Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/128

OBFORD. 113 ORKNEY ISLANDS. oyster fishery, carried on under license from the cor- poration. The town, which was incorporated prior to the reign of Richard III., is governed, under a charter of James I., by a mayor, recorder, 8 portmcn, 12 bur- gesees, chamberlain, coroner, harbour-master, and other oiiicers. There are two lighthouses, termed High and Low Lights, or more frequently the " Orford Ness Lights," within a mile of each other, and about lj mile E. ot the town, which has a townhall, but is ill built, and has recently been reduced to a state of comparative insignificance. The elective franchise was granted in the 23rd of Edward I., but the exercise of it was dis- continued till the reign of Henry VI., from which period two members were regularly returned to parlia- ment until the passing of the Reform Act, when the borough was disfranchised. The tithes have been com- muted for a rent-charge of 317, and the glebe com- prises 10J acres. The living is a cur. annexed to the rcct. * of Sudborne, in the dioc. of Norwich. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is an ancient structure, with a ruined chancel and tower, the latter having fallen down in 1830. The interior of the church contains an old font, nine brasses bearing dates prior to 1500, and a monument to the Rev. Francis Mason, a former rector, and author of " Vindiciai Ecclesia> Anglicane." There were formerly two chapels dedi- cated to SS. John the Baptist and Leonard. The Methodists have a place of worship. On an eminence at the W. end of the town are the ruina of Orford Castle, supposed to have been built very soon after the Conquest. It consists of an eighteen sided keep 54 feet in diameter and 12 thick, Hanked by three square embattled towers 90 feet in height, which serve as a sea mark. There are also traces of a gateway tower, and of an outer wall and double fosso. Orford gives title of earl to the Walpolo family. Herbert do Losinga, the first bishop of Norwich, is said to have been born here. A hospital, dedicated to St. Leonard, was founded here in the reign of Edward II., and con- tinued to nourish till 1589, and a priory of Augustine Canons was established about the 23rd of Edward I. A fair is held on the 24th June. ORFORD, a hmlt. in the par. of Warrington, co. Lancaster, 1 mile N. of Warrington. ORFORD, an ext. par. place adjoining the par. of Binbrook St. Gabriel, in the S. div. of the hund. of Walshcroft, parts of Lindsey , co. Lincoln, 1 mile N. W. of Binbrook, and 7 N.E. of Market Rasen. There was formerly a priory of Pncmonstratensian nuns, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and founded in the reign of Henry II. by William do Albini. ORFORDNESS, a promontory on the coast of Suffolk, in N. lat. 52 6', and E. long." 1 34', 2 miles E. of Orford. It is marked by the Orfordness lights, and is the point where the tides of the North Sea and English Channel meet, with sands to the N. and S. ORGARSWICK, a par. in the lib. of Romney Marsh, lathe of Shepway, co. Kent, 2J miles N.W. of Dym- church, and 4 N.E. of New Romney, its post town. It is situated in Romney Marsh, and consists of a few farmhouses. The living is a sinecure rect. in the dioc. of Canterbury, val. 39, in the patron, of the dean and chapter. There is no church, the few inhabitants fre- quenting that of Dymchurch. ORGREAVK, a tnshp. in the par. of Alrewas, N. div. of the hund. of Offlow, co. Stafford, 4J miles N.E. of Lichfield. It is situated on the river Trent. ORGREAVE, a tnshp. in the par. of Rotherham, S. div. of the wap. of Stratforth, West Riding co. York, 4 miles S.W. of Rotherham. It is situated on the W. bank of the river Rother, near the North Midland railway. ORINS AY, an islet in the par. of North Uist, Western Islands, coast of Scotland, 3 miles S. of Boveray Island. ORIOR LOWER, a bar. in co. Armagh, prov. of Ulster, Ireland. It is bounded by East and West O'Neilland, co. Down, and by -the bars, of Upper and Lower Fews. It contains the vils. of Pointzpass and Tanderagee, and the pars, of Ballymore, and parts of those of Forkill, Kilclooney, Killevy, Kilmore, and Loughgilly. ORIOR, UPPER, a bar. in co. Armagh, prov. of Ulster, Ireland. Its boundaries are Fews, and cos. Louth and Down. It contains the pars, of Jonesborough, and parts of Forkill, Killevy, Loughgilly, and Newry. ORITOR, a vil. in the bar. of Dungannon, co. Tyrone, Ireland, 3 miles N.W. of Cookstown. Fairs are held here in July, August, October, and November. ORKNEY ISLANDS, the Orcades and ThuU of the ancients, are a group of islands lying off the coast of Caithness, at the north-eastern extremity of continental Scotland, from which they are separated by a channel called Pentland Frith, from 6 to 12 miles broad. They are grouped with considerable compactness, and lie between the parallels of 54 47' and 59 20' N. lat., and between 2 4' and 3 23' W. long. They are upwards of 67 in number, but only 29 of them are inhabited, the remainder being small holms appropriated to the pasturage of sheep. There are also many rocky islets, called skerries, which sustain no herbage, and are there- fore altogether waste. The aggregate area is about 600 square miles, or 384,000 acres, of which about 84,000 are under cultivation. The rocks belong to the Old Red sandstone formation, with the exception of a little granite near Stromuess, and some basalt dykes. In the sandstone numbers of rare fossil fish, including the asterolepia, have been met with, and in the peat mosses, stumps of large trees, hazel-nuts, deor's-horng, and other carbonised fossils occur, showing that forosti ouco covered the surface, although at present it is bog and moorland, the climate being eminently unpropitioua to the growth of trees. The soil is chiefly clay and sand, intermixed with peat-moss, and in many places shell marl, and bog iron-ore are met with. Sanday is the most fertile of the islands. There are 110 streams deserving the name of rivers in any of the islands ; but springs of pure water are frequent, and several fresh- water lakes, the largest of which, called Stennis, is in the island of Mainland, and measures near 14 miles in circuit. These islands were anciently inhabited by the Picts, but were taken possession of by the Norwegians in 870 under Harold Harfager, and continued to bs governed by a line of Norwegian jarls or eorls till 1468, sometimes acknowledging the sovereignty of Denmark and Norway, and at other times that of Scotland, but were finally secured to James III. of Scotland as the dower of his queen, and have subsequently been held as a stewartry by the Sinclairs, Stewarts, Mortons, Hamiltons, and at present by the house of Dundas, Earls of Zetland. The population at the commencement of the present century was 24,445, which had increased in 1851 to 31,455, and in 1861 to 32,395. The old rent, according to the Scottish valuation, was 7,050, but the real rent, under the new valuation in 1860, was 41,694. For political purposes the Orkneys constitute a civil county, returning, in conjunction with the Shetland archipelago and Fair Island, one member to the im- perial parliament. The parliamentary constituency in 1860 was Orkney 429, and Shetland 182, making to- gether 611. They are governed in common with the Shetland Isles as one county, by a lord-lieutenant, sheriff, and vice-admiral, assisted by a sheriff substitute and other officers. The county town is Kirkwall, in the island of Pomona, the only royal burgh in the shire. The whole district is divided into 30 parishes, contain- ing about 97 villages and hamlets. About 13 of the islands are of considerable size. The principal are Mainland, or Pomona (the largest), Coppinshay, Gava, Gairsay, Lambholm, Papa, South Hoy, North Konaldshay, Westray, Sanday, Eday, Stronsay, Rousay, and Shapin- say. Nearly all the larger islands are of exceedingly irregular form, being pierced in every direction by friths or arms of the sea. In some of these islands the coasts are flat and sandy, and in others bold and rocky, particularly towards the W., where the cliffs rise from 100 to 500 feet, and in the island of Hoy to the height of 1,000 feet perpendicularly. The surface is in gn I level, the only mountains being in the island of H"y,