Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/793

WESTMESTON. 731 WESTMORELAND. of cheese is made. Wheat and barley are very little grown ; the principal crops are oats and potatoes. In 1866, 115,177 acres, or 32 per cent, of the arable land was under crops. Of this extent only 1,196 acres were under wheat, and 668 under barley, bere, and rye, 38,660 under oats, 16,648 of potatoes, 6,619 of turnips, 1,301 of other green crops, 342 of flax, and 60,943 of meadow and clover. There were only three counties in Ireland, of which a large proportion of the entire area was grass, exclusive of meadow and clover viz., Heath, Limerick, and Fermanagh. In 1863 there were on 11,943 holdings 13,481 horses, 4,192 mules and asses, 79,312 cattle, 132,428 sheep, 1-5,634 pigs, 4,405 goats, 218,503 poultry, of the estimated value of 792,132. The peasantry are intelligent, and readily adopt improved systems of fanning. Their houses are small, but neatly kept. Of 17,526 families in 1861, 7,334 were returned as engaged in agriculture, 2,736 at some manufactures or trades, and 7,450 were employed at other pursuits. Flour and meal are manufactured in large quantities, and there are two woollen factories containing 1,692 spindles, and 25 where about 120 per- sons are employed. The county belongs chiefly to the dioc. of Heath, but also to that of Ardagh, which is united to the sees of Kilmore and Elphin. In the Roman Catholic distribution it is in the diocese of Heath, and the joint diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois. Of the population in 1861, 6,336, or 7'0 per cent., were members of the Established church ; 83,749, or 92'1 per cent., were Roman Catholics; and 794, or 0'9 per cent., belonged to other denominations. The county returns three members to parliament, two for the county at large, constituency 3,668 in 1865, and one for Athlone burgh, constituency 219. It is divided into 12 baronies Brawny, Clonlonan, Corkaree, Delvin, Farbill, Far- tullagh, Fore, Kilkenny West, Moyashel and Maghera- dernan, Aloycashel, Hoygoish, and Rathconrath, and contains 63 parishes. Its government is intrusted to a lieutenant and custos, a vice-lieutenant, a deputy-custos, a high sheriff, 18 deputy-lieutenants, 2 resident and about 121 local magistrates. It is in the home circuit, and the assizes are held at Hullingar. Quarter sessions are held there, and at Hoate and Delvin, and petty ses- sions at 16 places. The county gaol, county infirmary, and district lunatic asylum, are at Hullingar, and there is a bridewell at Hoate. The county is in the military district of Dublin, and there is a barrack station at Hul- lingar. Fairs are held in 40 places, and there are 9 market towns. The Poor-law Unions are Athlone, Delvin, and Hullingar, containing 16 dispensary dis- tricts. In 1861 there were 110 National schools, 30 schools under the church education and other societies, and 27 private schools, in which primary education was given, and there were 7 superior schools in which the course of instruction included at least one foreign lan- guage. In that year 38 per cent, of the population over five years of age were wholly ignorant, 21 per cent, could read only, and 41 per cent, could read and write. In 1841 the per centages were 52, 22, and 26 respec- tively. In 1863 there were 124 National schools, attended by 6,422 males and 7,122 females. The principal seats in the country are Pakenham Hall, Earl of Longford ; Rosmeade, Lord Vaux of Harrow- den ; Hoydrum Castle, Lord Castlemaine ; Gaulstown Park, Lord Kilmaine ; Knockdrin Castle, Levinge, Bart. ; Killua Castle, Chapman, Bart. ; Rochfort, Hop- kins, Bart. ; Donore, Nugent, Bart. ; Ballinlough, Nugent, Bart. ; with numerous mansions of the resident gentry. The chief antiquities are Druidical remains at Castletown Qeoghegan, ancient forts at Kilbeggan, Rathconrath, and Turgesius, and the ruins of abbeys and castles in many places, including some castles of the De Lacys. One of them, called Sonnagh Castle, is situated upon the edge of a small lake. Westmeath gives the title of Harquis to the Nugent family. WESTMESTON, a par. in the hund. of Street, rape of Lewes, co. Sussex, 6 miles N. of Brighton, and 3 S.E. of Hassock's Gate station on the London and Brighton railway. The village is situated under South Down, and includes the hmlt. of Chillington. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Chichester, val. 636. The church is dedicated to St. Hartin. The register dates from 1587. .There is a National school. WESTMILL, a par. in the hund. of Braughin, co. Herts, 1J mile S.E. of Buntingford, and 9 miles N. of Ware. The village is situated on the N. road near the river Lemonfield Rib. It was the site of a Roman pot- tery, and two Roman cups were found in 1828. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Rochester, val. 470. The church is dedicated to St. Hary. The interior has been restored, and the E. window is of stained glass. The register dates from 1560. There are National and other schools. WESTMILL, a vil. in the par. of Cockpen, co. Edin- burgh, Scotland, 2 miles S.W. of Dalkeith. It is situ- ated on the North Esk, adjoining the town of Lasswade, of which it forms a suburb. WESTMINSTER, a city and metropolitan borough locally in the Kensington d'iv. of Ossulstone hund., co. Middlesex, about 1 J mile S.W. of St. Paul's cathedral. It is a place of great antiquity, having been, as is said, tho site of a temple to Apollo in the Roman times ; but tho present city dates from the beginning of the 7th century, when Sebert, king of the East Saxons, erected the Abbey church on Thorney Island, then a marshy spot, almost surrounded by water, and named it " West Mynstre," in contradistinction to the East Minster, or St. Paul's, which had been previously founded by Ethelbert. The city of Westminster, as it is correctly called, by reason of its containing the abbey, which is a cathedral church, in- cludes the whole of the court portion of the metropolis, extending along the N. bank of the Thames for about 3J miles viz., from Temple Bar in the E. to beyond Kensington Palace in the W., and has a varying breadth of from half a mile to 2 miles. Its boundaries are tho city of London proper on the E. and N.E., the Thames on the S. and S.E., Oxford Street on tho N., and an irregular line on the W., running from Kensington gardens towards Chelsea Hospital. In 1851 it contained 24,755 houses, inhabited by a population of 241,611, and in 1861, 26,286 houses, inhabited by 254,623. As n. borough it has returned two members to parliament since the reign of Edward VI., and is governed by a high-steward, with a high-bailiff of his appointment, but both holding omce for life, and by 16 burgesses, each having jurisdiction, over a separate ward, similar to that exercised by an alderman of London. It has access across the Thames with the Surrey side by the Suspension, Waterloo, Westminster, and Vauxhall bridges, and contains Hyde Park, the Green Park, St. James's Park, and Kensington Gardens, also Bucking- ham Palace, the town residence of her Majesty, St. James's Palace, where drawing-rooms and receptions take place, tho Houses of Parliament, the Abbey, tho Supreme Courts, Chelsea Hospital, the Victoria railway stations, besides the more important government offices, and the town residences of tho principal nobility and gentry, a fuller description of which has already been given under the article LONDON. WESTMINSTER, a hund., co. Gloucester, in two divs., lower and upper. The former contains the pars, of Corse, Hasfleld, and parts of Boddington, Deerhurst, Elmstone, Hardwick, and Leigh ; and the latter, Hore- ton-in-the-Harsh, Sutton-under-Brails, Toddenham, and part of Bourton-on-the-Hill, together comprising 14,140 acres. WESTHOOR, an ext. par. place adjoining Curry Rivell, co. Somerset. WESTMORELAND, a small hilly co. in the extreme N.W. of England, forming a part of what is known as the lake district, as implied by its name, the ancient form of which was WestmoringalanA or Westmerland, It contains only 758 square miles, or 485,432 acres, of which a large .proportion is bleak moorland. It is bounded on the N. and N.W. by Cumberland and TJlleswater Lake, on the S. and S.W. by Lancaster and Morecambe Bay, on the N.E. by Durham and the river Tees, and on the E. and S.E. by Yorkshire. Its greatest