called Icknield Street, which crossed Britwell Downs. On the downs are remains of a camp. The living is a rect. * in the dioc. of Oxford, of the val. of 240, in the patron, of Lord Carrington. The church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is a small stone building, with bell-cot for two bells. It contains a very ancient font and some brasses. The charities amount to 2 per annum. BRIXHAM, UPPER and LOWER, a par., sea- port, and market town, in the hund. of Haytor, in the co. of Devon, 4J miles to the N.E. of Dartmouth, and 28 miles to the S. of Exeter. The Dartmouth and Torquay branch of the South Devon railway has a station at Brixham Road, about 2 miles from the town. Brix- ham is situated in a hilly and beautiful country, on the coast of the English Channel, near the southern extremity of Torbay. It is noted in history as the land- ing-place of William, Prince of Orange, on his arrival in England, on the 4th November, 1688, the event being recorded on a piece of stone, said to be a portion of the rock on which ho first set foot, let into the base of a small granite obelisk now standing on the outer pier. Previous to the time of the French war, Brixham was a small country village one part, that immediately round the church, inhabited by agriculturists, the other part, near a small jetty about a mile from the church, by fishermen. During the war the place increased rapidly, and was made a market-town in 1799. The two parts of the town, called Higher and Lower, now nearly united, spread in an irregular manner from the water side up the hills, which approach the coast. There are many modern and good houses, some of which are pleasantly seated about the cliffs ; but the greater part of the town is in a picturesque valley opening to the quay, and bounded on the E. by tho lofty sea-cliffs and Berry Head, the most eastern point of the bay. On the north side of the bay is tho fashionable watering- place of Torquay, being distant only 5 miles by water, or 9 by the carnage road, from Brixham. In the lower town, called also Brixham Quay, are the market-house and the custom-house. This is the larger and more im- portant district, containing, according to the census of 1861, 4,581 inhabitants, with rateable property to the value of 5,000. At the close of 1862, a board was formed under the Local Government Act of 1858, for the better cleansing, draining, paving, and lighting this portion of the town. The public rooms, midway between the harbour and the upper extremity of the town, were built in 1835. The port, which is subordinate to that of Dartmouth, consists of an inner and outer basin, com- municating with each other ; the former, constructed by the government in 1804, and the latter by the inha- bitants about 1830, at a cost of about 5,300. An Act of Parliament was afterwards obtained for enlarging the breakwater, and building an extensive pier, which was commenced in 1843. The number of vessels belonging to the port in 1862 was 100, of an aggregate tonnage of 18,098 tons, value 181,649, besides 215 decked vessels for trawling. Large quantities of turbot, soles, mackerel, and other fish are taken, and exported to London, Bath, Exeter, and Bristol. The fisheries employ about 1,600 seamen, and yield an average of 20 tons of fish weekly. A small lighthouse was built on the pier-head in 1839. Brixham is a coastguard station. The exports consist of iron ore, sheep, and a little malt ; the imports, coal from tho North, cider, fruit, and cattle from France and the Channel Islands. Rope-making and ship-building are carried on here extensively. There are several fine limestone quarries in the neighbourhood ; also two iron- mines on Furzeham Common one opened in 1841, and the other in 1852; theore,whichisof alight yellow, crops out within a few feet of the surface, and is mixed with yellow ochre, which is manufactured into an excellent pigment and sold to the dockyards. In connection with the mine is a sewage-pipe and ironstone pottery, which renders available the clay thrown out by the miners. The living is a vie.* in the dioc. of Exeter, of the vol., with the perpet. curs, of Churston-Ferrers and Kingswear annexed, of 494, in the patron, of the crown. The church stands in the upper town, and is dedicated to St. Mary. It is a spacious ancient edifice in the per- pendicular style, with an embattled tower, and was founded in the latter part of the 14th century by the prior of Totnes. It was repaired in 1852, when a new chancel was added at the cost of 700. The east window is of stained glass, and was presented by Sir J. B. Y. Buller, Bart., and the Rev. Robert Holdsworth. In the church arc a richly-carved font of the 14th century, several old family monuments, and the cenotaph of Judge Buller. The register dates from the year 1468. A church was built at Lower Brixham, near the quay, in 1820 ; it has subsequently been enlarged to the extent of 800 sittings, and recently constituted into a district parish: the living is a perpet. cur.,* worth 280, with house and six acres of glebe, in the gift of the crown. There are three chapels in the town, belonging to the