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f
A SHORT GEOGRAPHY
OF THE
BRITISH ISLANDS,
JOHN RICHARD GREEN, M.A., LL.D.,
««
HONORARY FELLOW OF JESUS' COLLEGE, OXFORD,
AND
ALICE STOPFORD GREEN.
WITH MAPS,
ITonbon :
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1879.
Tk« Right ^ Tmtulatiim and R«/r$dmcH«m it Keurvtd,
feO
5%^^
LONDON
R. CLAY, SONS. AND TAYLOR,
BREAD STREET HILI..
INTRODUCTION.
No drearier task can be set for the worst of crimi-
nals than that of studying a set of geographical text-
books such as the children in our schools are doomed
to use. Pages of " tables," " tables " of heights and
" tables" of areas, " tables " of mountains and "tables"
of table-lands, " tables " of numerals which look like
arithmetical problems, but are really statements of
population^: these, arranged in an alphabetical order
or disorder, form the only breaks in a chaotic mass
of what are amusingly styled " geographical facts,"
which turn out simply to be names, names of rivers
and names of hills, names of counties and names
of towns, a mass barely brought into grammatical
shape by the needful verbs and substantives, and
doited over with isolated phrases about mining here
and cotton-spinning there, which pass for Industrial
Geography.
Books such as these, if books they must be called,
are simply appeals to the memory ; they arc hand-
175481
viii INTRODUCTION.
books of mnemonics, but they are in no sense band-
books of Geography. Geography, as its name impHes,
is an " earth-picturing," a presentment of earth or a
portion of earth's surface in its actual form, and an
indication of the influence which that form has
exerted on human history or human society. To
give such a picture as this of our own country, in
however short and simple a fashion, is the aim of the
present work. It does not pretend to furnish the
learner with every possible detail of height or area.
What it seeks to do is to give him some notion of
what in form and surface his fatherland is hke, to
set before him a broad picture of these islands in
the strange diversity of their structure. With this
purpose it endeavours not only to point out the re-
lations of the British island-group to the European
continent as a whole, but to build up, step by step,
the geographical skeleton of each of its parts, to
trace the mountain structure of each country as
defining its plains, to show how the combination of
mountain and plain shapes its river system, or again
how the union of all these parts furnishes a ground-
work on which the national life in its local forms
has necessarily shaped and moulded itself, and by
whose character much of its political, and all of its
industrial life has as necessarily been determined.
I
INTRODUCTION. ix
That such an aim has been imperfectly realised
in the present book its writers know well. But if
their attempt to realise it does somewhat to make
the study of Geography a more living and attractive
thing the errors of detail which such a work can
hardly have escaped may well be pardoned. For
the study of Geography, small as is the part allotted
to it in actual teaching, is one which must occupy
a foremost place in any rational system of primary
education. When the prejudices and traditions of
our schools and schoolmasters have passed away —
as they must pass away before a truer conception
of the growth of a child's mind, and of the laws
which govern that growth — the test of right teaching
will be found in the correspondence of our instruc-
tion with the development of intellectual activity in
those whom we instruct. The starting-point of edu-
cation will be the child's first question. And the
child's first question is about the material world in
which it finds itself. So long as every sight and
every sound is an object of wonder, and of the
curiosity that comes of wonder, life will be a mere
string of " whats " and " whys." With an amusing
belief in the omniscience of his elders, the child asks
why the moon changes and what are the stars, why
the river runs and where the road goes to, why the
X INTRODUCTION.
hills are so high and what is beyond them. To
answer these questions as they should be answered
is to teach the little questioner Geography. Each of
the divisions into which Geography breaks does its
part in his training, as the picture of the earth in
which he lives grows into distinctness before him.
He may never hear of Physiography, but he learns
in simple outline what are the forces that tell through
heat and cold or wind or rain on the form of the
earth, and make it the earth we see. The name of
Physical Geography may never reach him, but he
gets a notion of what the earth's form actually is, of
the distribution of land and sea, of mountain and
plain over its surface, of the relative position of
continents and of countries, of the "why" rivers
run and the " where " roads run to. As the struc-
ture of the world thus becomes distinct to the child
he sees why races have settled, why nations lie within
their boundaries, why armies have marched and
battles have been fought, why commerce has taken
one road or another over sea and land, and thus
gathers his Historical Geography without knowing
it. So as he watches how mountains divide men or
rivers draw them together, how hill-line and water-
parting become bounds of province and shire, how
the town grows up by the stream and the port by
INTRODUCTION. xi
the harbour-mouth, the boy lays the foundation of
liis Political Geography, though he never sees a
" table of counties," or learns by rote a " list of
populations."
Studied in such a fashion as this Geography would
furnish a ground-work for all after instruction. It
is in fact the natural starting-point for all the sub-
jects of later training. History strikes its roots in
Geography ; for without a clear and vivid realiza-
tion of the physical structure of a country the
incidents of the hfe which men have lived in it
can have no interest or meaning. Through History
again Politics strike their roots in Geography, and
many a rash generalization would have been avoided
had political thinkers been trained in a knowledge
of the earth they live in, and of the influence which
its varying structure must needs exert on the varying
pvjlitical tendencies and institutions of the peoples
who part its empire between them. Nor are history
or politics the only studies which start naturally from
uch a ground- work. Physical science will claim
• very day a larger share in our teaching : and science
finds its natural starting-point in that acquaint-
:\\)ce with primary physics which enables a child to
know how earth and the forms of earth came to
be what they are. Even language, hindrance as its
xii INTRODUCTION.
premature and unintelligent study has been till novv
to the progress of education, will form the natural
consummation of instruction when it falls into its
proper place as the pursuit of riper years, and is
studied in its historical and geographical relations.
Such a dream of education. will doubtless long re-
main a dream ; but even as a dream it may help us
to realize the worth of Geography, and to look on
the study of it in a grander as well as a more rational
light than has commonly been done. It is at any rate
such a dream as this that has encouraged its writers to
attempt the present book. One word may be added
as to their share in its authorship. Both the writers
whose names appear on the title-page are responsible
for the general plan of the work, as well as for the
part of it which relates to England. The rest is
wholly due to the second of them.
JOHN RICHARD GREEN.
CONTENTS.
ENGLAND.
CHAP. PACH
I. Introductory .. i
II. General View of England and Wales .... 19
III. The Coast of England and Wales 29
IV. The Mountain Groups 40
V. The Upland Ranges 57
VI. The Plains 68
VII. The River System 75
VIII. The English Counties 1 S
IX. The Northumbrian Counties 114
X. The Counties of the Ribble and Mersey Basins . 123
XI. The Counties of the Severn Basin 133
xiv CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
XII. The Counties of the Humber Basin !45
Xni. The Counties of the Wash 162
XIV. The East Anghan Counties 172
XV. The Counties of the Thames Basin . . . . . 177
XVI. The Southern Counties 194
XV il. The South-western Counties 205
WALES.
I. General View of Wales . 216
II. The Welsh Counties 228
SCOTLAND.
I. Introductory 245
11, The Highlands 251
III. The Lowland Hills 269
IV. The Lowland Plain 27S
V. The River System 2S5
CONTENTS. XV
CHAP. '•A<i«
VI. Coast-line and Islands IP^
VII. rolitical Divisions • • •• 3'3
V III. The Highland Counties 318
IX. The Counties of the Lowland Plain 338
X. The Counties of the Lowland Hills 331
IRELAND.
I. General View of Ireland 362
II. The Irish Counties 376
LIST OF TABLES.
PAGE
Population of the British Islands i8
ENGLAND AND WALES.
Headlands, Bays, and Islands 38
Mountains 54
Uplands 66
Rivers 106
Groups of Counties ill
Coal Fields 112
The English Counties 214
The Welsh Counties 242
LIST OF TABLES. xvii
SCOTLAND.
PAGE
Mountains . , 276
Lakes 277
Rivers 301
Bays and Headlands 311
LsLinds 312
The Coiinfies . . 360
IRELAND.
Provinces and Counties . . 397
LIST OF MAPS.
VAGE
1. Map of the British Isles .... Frontispiece.
II. England and Wales. Coast-line and Water-
parting 21
III. The Cumbrian Hills 44
IV. The Welsh Hills 46
V. Hills of Devon and Cornwall 49
VI. England. Uplands and Plains 59
VII. England. River Systems ........ 77
VIII. Watershed of the North Sea ....... . 8i
IX. Basin of the Thames 90
X. Watershed of the Bristol Channel 96
XI. Watershed of the Irish Sea 102
XII. Counties of England and Wales 108
LIST OF MAPS.
xix
PACK
XIII. Northumbrian Counties .115
XIV. Lancashire and Cheshire 124
XV. The Counties of the Severn Basin 134
XVI. The Counties of the Trent Basin 147
XVII. Yorkshire 155
XVIII. The Counties of the Wash 164
XIX. East Anglian Counties 173
XX. Counties of the Thames Basin 178
XXI. Southern Counties 195
XXII. South-Westem Counties 206
XXIII. The Welsh Counties 229
XXIV. Physical Map of Scotland 244
LIST OF COLOURED MAPS.
I. Europe to face p. i
II. England ,, 29
III. Scotland , 313
IV. Ireland 362
10 limg.W. of Greeix-irLpb- Laiij;.I. of firerti>iili 10
;:''.'' 30 40
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. i { -J
THE
VuRSlTY
or
A SHORT GEOGRAPHY
OF THE
BRITISH ISLANDS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Europe and the British Isles. — The most im-
portant group of European islands, whether in size or
political consequence, is situated in the Atlantic Ocean,
just off the western coast of the European mainland.
This is the group of the British Isles. In number
they exceed five thousand, but the bulk of them are
mere masses and shelves of bare rock, and only two
are of geographical importance. The first. Great
Britain, is a long, narrow, irregular slip of land with
jagged edges, running nearly north and south, and
parted by a sea-channel from the nearest point*
of the mainland ; the second, Ireland, lying to the
westward of it, and of little more than a third its size,
« B
2 GEOGRAPHY. [chaf.
is a country whose short, broad form presents a
striking contrast to that of Britain, and which re-
sembles it in httle save the torn and jagged character of
its coast-line. The shallowness of the seas which sur-
round this island group shows that it once formed a
part of the adjacent continent. A hundred and eighty
miles to the west of Ireland, the sea-bottom of the
Atlantic falls precipitously into a vast basin, seven
thousand feet in depth, which represents the ocean
that in some past geological epoch washed the western
shores of the European mainland. But within this
line, to the eastward, the water suddenly shallows ; and
around the coasts of the existing islands the sea-bed is
of comparatively insignificant depth, varying from three
hundred feet deep in the English Channel to seventy
feet in the North Sea between Britain and Germany.
This slightly-sunk sea-bed, with the British Islands
which still rise above the surface of its waves, formed,
in fact, the extremity of a table- land that stretched
eastward as far as Russia, and part of which still exists
in the plain of Northern Europe. It was a slight de-
pression of this table-land that allowed the sea to
cover a great part of its surface, and by forming the
inlets now known as the English, the Irish, and the
Northern Channels, to break what remained into
islands, and to part these islands from the rest of
the European Continent.
Their Physical Resemblance.— It is this iden-
tity with the Continent which explains the physical
structure of the British Isles. If we look at any general
map of Europe, we see that the northern part of the
I.] INTRODUCTORY. 3
European continent consists of a vast plain, stretch-
ing from the Steppes of Asia to the British Channel ;
while at right angles to this plain, in a direction from
north to south, runs out a peninsula, that of Sleswig
and Jutland, whose line is carried northward by the
Danish isles and the mountain mass which con-
stitutes Scandinavia. Both these features of Northern
Europe are repeated in the British Islands. The great
northern plain is prolonged across the bed of the
North Sea to form the southern half of Great Britain
and the centre of Ireland. On the other hand, the
characteristics of the Scandinavian peninsula repro-
duce themselves in the northern projection of Britain,
in its long, narrow, and rugged form, and in the nature
of its mountain-ranges, which stiike down the western
side of the island from north to south, fronting the
ocean on their western side for the most part in a
steep wall of heights, and sinking slowly to the eastern
sea in more gradual slopes, down ^^hich are thrown
all the more important rivers of the country.
Physical Characteristics of the British
Islands. — But though the two great islands of the
British group are thus linked together by their relatioji
to the Continent, their severance from it has been the
cause of many points of contrast,
I. Climate. — Their insular position has a marked
effect on their climate. It gives them wannth, it
preserves them from extremes of heat and cold, and
it produces an abundance of moisture.
{a.) The British Isles are much warmer tha
other countries, save Norway, whether in Europe or
B 2
4 GEOGRAniY. [chap.
America, which lie so far to the northward. The mean
temperature of Ireland in the fifty-second degree
of latitude is the same as that of the United States
of America in the thirty-second degree of latitude,
though at this point the latter are situated more than
two thousand miles nearer the equator,
(d.) Again, in these islands great changes of te??ipe-
rature are unknown. Scotland lies at about the same
distance from the equator as Central Russia ; but
while the mean difference between summer heat and
winter cold is in Scotland only nineteen degrees, in
Central Russia it amounts to forty-eight degrees. This
mild and equable climate is caused by the fact that
all winds coming to the British Isles must first pass
over the sea, and in the case of the most frequent
of the British winds, the west wind, over great spaces
of sea. They are therefore cooler in summer and
warmer in winter than winds which travel over tracts
of land parched and burnt by the sun or frozen
by bitter cold. As all parts of the British Isles are
bathed in the same sea-winds, so all share alike in the
advantages they bring; and there is scarcely any
difference between the winter climate of the southern
coast of Britain and that of the Shetlands in the far
north.
{c.) But as the winds cross the water they gather
moisture, which falls in rain when they touch the
colder land. Hence the rainfall of these islands is
greater than that of the rest of Europe, its average
being over three feet. The prevailing wind is from
the west, the number of days on which a westerly
1.1 INTRODUCTORY. S
wind blows exceeding the number of days on which
the wind is easterly in a proportion of forty-five to
twenty-eight. This west wind, laden with the moist
vapours of the ocean which it has traversed, first
breaks upon Ireland ; and hence the climate of this
island is damper than that of the rest of the British
group. Ireland has an average of two hundred and
eight rainy days in the year. As its western mountain-
chains, however, are comparatively low, the rain-
clouds are not effectually caught by them, and so dis-
tribute their moisture more evenly over the whole
surface of the country than in the Island of Britain,
the difference between the rainfall on the eastern and
western coasts of Ireland being only nine inches. In
Britain, on the other hand, the mountains of the west
are high enough to intercept a large proportion of the
moisture borne along by this wind, and in some dis-
tricts of this part of the country the rainfall reaches
a ratio of more than seven feet a year. A belt of
rainy country thus extends along Western Britain,
but this excess of waters, through the mountainous
nature of the ground, is carried seaward in rapid
torrents, which are of little avail for navigation or
the promotion of fertility. In the eastern plains of
Britain the rainfall still remains considerable, amount-
ing to from one and a half to three feet in the year ;
but the undulating surface of the country, while it
hinders its accumulation in marshes, conduces to the
gathering of its waters together into rivers of greater
size and more gradual descent than on the west, and
thus renders tliem of greater utility to the soil.
6 GEOGRAniY. [chap.
{d.) Tills moderate climate and abundant supply
of moisture co-operate to promote the fertility of
the British Islands. Wheat can be cultivated even in
their northernmost regions ; and over a large part of
Britain it maybe grown at a height of looo feet above
the sea-level; while in the mountains of the north,
where this is impossible, it is replaced by hardier
grains, such as oats and barley. But over the
bulk of Ireland and in large districts of Britain,
especially in the western half of it, where the rainfall
is injurious to crops, the ground is more profitably
used for pastures, which are nowhere richer than
here.
II. Physical Structure. — Important as are these
results of their climate, the British Isles owe yet more
to the pecuHarities of their physical structure. In
hardly any part of the world is such a variety of
geological formations to be seen as in Britain ; almost
every kind of rock, from the oldest to the most recent
deposits, is in turn brought to the surface in some part
of these islands. The result of this is that the mineral
treasures which exist in some of these formations
are here easily accessible, and that in spite of the
mineral resources of America, Africa, and Australia,
Britain still remains the most productive mining
country in the world. Its rocks contain iron, tin,
copper, lead, zinc, and salt ; but they contain a yet
more valuable possession in their vast beds of coal.
The coal-measures of Britain, which extend over an
area of nearly 3000 square miles, have been the
centre from which the industrial movement of modern
I.] INTRODUCTORY. 7
limes in Europe and America has received its main
impulse. In Britain itself they are the source of vast
industries ; for manufactures of iron, steel, cutlery,
hardware, glass, pottery, cotton, wool, and other tex-
tile fabrics cluster round the coal-beds wherever they
are found. From Ireland, indeed, coal is absent ;
and it is through the want of it that, in spite of some
mineral resources, this country remains without manu-
factures, save that of linen, which flourishes in those
northern parts which adjoin the coal-beds of North
Britain. But this contrast only brings into stronger
light the physical characteristics which have given its
mineral wealth to Britain itself.
III. Position. — As the mining and manufacturing
industry of Britain is a result of its peculiar physical
structure, so the commerce of these islands is in great
part a result of their peculiar geographical position.
Placed as they are at the north-western angle of
Europe, they command the whole commerce of its
northern countries, as it passes through the North Sea
and the British Channel ; while they lie in the most
direct route for vessels bound from America to Europe.
Eondon in fact is placed at what is very nearly the
geometrical centre of those masses of land which
make up the earth-surface of the globe ; and is thus,
more than any city of the world, the natural point of
convergence for its different lines of navigation. The
position too of these islands in the ocean gives them
over neighbouring European countries the advan-
tage of tides high enough to carry large vessels up
the estuaries and harbours, whose abundance along
8 GEOGRAPHY. [chaf.
their coasts furnishes another element of commercial
importance.
IV. Political Geography. — Again, the peculi-
arities of the physical structure of the British Islands
have told on their political history.
I. Political and Social Differences of Ireland and Great
Britain. — To them are due the social and political
differences which so long parted Ireland from Great
Britain, and which still retard their practical union.
Ireland is distinguished from Great Britain by its
size, as well as by the characteristics both of its posi-
tion and of its physical structure. Its area amounts
to 30,000 square miles ; its greatest length is 290
miles, and its greatest breadth 175 miles. It is thus
little more than a third as large as the Island of Great
Britain. It differs from it as strongly in position as
in structure. While it is separated from America by
the whole width of the Atlantic Ocean, it is cut off
from Europe by the greater island to the westward of
it. This isolated position has to a great extent pro-
tected it from foreign invasion, and has preserved
in the country its ancient inhabitants with but little
change. But at the same time the island has been in
great measure shut out from direct contact with the
general civilizing influences of Europe, and it was
only in comparatively late times that its wandering
tribes were brought within the full scope of European
civilization. The remarkable unity of its physical
structure, so strongly in contrast with the variety of
that of Great Britain, has had even greater social
results. It is in fact reflected in the unvaried charac-
I.] INTRODUCTORY. 9
ter of its industry. The centre of the island forms a
broad, level plain, broken only by lakes, and traversed
by one large river, round which runs a circle of hills
and low mountains, which form a wide belt along
the northern and southern shores, and a narrower
belt along the eastern and western coasts. The
moisture of the Irish climate, which results from the
position of this island in the Atlantic Ocean, pro-
duces a constant rainfall which makes pasture more
profitable than tillage; and this vast central plain
has in all ages been mainly a grazing-ground for
cattle. Manufactures, save in the north, there are
none. The uniform character of the rocks, from
which coal is absent, and which contain metals in
but small quantities, have prevented any general
growth of manufacturing industry, and thus re-
stricted the great bulk of th2 inhabitants to agri-
cultural employments.
2. Political Division of Great Britain itself. —
While physical characteristics thus distinguish Ire-
land from Great Britain as a whole, they have also
been the chief causes which have brought about
the division of Great Britain itself into three sepa-
rate realms, and which have to a gre«it extent deter-
mined the social and political character of each of
these portions. Taken as a whole, Britain covers
an area of 84,000 square miles, its length is about
600 miles from north to south, while its breadth
varies from 33 to 367 miles. But it is only in com-
paratively recent times that the island has become a
single nation. For many centuries it was divided
lo GEOGRAPHY [chap.
into three separate countries, that of Scotland to the
north, and Wales to the west, while the southern
mass of the island bore the name of England.
3. Political Geography of Scotla?id. — Scotland owed
its separate existence partly to the form of Great
Britain, and partly to the physical differences between
the northern and the bulk of the southern parts of
the island. The disproportion between the length
and the breadth of Britain threw a great obstacle in
the way of political unity in times when communi-
cations were slow and difficult. Still greater obsta-
cles were interposed by the physical difference be-
tween the districts to the north of the Cheviots —
the hills which formed the frontier between Scotland
and England — and those to the south of them.
While the latter consisted for the most part of low
hills and open plains, Scotland was little more
than a continuous mass of high mountains separated
by a strip of level ground from another mass of bare
and lofty hills which extend to the border. This
natural division of the country into Highlands, or
the mountain district, and Lowlands, or the district of
the hills and the plains, was reflected in the twofold
character of its population, the Gael of the High-
lands being distinguished from the Enghshman of the
]^owlands by differences of race and speech which
long held them apart as two separate peoples. Within
each district too the broken character of the country
tended to promote the division of its inhabitants into
separate clans or bodies obeying their special chief-
tains, and hindered all efforts to bring them to any
I.] INTRODUCTORY. n
real national oneness. The barrenness also of their
soil, and the inclemency of their climate long doomed
the Scotch to extreme poverty ; while their position,
which cut them off from the civilizing influence of
Europe, kept them in a state of barbarism. On the
other hand, these hardships helped in creating a thrift
and endurance which enabled the smaller country to
hold its own against its greater neighbour. Scotland
is only about half the size of England, its area being
but 24,000 square miles, its extreme length 286, and
its breadth varying from t^^ to 160 miles; while in
wealth and population it was greatly inferior. But in
spite of this disproportion it preserved its indepen-
dence till a peaceful union was brought about by one
of the Scotch kings mounting the English throne.
Since this union its physical structure has again
played a great part in its social history. Whilst the
general progress of civilization has removed much of
the dissociating effects of its mountainous character,
the discovery of rich coal-beds in the level strip between
Highlands and Lowlands has given birth to manu-
factures and large towns, and, with the upgrowth of
agriculture in the south through the energy of its
people, has turned the poverty of the country into
comparative wealth.
4. Political Geography of Wales. — The severance
of Wales from the mass of the country was due to
only one of the circumstances which promoted the
separate existence of Scotland. Wales consists of a
tract of rugged, mountainous country projecting into
the Irish Sea from the western coast of Southern
12 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Britain, whose boimdary-line on the eastern side runs
where these mountains sink into the plains of which
Central England is made up. It thus resembles Scot-
land in its general features, save that its mountains
nowhere rise so high as those of Scotland, and that
it is far smaller, being only a seventh the size of
England, and covering an area of but 7,400 square
miles. It was in fact a small mountain fastness in
which the older, or Celtic, peoples of Northern
Britain took refuge when the more open country w^as
conquered by the English invaders, and where they
long preserved their independence. Wales, like
Scotland, remained for ages poor and barbarous ; it
w^as in the same way cut off by England from contact
with civilized Europe, while the bleak moorlands and
slaty hills which cover most of its surface long
afforded only a thin pasture for small sheep and
cattle, and supported but a few inhabitants. But
again, like Scotland, Wales has in more recent times
owed a vast social change to its physical structure.
In the northern and southern parts of the country rich
beds of coal, iron, and slate have been found and
worked; and in these districts the general solitude
and poverty of the country is now exchanged for busy
industry and a teeming population.
5. Political Geography of England. — The rest of
the island, south of the Cheviots and west of Wales,
formed the kingdom of England. It is far the
largest of the three, for it is 350 miles long, and has
an area of 50,000 square miles. In appearance it at
once resembles and differs from the neighbouring
I.] INTRODUCTORY. 13
countries, for its mountains are less bold than those
of Scotland or Wales, while its plains are less mono-
tonous than those of Ireland. In fertility and general
wealth it is far more favoured than any. Its surface
is more varied ; it consists mainly of wide undulating
plains, but these are broken by low uplands in the
south and east, and by masses of mountains and
hills in the north and south-west. The undulating
character of most of its surface not only facilitates
communication and road-making, but promotes the
gathering together of the waters of the country into
streams and rivers. No other part of the British
Isles can compare with England in the complete-
ness of its system of rivers, which are spread over
the face of the land in an order more perfect than
that of almost any other European country. Unlike
the mere mountain torrents which arc so common in
Scotland and Wales, these rivers form a network of
navigable waters and carry fertility to all its plains.
The fruitfulness of England is aided by its climate, a
climate less damp than that of Ireland and less cold
than that of Scotland, but sufficiently varied in the
amount of its rainfall to allow the growth of grain
over the eastern half of the country, while it provides
rich pastures through the western. To these advan-
tages we may add that of mineral wealth, in a vast
extent of coal-beds and rich deposits of iron and
other metals, as well as salt-mines and beds of valu-
able clay. But much as it owes to its physical
structure, England owes hardly less to its geographical
position. It lies closer to Europe than either Scotland,
Z| GEOGRAPHY. " [chap.
Ireland, or Wales, and thus possesses greater advan-
tages for trade and commerce, while its harbours are
situated in more sheltered seas than those of its
fellow-countries.
Both its structure and position have combined to
shape its political history. Easy communication with
the Continent has brought England within reach of
its civilizing influences, as it has left her open to de-
scents of invaders, who have driven before them her
older inhabitants to the mountains of the north and
west. Thus it has come about that the Englishmen
of Southern Britain are more recent incomers into
the land than the Gael of the Highlands or the Cymry
of Wales. That their conquest of the country was
possible was due in great measure to the absence of
mountain-barriers such as checked their progress in
these latter districts ; but it is the absence of such
barriers which in later days enabled government to
act easily over the whole face of the land, and soon
drew its various tribes together into one people and
a highly organized realm. With such advantages of
structure and position, and with the far greater wealth
and population that came of them, it was inevitable
that England should in the long run gather the neigh-
bouring realms round it, and that it should form by
far the most important element in the political body
which has resulted from their union — the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
General Results of the Character of the
British Group. — From these special consequences
of the position and structure of each of its parts on
I.] INTRODUCTORY. 15
their character and history, we may now proceed to sain
up some of the more general consequences of their
structure and position as a whole. The fact that they
have been cut off from the Continent of Europe by a
belt of sea which forms them into islands, has pro-
duced most important results on the character of
these countries, on the growth of their civilization, on
the training' of their peoples, and on the part they
have played in the world's history.
(i.) The strip of sea which runs between the
British Isles and the Continent has greatly influenced
the progress of their inhabitants from barbarism to civi-
lization. Though foreign conquerors have in early
ages been able to cross over the sea to Britain ;
the English Channel and the North Sea have long
formed a barrier broad enough to prevent perpetual
invasion and disquiet from without, and to give such a
measure of security as was needed for the well-being
of the British peoples. But on the other hand these
seas have not been wide enough to shut out the
civilizing influences of Europe; foreign trade, and
wealth, and knowledge have been within easy reach of
its people. And in some cases the channel which
parts these islands from Europe has even invited
civilization to their shores. It has made them
a safe place of shelter for rnen driven out from
their own lands by poverty, by misgovern men t, or
by persecution, and wave after wave of immigrants
fiave thus been brought to our coasts, who have
carried with them a knowledge of arts and manu-
factures.
iG GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
-(2.) Again, it is owing to the sea that Great
Britain has won its place as the greatest naval
power of the world. This greatness has been the
natural consequence of men living in an island where
all trade and communication with other peoples
is wholly impossible except that which is carried
on across seas both dangerous and stormy, and where
sailors are trained to all kinds of peril and hard-
ship. The training of the people to this seafaring
life is made more complete and widespread by the
very form of the islands, long, narrow, with shores
deeply indented by creeks and bays, so that no
spot in the very heart of Great Britain could be
more than 120 miles from the sea, and most of its
inhabitants must at all times have been familiar with
the ocean.
(3.) The agricultural, manufacturing, and comniercial
industries which the British Isles owe to their physical
structure and European position enable them to main-
tain a very \2LYgQ population for the size of the country,
more than thirty-one millions of inhabitants. The
people are scattered indeed over the country in a most
unequal way — sometimes, in a great city like London,
over 9000 are crowded together in a square mile,
while again, in some desert mountainous district of
Northern Britain, scarcely thirteen persons can be
found in the same space. But this distribution of popu-^
lation is mainly determined by the distribution of
mineral wealth, especially of coal with its accom-
panying manufactures : in all mining districts the
people are thickly gathered together in large towiis,
I] INTRODUCTORY. 17
while agricultural districts with their rural villages
and hamlets are but thinly peopled. The various
countries in fact support a population exactly in
proportion to the amount of their coal-measures.
England has an average of 422 people to the square
mile, Wales of 164, Scotland of 112. In Ireland there
are 161 persons to the square mile, an unusually large
number for a mainly agricultural country.
(4.) The most important result of this large population
and of the narrow space of land within which it is
confined is our colonization of distant countries, and the
enormous consequenf "growth of the political import-
ance of Great Britain as an imperial power. As the
inhabitants of these islands have grown too many for
the narrow limits of their home, they have gone
out from it to America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, to
conquer new lands, or to found settlements of people
speaking the English tongue, and taking with them
English laws and customs. Tiiese colonies have so
increased in number and extent, that while the whole
area of the British Isles (121,692 square miles) docs
not represent more than one-sixteen-hundredth part
of the surface of the globe, and is not equal to one-
thirtieth part of the continent of Europe, the dominion
of Britain now extends over more than one-seventh of
the dry land of the world, that is, over a territory
equal to sixty-seven times the area of the British Isles,
and containing more than 200 millions of inhabitants.
The English language is spoken by 88 millions of
people as their mother-tongue, and if we include
men of other races who understand the language, by
c
x8
GEOGRArHY.
[CHAr. I.
at least loo millions — a number which promises soon
to increase two- or three-fold, as commercial interests
extend yet further. It is owing then in great part to
geographical circumstances that the political influence
of the English race has become one of the most
important facts of the world's history.
Plan of the Book. — In our survey of the
British islands, we shall follow the ord€r which is
determined by the social and material importance of
their various parts. First we shall describe the geo-
graphical and political divisions of England .with its
dependency of Wales, then those of Scotland, and
lastly those of Ireland.
Country.
Area ill square
miles.
p. pulation.
England
Wales
Scotland
Great Britain . . .
Ireland
Isle of Man and Channel Islands
United Kingdom . .
51,005
7398
30,463
21. 495. 131
1,217,13s
3.360,018
88,866
32,523
303
26,072,284
5-412,377
144,638
121,692
31,629,299
CHAPTER ir.
GENERAL VIEW OF ENGLAND AND WALES.
Character of the Country. — From our survey
of the general structure of the British Islands we
now therefore turn to survey that portion of them which
we know as Southern Britain, or the countries of
England and Wales. The first object on which our
view must be fixed is the character of the land
itself, for it is this that determines the inner history,
progress, and temper of a people by the daily in-
fluence it exerts on all their enterprises. VVe must
learn therefore to know the actual surface of Southern
Britain — where it is broken by rocky mountains,
where its rivers have formed valleys rich with
corn and fruits, and where its broad uplands
furnish pastures for flocks. Nor is any of this
knowledge useless. We get to understand the tnic
importance of these facts as we watch how from
age to age the inexorable lie of the land has com-
pelled very different races and generations of men to
live and build their cities by the same rivers in sheltered
valleys or in fertile plains ; to till the ground in the
C a
20 GEOGRAniY. [chap. ii.
same fruitful districts ; to make their roads along the
same lines marked out by nature, sometimes
across level plains, sometimes threading narrow valleys
between the hills, now turning aside to reach some
river-ford, and then rising over a mountain pass where
the line of hills dips so as to form a gap in the
forbidding heights. We learn why it is that the great
English roads are as old as the earliest times told of
by any history of England, and why so many towns
and even villages have a story that goes back to the
first beginnings of our people. And many things hard
to understand in history become easy as we know the
outer circumstances which led to the events of which
we read.
England and Wales, taken together, form a very
irregular triangle, lying between three seas, the North
Sea, the Irish Sea, and the English Channel, and
having but one land boundary, that on the north,
where England adjoins Scotland. The border line is
here marked by the short chain of the Cheviot Moun-
tains, and by those rivers which flow from either
extremity of this line of hills to the sea, the Solway
Firth on the south-east, and the Tweed on the north-
east (see Frontispiece). At first sight the tract within
this triangle may seem a mere confusion of hills,
and plains, and rivers, in which it is impossible
to distinguish any sort of plan. Nevertheless, it is
certain that order can be found in all this seeming
disorder if we begin by seizing clearly the great general
divisions marked by nature herself.
The Water-parting. — For this purpose, the first
ENGLAND AND WALES.
COASTLINB AND WATBRPAKTING.
%nn^i ^
>^ <r
"U
F B ▲ N C ft
iiiUMiNigi—tiiwin fb
22 GEOGRAPHY. [CHAP.
line Oi demarcation to lay hold of is the Water-part-
ing of England. The water-parting of any country is
that line of rising ground which parts its rivers one
from another. As the springs of the rivers lie on
different slopes of the hills or undulating ground
where they take their rise, they are thrown downwards
to the sea in different directions, while the higher
ground between them forms the water-parting. The
character of the country traversed by the line which
indicates it may vary very much. Sometimes this
line is drawn along the tops of high hills ; sometimes
it crosses a great upland where the slope of the
ground can hardly be discerned, or a low broken
country full of little hills and gentle undulations.
But difficult as it may be to trace it, it always exists.
Among all these differing kinds of scenery are to be
found springs of rivers, and between the Httle streams
which flow from them lies a line of slightly higher
ground which compels them to travel down the slope
on that side where they first took their rise.
Now the chief water-parting of England passes through
the centre of the country from north to south, dividing
it into two unequal parts, the larger part lying to the
east, the smaller to the west. The line drawn along this
water-parting is carried through three totally different
kinds of country. For nearly half its length it passes
down the centre of a chain of high moors and moun-
tains, called the Fenm?te Range, which runs due
south for 200 miles from the Cheviot Hills to the
Peak of Derbyshire ; a long unbroken line of bleak
and desolate table-lands, covered with heather and
II.] GENERAL VIEW OF ENGLAND AND WALES. ?3
thin mountain grass, whose solitude is only broken by
the sheep grazing on the broad slopes, and by
the sound of stone-quarrying. From the Peak it runs
south through the broad and fertile plain of central
England^ a plain broken here and there by low hills.
Finally its southernmost course lies across an upland
country of swelling downsy such as the Cotswolds,
covered in great part with open pasture lands. This
line therefore passes directly through all the great
features of English scenery, its moors and mountains,
its great plains, and its uplands.
Contrast between Eastern and Western
England. — But mountains, plains, and uplands
do not lie equally distributed over the surface of the
country ; on the contrary, the water-parting marks
a very distinct division between them (see p. 21).
To the west of it are gathered huge mountain-masses'
and wild moorlands, formed of very ancient, hard,
and rugged rocks. To the east, on the other hand,
lie broad plains of alluvial soil, and fertile river valleys,
parted from one another by uplands of chalk and
other soft rocks, which have been worn into gently
rounded outlines by wind and weather so as to form
low swelling downs, bearing no resemblance to the
mountains of the west.
View of Western England. — If we look from
the water-parting in detail to west and east, we shall
see distinctly the difference between the character
and scenery of these two divisions of the country.
Let us suppose a man to be standing on some high
hill at the southern extremity of the Pennine chain in
24 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Derbyshire, and looking westward over the mountains
which Ue between him and the Irish Sea. He will
see three distinct mountaifi groups, like three mighty
buttresses, thrown out from the western coast into
the sea, and parted from one another by deep and
wide bays.
First, to the west and south-west, lies the great
central group of the Welsh moimtains — a vast tract of
moorland broken by hill-ranges rising one behind
another with bare and rugged outlines, till they reach
their greatest height by the sea-coast in the peaks of
Snowdon, the loftiest mountain of southern Britain.
The whole of this Welsh group forms a peninsula,
very short in comparison to its great breadth, lying
between the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel, and
throwing out westward two spurs of mountainous rock.
In size it is immensely larger than the other groups ;
its mountain ranges are more bold and rugged, its
peaks higher, its valleys wilder, its bleak moorlands
more extensive, its soil more barren.
Looking now to the north of this group, the spec-
tator will see a second mass of mountains parted from
the first by a broad plain which has swept round
from eastern England and stretches along the shore of
the Irish Sea. Beyond this plain to northward lies a
small circular mass of high hills, set between two deep
indentations of the sea to north and south. This
little group of the Cumbrian Hills rising up out of
the sea, with its lines of mountains shutting in narrow
wooded valleys, each one of which contains its own lake,
forms the most beautiful spot of all English scenery.
II.] GENERAL VIEW OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 25
Far away in the extreme south-west lies a third
group of highlands, formed by the heights of Dei'on
and Corjiwall. Here a long narrow arm of rock
stretches out seawards between the Bristol and the
P^nglish Channels, and presents a treeless tract of
high moorlands, very bleak and barren, forming
sometimes a mere waste of boggy soil, sometimes
covered by a thin mountain pasture. The moors are
broken by high hills of granite, heavy and rounded in
form, thrown up from the table-lands ; and a wall of
bold cliffs lines the coast.
View of Eastern England. — To gain such a view
as this from any one point is of course impossible.
But the fancy of it may help us to realise the true
character of western England, and how it differs from
the east. For let us now suppose the same spectator
to turn his back on the mass of mountains that stretches
away behind him to the Irish Sea, and to look out
over England to the east and south-east with such
an imaginary telescope as will carry his eye as far
as the North Sea, to which the whole country dips
by slight degrees. Just before him stretch intermin-
able low undulations, forming a vast plain narrow-
ing to the south, a plain traversed by great rivers,
and bounded by a tlat-topped escarpment facing to
the north-west and rising boldly above the level
ground. This escarpment is the edge of a table-land,
known as the Oolitic uplands^ which slowly sinks on
its eastern side to a lesser plain. From the further
side of this second plain rises another steep escarp-
ment, that of the ChilUms and East Anglian Heights,
26 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
which forms the edge of a second table-land, that
in its turn sinks gently downwards on its eastern
side, and has its slopes hollowed out by little river-
valleys. These two escarpments, one after another,
run right across the scene from the shores of the
English Channel in the south to the brink of the
North Sea in the north-east and east. Beyond them
to the south-east lies the great basin of the
river Thames, and yet further off in the extreme
distance, the observer would catch sight of two
narrow straight lines of hills, the North and South
Downs, thrown out towards the Straits of Dover,
and forming boundary walls between yet smaller
plains which open out on the shores of the south-
eastern sea.
These upland ranges are, therefore, four in num-
ber; and taken together their form is roughly that
of a vast misshapen hand spread out over thq
face of eastern and southern England, and inclosing
between its fingers broad tracts of low-lying country
plentifully watered by rivers, and covered with fields
of corn and wheat, fruit orchards, and wooded pasture-
land. The whole surface of the land on this eastern
side falls by a long and gradual descent to the ocean,
while on the west the very reverse happens, and it
rises to its greatest height in the mountains which
front the western sea.
Results of this Contrast. — This disposition of
mountains and plains into two distinct divisions of
southern Britain has been the cause of several
important contrasts between the two parts of the
rr.] GENERAL VIEW OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 27
country. Some of these we have already mentioned,
but must briefly notice once more.
(a.) The wild western moors and hills are naturally
unfitted for tillage, while they are often rich in coal,
copper, lead, tin, or valuable stone. Hence the chief,
though not all the mining and manufacturing indus-
tries of England are carried on in its northern
and western districts, while the broad plains and
river valleys of the south and east are employed in
agriculture and pasture.
{b.) There is also a difference in climate between
the two parts. The mountains of the west act as a'
screen to protect the eastern plains on that side
where they are in danger of excessive rainfall which
would injure the crops. As heavy masses of clouds
drive up from the Atlantic Ocean, they are caught by
the mountain heights, and robbed of the greater part
of their moisture before they pass on to the plains.
Thus while the barren hills are constantly clothed in
mist, the fields beyond them receive only the needful
amount of water.
(c.) There are also historical and political differences
between the two divisions of Southern Britain, for their
peoples are in great part of different race and habits.
The low fruitful grounds of the east lay near to Europe,
a tempting prey open to enemies from abroad. As
wave after wave of foreign invasion swept over the
land, the older inhabitants were driven back for
refuge to the mountain fastnesses, where they could
long defend themselves from conquest And here
the descendants of these tribes still live, so that
28 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. ii.
the mountainous districts of the west are now peopled
by representatives of the oldest races of the land,
while in the lowlands of the east the descendants
of the later conquering peoples are to be found.
We have already seen how the physical differences
between the eastern and western parts of the island
have told on their population and wealth.
Such a view of England as we have taken from its
water-parting has enabled us to realize its general
character, and the relation of its various parts. We
may now therefore proceed to a more detailed survey
of the country, and examine in turn its coast, its
mountains, its uplands, its plains, and its system of
rivers.
•- »■
CHAPTER III.
COAST OF ENGLAND AND WALKS.
Importance of Coast-line. — In any country
having a sea-board, but especially in an island, the
character of the coast-line is of the highest importance.
As the inner structure of Uie country determines to a
great extent its inner history and character, so its shores,
its harbours, and its river estuaries influence its outer
relations, its intercourse with the world, its trade and
commercial development. It is possible for a mari-
time country to have a very great length of shore un-
broken by rivers or by indentations of the sea ; and
a land thus destitute of harbours, and shut out from
intercourse with foreign nations remains poor and bar-
barous. Other countries with a far smaller extent of
shore have their coasts so deeply cut by inlets of the
sea or by large rivers that from the earliest times trade,
and consequently civilization, have been drawn to
them. Those parts of the world which are now most
Onclcly peopled and prosperous are those whose
coasts are most abundantly furnished with harbours.
The Character of the Coast of any country
30 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
depends on the inner structure of the land itself. Our
general view over Southern Britain will enable us to
understand how the shores of England and Wales are
the necessary outcome of the mode in which the island
is built up, and of the resistance which its rocks are able
to offer to the seas which dash against them on every
side. The irregular triangle composed *of these two
countries opposes three different sides to the sea (see
p. 2i). The eastern side, from Berwick to the South
Foreland, measures in a straight, line 350 miles; the
southern, from the South Foreland to Land's End,
325 miles; the western, from Land's End to Berwick,
425 miles. But these shores are so deeply hollowed
out by bays and inlets of the sea, and so cut and in-
dented by estuaries and harbours, that the total length
of the coast-line amounts to 1,800 miles. There is
no country of the same size in the world, save Greece,
which is marked by an outline so varied and irregular
as that of Britain.
This irregular character, however, is not equally
true of every part of its shores, for it varies in the dif-
ferent coasts according to the character of the land
itself on that side. Let us first shortly sum up the
marked peculiarities of each coast, and see how these
correspond with the inner structure of the country.
The western coast consists mainly of four deep and
Avide bays, parted by projecting buttresses of land
thrust out into the sea. Bold cliffs and masses of
mountainous rocks bound the greater part of the
shore, rising sharply above the sea with stern
and rugged outlines. These cliffs are formed of very ;
III.] COAST OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 31
old and hard rocks, which are strong enough to resist
the eflfort of waves and weather to wear them down to
more even and gentler forms, and have thus preserved
their rugged features in spite of the sea which beats
against them, a deep and strong sea with very high
tides and great waves.
The eastern coast^ on the contrary, is a long, low,
monotonous line of level shore, sloping to the south-
cast, little broken by headlands, cliffs, bays, or inlets
of the sea, its only openings being formed by the
estuaries of the rivers which here empty themselves
into the sea. Where there are cliffs, the rocks are
generally lower than those on the west side, being
softer and easily worn away by weather. The shore
consists chiefly of gravel, clay, and sand, with long
reaches of desolate marshy ground, parted from one
another by lines of chalk cliffs worn by the waves
into gentle curves. From these low banks the bottom
of the sea slopes away very gradually, so that the bed
of the ocean for some distance is shallow, full of
shoals and sand-banks, and the tides are low and
regular in their quiet ebb and flow.
The southern coast of England combines the pecu-
liarities of both the eastern and the western coasts.
That half of it which lies to the eastward is an uneven
line of low shore— slightly broken— first a bit of chalk
cliff, then a stretch of level clay ; a second line of low
cliff, and a second tract of flat clay. But that half
which lies to the west begins to fomi itself into bays.
Two wide curves appear, such as those which lie on
the western side of the island, and in these two bays
.^2 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
the character of the cHfifs changes, till the bold outline
of the mountainous west is clearly marked. Further,
in passing from east to west along the English
Channel which washes the southern coast, we find
that the sea grows deeper and stronger as we get
farther west, till we reach the great waves of the
Atlantic.
The cause of this difference betwee7i the coasts is made
clear if we remember the difference which exists
between the eastern and western divisions of the
country, and how the whole land lies in an inclined
plane, sloping downwards from west to east. It is
the rugged mountain masses of the west which form
those massive peninsulas that distinguish the western
coast, while the eastern shore is simply made up of
the terminations of the low plains and the upland
ranges which alternate with them on this "side. The
gradual fall of the land from west to east also explains
why it is that the openings cut in the east coast are
made by river estuaries. The streams which rise
in the higher land to the west are thrown down the
hill-sides to the low ground of the east, and as
they pass through the soft sands and marshes of
the shore to empty themselves into the North Sea,
they hollow out those wide channels which break the
regularity of the coast-line.
But after this general survey we must study the
coasts in greater detail.
I. The east coast lies on the North Sea, sloping
slightly from north-west to south-east, from Berwick
upon Tweed to the South Foreland.
III.] COAST OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 33
(a.) There is but one island of any note along this
shore — Ifo/y Island^ near the north-eastern coast The
other isles are merely tracts of low swamp lying oflf
the marshy coast of the Thames estuary, such as
Foulness and Sheppey Islands.
(A) The coast is very simple in structure ; it is
divided into nearly equal parts by four river openings^
which increase in size as we proceed southwards.
The northern half is but slightly broken by two
smaller estuaries, the mouths of the Tees and the
Humber^ which form harbours opening out towards
Norway, Denmark, and Germany. The southern
half is more irregular, owing to two larger estuaries,
the Wash and the mouth of the IViames. The Wash
is formed by the washing in of the sea on a low marsh
where the openings of several rivers meet together,
and is absolutely useless for shipping. The whole
trade of the south is therefore gathered into the
greatest of all the estuaries, the mouth of the Thames,
which by its size as well as by its position so close to
Europe is the most important harbour in England.
(c.) The headlands of the east coast are few in
number. They are formed at three distinct points,
where the upland ranges of the east abut upon the
sea in cliffs composed mainly of chalk rocks which
break the level shore. The cliffs which terminate the
oolitic uplands extend from the mouth of the Tees
as far as Flamborough Head, above the marshes of the
Humber. Hunstanton Point marks the extremity of
the East Anglian Heights which line the shore south
of the Wash ; and bet>*'een the Thames estuary and the
D
c;4 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Straits of Dover are the North and South Forelands^
and the Dover cliffs, formed by the North Downs.
II. The south coast of England lies, from the
South Foreland to the Land's End, on the English
Channel, — a belt of sea which widens westward into
the Atlantic Ocean, and on the east opens through the
Straits of Dover into the North Sea. These narrow
straits, only twenty miles wide at one place, part
England from the nearest Continental country, France.
{a) There is but one large island adjoining the
shore, the Isle of Wight, situated near the central part
of the coast, with but a narrow passage between it
and the mainland, called on the north-east Sj>ithead,
and on the north-west the Solent.
At some distance from the Land's End, the most
south-western point of the British Islands, is the small
cluster of tlie Scilly Islands.
{b.) The coast to westward and eastward of its
central point is, as we have seen, of very distinct
character. From the cliffs of Dover to the Isle of:
Wight the sHghtly curved shore is only marked by
the low clay spit of Dunge Ness, and the chalk cliffs of
Beachy Head, at the extremity of the upland range
of the South Downs. On the other hand, to the west
of the Isle of Wight, the bays formed by the curvature
of the shore are parted by several projecting headlands)
— S. Alban's Head, the Bill of Portla7id, a long spur'
of rock striking out seawards, and Start Poi7it, a
promontory of very old and hard rock, in strong
contrast to the soft chalk of Beachy Head. The
extreme south-western part of the coast is formed
III.] COAST OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 35
by two abrupt masses of volcanic rock thnist out
into the sea from the Cornish heights, Lizard Hcad^
and the Land's End, which enclose between them
Mounfs Bay.
(r.) This coast contains three very great and
important harbours. Two of these, Portsmouth Har-
bour and Southampton Water, lie directly behind the
Isle of Wight. Portsmouth, completely landlocked,
forms a magnificent port, and is the great naval
arsenal of Britain : Southampton has a large trade
with Europe and the colonies. The third harbour,
Plymouth Sound, in the S.W., is the chief naval arsenal
of the country.
III. The west coast of England, extending from
the Land's End to the Solway Firth, is parted from
Ireland by a narrow belt of sea. In its widest central
part this is known as the Irish Sea, from whence it
opens out into the Atlantic Ocean by the narrower
passage of St. George's Channel on the south, and
the strait of the North Channel on the north.
{a.) Two islands lie in this sea. The Isle of Man,
half-way between England and Ireland, is thrown
across the centre of the Irish Sea. The Isle of
Anglesea lies close to the coast of Wales so as to
seem part of the mainland ; the Menai Strait, which
cuts it off from Wales, being so narrow as to be crossed
by a suspension-bridge.
{b.) The four bays of the western coast differ much
in character. While two of them, those to the north
and the south, are narrow, and terminate in river
estuaries, the two central ones consist of wide inlets
36 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
of the sea formed by the curvature of the shore. All
alike, however, lie between rocky and mountainous
peninsulas running out into the sea in the same south-
westerly direction. The northernmost opening in
the coast is the estuary of the Solway Firth, which
severs England from Scotland, and is bounded only
on the southern side by English land.
To the south of this firth lies a deep curve formed
by the Irish Sea as it washes in upon a belt of low
sandy shore between the mountains of Cumberland on
the north, and the mountains of Wales on the south.
The low coast-line which curves inwards between
these heights is interrupted by Morecambe Bay, lying
under the Cumbrian hills, and is further cleft by many
wide river estuaries, of which that of the Mersey is
the most important. These rivers form ports of great
value, whose westerly position gives them the chief
trade with Ireland and America ; the harbour at the
estuary of the Mersey is only second in importance to
that of the Thames itself
The next great bend of the shore forms Cardigan
Bay, and is of a very different character from the last.
It lies encircled by the Welsh hills, the line of its curve
being sharply broken to the north by a narrow ridge
of high rocks thrust out from the mountain masses
which bound it on this side; while to the east the
hills sweep in a semicircle round the bay, sinking
lower as they near its southern boundaries. Owing to ;
these encircling hills and to the evenness of the coast-
line, which is only broken by very small rivers, this
great bay is useless for trade and shipping. To north
III.] COAST OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 37
and south of it lie lesser inlets of the sea. On the
north is Carnafvon Bay, between the Isle of Anglesea
and the rocky tongue of land which forms the penin-
sula of Carnarvon : on the south St. Bride's Bay
lies at the very extremity of the peninsula. Beside
St. Bride's Bay a long creek running inland from the
sea forms the only harbour of this district, Milford
Baven.
The fourth opening of the west coast differs very
much from the last two in form and character.
Just opposite to the estuary of the Thames, a deep arm
of the sea, the Bristol Channel, is driven between the
mountainous country of Wales on the north, and the
highlands of the long peninsula which lies to the south
with its bold and rocky shores. Constantly narrowing
as it stretches more inland, this channel finally passes
into a great river estuary, the mouth of the Severn^
which here breaks the coast-line. The harbour of
Bristol, formed in this estuary, has a large shipping
trade, chiefly across St. George's Channel with Ireland.
The shores of the Bristol Channel are curved in its
wider part into lesser bays, Swansea and Carmarthen
Bays on the north, Bideford and Bridgewater Bays
on the south.
{c.) The headlands of the west coast are all formed
by projecting spurs of rock thrown out from the three
mountain groups which front the sea on this side.
The chief among them are St. Bee's Head, a height
jutting out from the Cumbrian Hills between the
Solway Firth and the great bay formed by the Irish
Sea ; Great Orme's Head, on the Welsh coast to the
3S
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
south of this bay ; Holyhead on Holyhead Island,
and Braich-y-Pwll, on either side of Carnarvon Bay j
St. DavicPs Head^ at the southern extremity of
Cardigan Bay ; St. Gowan's Jleadand Ha7'tland Point,
guarding the opening of the Bristol Channel, one on the
northern, the other on the southern side. The extreme
south-western point of English soil, the Land's End, is
formed by an abrupt mass of granite rock in which the
long projecting peninsula of the south terminates.
We must now turn from this survey of the coast, and
of the political and commercial results of its conform-
ation, to a survey of the land itself, and of its inner
structure. The most prominent features of this struc-
ture are its mountain-groups, and it is to a study of
these that we may proceed in the next chapter.
Headlands.
East Coast.
Sotith Coast.
West Coast.
Ft.
Ft.
Ft.
Flamborough Head 450.
Dunge Ness ....
92
Hartland Point . . .
350
Hunstanton Point . 60
Beachy Head . . .
04
S. Gowan's Head .
166
North Foreland . . 184
S. Alban's Head . .
440
S. David's Head . .
100
South Foreland . . 370
Portland Bill ....
30
Braich-y-Pwll . . .
<^A
Dover Cliffs .... 469
Start Point
204
Holyhead
719
The Lizard
224
Great Orme's Head
678
Land's End ....
60
S. Bee's Head . . .
466
Islands.
East Coast.
Sottth Coast.
West Coast.
Holy Lsland.
The Fame Islands.
Sheppey Island.
Isle of Wi£?ht.
Sc.lly Islands.
Isle of Anglesea.
Isle of Man.
III.] COAST OF ENGLAND AND WALES.
39
Bays and Estuaries.
East Coast.
South Coast.
IVest Coast.
The Tees.
Portsmouth Harbour.
Bideford Bay.
The H umber.
Southampton Water.
Plymouth Sound.
Bristol Channel.
The Wash.
Sjvansea Bay.
Tlie Thames.
Mount's Bay.
Caermarthen Bay.
Milford Haven.
•
S. Bride's Bay.
Cardigan Bay.
Estuary of the Dec.
Estuary of the Mersey.
Morecambe Bay.
Solway Firth.
CHAPTER IV.
MOUNTAIN GROUPS.
Importance of Mountains. — As we looked out
from the water-parting over western England, we saw the
country broken up into three great masses of moun-
tains. We must now examine these three districts
more in detail.
The mountains of any country are among its most
important features. By them the river-system of the
land is in great measure determined ; they influence
the climate for good or evil to the tillage of the soil j
by the character and mode of upheaval of their rocks
it is decided whether mines of precious metals are
to be brought to the surface or buried unknown in the
earth ; and on their position in the country, and the
degree of their steepness and wildness, depends the
question whether inland trade and commerce can be
easy and profitable, or whether it will be checked
by overpowering difficulties of communication. In
England the mountain groups are so disposed as to
give many advantages to the country. They send
CHAP. IV.] MOUNTAIN GROUPS. 41
down to the plains abundant rivers, they shield the
island from excessive rain, they contain great stores of
coal and mineral treasure, while they allow a free
communication between nearly every part of the
island, so that wealth and civilization may be easily
diffused.
The mountains of England lie in four distinct groups
— (i) the Pennine Range^ (2) the Cumbrian Hills , (3)
the Welsh Mountains^ and (4) the Hii^hlands of Devon
and Cornwall.
I. The Pennine Range (see p. 59) is a vast suc-
cession of moorlands and masses of hills stretching
southward from the Cheviot Hills in a long unbroken
line to the heart of England, and forming a kind of
backbone to the country. Throughout its whole course
it lies nearer to the Irish Sea than to the North Sea,
falling rapidly down to the western coast, but sinking
on the east to the broad plain of York. Its general
height is between 1,000 and 2,000 feet — but it rises to
nearly 3,000 feet in Cross Fell in the north, where the
mountain-ridge is wild and narrow. Further south
it broadens, and from its great table-lands throws up
a group of mountains, Mickle Felly Whemsidey Ingle-
boroughy and many others on the eastern side, while on
the west offshoots arc sent out towards the Irish Sea, so
that the moors here reach forty miles in breadth.
Again narrowing a little to the Peak^ a region of moor-
lands and rounded hills, the range dies down gradually
to the central plain of England, after having reached
a length of two hundred miles. A line of mountain
heights so wild and steep and of so great a length
42 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
forms almost a wall of separation between the east
and west of northern England, shutting them out to
a great extent from direct communication with each
other, and driving all traffic between England and
Scotland along two routes w^hich alone remain open to
it, the lowlands of the coast on the west, and the plain
of York on the east. The scenery of the moors re-
mains throughout wild and bleak; heather and thin
grass alone cover the uplands, and the rough hills are
in many places pierced by deep caverns formed in
their rocks of mountaui limestone, into which the hill-
torrents plunge to travel for a time under ground.
In the straitened river valleys alone can shelter be
found for some litde agriculture, and a few small
villages. All besides is silent and deserted.
There is one point, however, towards the south,
em part of the range where the character of the
moorland slopes is wholly changed. Here the up-
heaval of the lower rocks has rent asunder a vast
coalfield which once stretched across this part of;
England, and rich beds of coal and iron lie extended
on the slopes of the range to east and west, where
they have become the centre of the greatest mining
and manufacturing industries of England. The
working of iron and steel is carried on alike on both
sides of the range, but besides these there are special
industries which belong respectively to the eastern and
western slopes. The eastern or Yorkshire moors form
the great seat of the woollen trade, where the whole
of the English manufacture of cloth and worsted is
centred. On the western or Lancashire moors is the
IV.] MOUNTAIN GROUPS. 43
cotton manufacture^ whence England draws its entire
supply for internal and foreign trade. These indus-
tries have gathered round them, in what were once
moorland solitudes, the densest population in all
England, and have crowded the hill-sides with towns
half hidden under the cloud of smoke sent up from the
tall chimneys of innumerable factories, blast-furnaces,
and coal-pits.
II. The Cumbrian Group lies on the western side
of the Pennine Chain, to which it is bound by a spur
of high moorlands thrown across not far from Whern-
side. This connecting belt of moors dips midway
between the two mountain masses to form the pass of
Shap Fellf over which a road climbs by which all trade
passes between the western parts of England and
Scotland. To the north of Shap Fell the Cumbrian
Mountains are severed from the Pennines by the broad
valley of the river Eden ; to the south of it by the
narrow glen formed by the river Lune. The two bays
into which these rivers open, Solway Firth and More-
camhe Bay, enclose the Cumbrian group to north and
south.
Within these boundaries rises a small, compact,
circular mass of mountains, very steep on their
northern and western faces, but sinking gradually to
Morecambe Bay on the south in long and gentle slopes.
The centre of the group is marked by one of its
greatest mountains, Uelveilyn^ 3,000 feet high; the
northern borders by Skiddaw; the greatest western
heights by Scafell, the loftiest mountain in England,
3,i02 feet high, and by Bowfell lying near it To tlie
44
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
south is Collision Old Ma?i, whence the hills gradually
fall to the sea in the peninsula of Furness,
The great feature which distinguishes this district
from the rest of England is the number of its lakes^
which are the more remarkable as being the only large
Cu.MBKiAN Hills.
sheets of water throughout the whole country, and
so give to this region the name of the Lake Districts
These lakes lie in a somewhat regular order, occupying
IV.] MOUNTAIN GROUPS. 4$
long narrow valleys, which are ranged round the centre
of the group, Helvellyn, and radiate from it outwards
in all directions like the spokes of a wheel. The largest,
Windermere, points south ; Hawes Water and Ulles-
water, north-east; Thirhnere, north; Derwentwater
and Bassenthwaite Water, north-west ; Buttermeie and
Crummock Water, also north-west; Ennerdale Water,
west ; Wastwater, south-west ; and Conistoti Water
nearly south. In the midst of them, a little to the west
of Helvellyn, lies the high central valley of Borrowdale,
shut in on every side by closely encircling hills, and
very famous for the beauty of its scenery. The steep
sides of the mountains as they descend to the sea
are cut by many other valleys, deep, narrow, and
wild, worn by the mountain torrents flowing from the
upper lakes. But the only river of any size is the
Derwent, which, by means of its tributaries, drains
all the lakes of the north-west, itself taking its rise in
Derwentwater, close to Borrowdale.
The population of this district is scanty : its indus-
tries are limited to sheep-farming, and the working of
one or two lead mines, and of a coal-bed on the sea-
shore. But the character of the rocks, soil, and climate,
which have limited its means of wealth, have at* the
same time given to it a beauty in which it surpasses all
other parts of England.
III. The mountains of the Welsh Group form
a broad peninsula bounded on the north by the Irish
Sea, and on the south by the Bristol Channel. This
peninsula extends westward to St George's Channel,
where it sends out in a south-westerly direction
46
GEOGRAniY
[chap.
two spurs of mountainous rock, of which the upper
one is narrow and abrupt, the lower one broader and
longer, and which include between them Cardigan
Bay. The low island of Anglesea, lying close to the
land, has the look of a third projection point-
ing to the north-west. The narrow north-eastern part
Wklsh Hills.
of this mountain group is bounded on the east by the
river Dee and the wide plain stretching beyond it to
the Pennine chain ; the broader south-eastern portion
is cut off from the plain of Central England by the
narrow valley of the river Severn. These two valleys
form a continuation to the southward of that long
iv.T MOylSTTAIN GROUPS.
47
belt of low ground which extends from the head of
the Solway Firth along the western side of the Pen-
nine Chain, save where it is broken by the pass of
Shap-Fell, and which marks the eastern boundary of
the ancient rocks known as Cambrian and Silurian,
the first-formed land of Southern Britain (see p. 21).
The whole of the mountainous district which lies
to the west of these rivers formerly belonged to
the principality of Wales ; and though part of it has
now been taken into England, the greater part
still retains the older name. For the sake of clear-
ness, the whole group must first be considered under
the general name of the Welsh group ; afterwards it
will be possible to divide between the part now
included in England, and that which is still known as
Wales.
The structure of these mountains can be best under-
stood by observing the direction of their chief ranges.
Of these there are four, besides a tract of very broken
country which lies to the south-west. Three of the
mountain ranges run nearly in the same direction,
from north-east to south-west — (i) the Snowdon
Rar^e; (2) the Benvyn Mountains ; (3) the PUnlimmon
Range; (4) the fourth and most southerly range,
the Black Mountains and Brecknock Beacon^ lie due
east and west ; (5) the broken country made up
of Hereford Plain with its surrounding circle of
irregular heights forms the easternmost part of the
mountain group.
The mountain districts of Wales are all alike in
character, consisting as they do of extensive tracts
4S GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
of wild moorland broken by masses of hills, which rise
in the north-west in Snowdon to 3570 feet, a greater
height than any other Welsh summit, and form a
scenery of extreme grandeur and boldness. The
moors are studded with small tarns instead of lakes ;
and give rise to a number of rivers that dash down-
wards to the plains in steep waterfalls and rapid
torrents, the chief of these being the Severn and the
Wye, which take their rise near the centre of the
group. The whole mountainous district is less remark-
able, however, for the height of its hills than for the
variety of its wild and picturesque scenery, the great
beauty of its glens and mountain gorges, and
the abundance of its tarns and running waters. But
its rough moorlands and slaty hills are barren and
thinly-peopled, save by the borders of the Bristol
Channel, where the southern slopes of the Brecknock
Beacons and Black Mountains contain a bed of coal
and iron that stretches down to the sea-coast, and
here, as on the Pennine Moors, a sudden change takes
place, and crowded population and ceaseless activity
take the place of silence and desolation.
The fifth division, the broken plain of Hereford,
which has been taken from Wales to add to England,
is the only naturally fertile district lying to the west of
the Severn. It is broken by gently-sloping hills, and
surrounded on all sides by mountainous country.
On the south lie the Black Mountains, with their
outlying ridges ; on the west the high moorland
country which stretches along the eastern slopes
of PhnUmmon ; on the north long lines of hills
IV.]
MOUNTAIN GROUPS.
49
radiating northwards, — Stiper Stones^ Long Mynd,
Wenlock Edge and the Clee Hills ; and on the
east a ridge of steep heights which border the valley of
the Severn, the chief of these being the Malvern Hills
and Dean Forest. The wild and rugged character qf
the Welsh mountains is only preserved in the western
boundaries of this district, the eastern hills being much
lower and more gentle, while the broad plain, which
forms in fact the fruitful basin of the river Wye^ \%
rich with orchards and highly-cultivated ground.
LjxgiiHh. Channel
J/,War(Ut.
Hills or Dsvon and Cornwalu
IV. The peninsula of Devon and Cornwall,
which reaches out to the Atlantic between the Bristol
and the English Channels, is cut off from the uplands of
southern England by the valley of the river Parret and
by the Vale of Taunton — valleys which in fact form
a continuation to the south of the great depression
of the Severn valley, and like it divide the ancient
50 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
granites, schists, and slates of the western mountains
from the newer rocks of the east. (See p. 21.)
The peninsula which lies to westward of these
valleys differs in character from the mountain groups to
northward of it, but it is closely allied to the peninsula
of Brittany in France, which forms the opposite shore
of the Channel that has severed these two districts
one from another. On both sides of the sea there is
the same geological structure, the same rugged and
indented coast, the same climate, the same race of
mhabitants ; the very headlands in which the penin-
sulas terminate bear the same name of Land's End,
or Fin-des-terres.
The Devonian Heights rise on the southern shores of
the British Channel in the lofty tableland of Exmoor
and the Quantock Hills to the east of it. Exmoor
itself forms a barren and treeless moorland where
gloomy stretches of bog alternate with wide reaches
of sheep-pasture, cleft by wooded ravines. The hills
with which its surface is broken rise from 1,200 feet to
a height of 1,700 feet in Diinkerry Beacon. On its
northern side the tableland falls to the sea in steep
cliffs, while on the southern side the ground sinks
gradually towards the wide bay which lies between
Start Point and Portland Bill, to which the rivers of the
moorlands, such as the Exe, are thrown down.
■ To westward of the broad plain which forms the
lower valley of the Exe, and inclosed between that
river and the Tamar, rises Dartmoor, a second tract
of moorland between 1,000 and 2,000 feet high, more
extensive than the first, and yet more rugged and barren
IV.] MOUNTAIN GROUPS. 51
in scenery, without grass or trees, and like Exmoor,
covered by wide stretches of bog. It rises to its
greatest height of 2,040 feet on its western side in
the summit of Ves Tor, whence it slopes by degrees
to the English Channel, forming a projecting mass
thrust out against the waves, which terminates in
Start Point, and is bounded to east and west by deep
harbours, the mouth of the Exe, and Plymouth Sound.
This mass of heights is the centre where a number of
small rivers take their rise, and flow in all directions,
such as the P/ym, the Z>ar^, the Teign, and the Tawe
— all streams of little importance. It is a richer
district than Exmoor, for its rocks of slate and
granite contain mines of tin, copper, lead, and iron ;
and quarries of granite, marble, and limestone, besides
beds of porcelain clay.
To westward of the Tamar lie the Cornish High--
lands, a succession of granite moorlands broken by
hills much lower than those of Dartmoor and Exmoor.
These tablelands and hills, beginning on the shores of
Bideford Bay at Hartland Point, narrow so as to form
a single line of heights, with a rapid slope on either
side to the sea, and run to the south and south-
west as far as the high granite headland of the LatuTs
End and the volcanic rocks of Lizard Point, while
the bare cliffs of the Scilly Islands beyond show how
fiir the peninsula once stretched. The chief moun-
tains of Cornwall are Broum Willy, 1,368 feet high,
and close to it Rough Tor rising out of a tablehuid
of dreary, treeless waste, covered with bog.
Beneath the gloomy and barren surface of Cornwall
E a
52 GEOGRAPPIY. [chap.
valuable minerals lie buried. Its rocks contain some
of the very few tin-mines in the world, which, as far
as history takes us back, have given it a most
important foreign trade. Copper is also more abun-
dant in its rocks than anywhere else in Great Britain,
and besides these it possesses lead-mines and great
granite quarries. Here alone in the peninsula do
we find the country tolerably well peopled, for a
large mining population has been gathered to its
south-western end, where the mineral wealth is most
abundant.
Comparison of these Mountain Groups. —
The four mountain groups of the west coast have
certain points of likeness, {a.) They are alike com-
posed of those ancient Cambrian, Silurian, and
Devonian rocks whose summits rose as islets in
mid-ocean while the rocks of eastern England yet
lay hidden in its depths, {b.) They share in the same
poverty of soil, in the same excessive moisture of
climate, and consequently in the same scarcity of
tillage and scantiness of population. (c.) Their
sources of wealth and industry are the same —
sheep-grazing, stone quarrying, and the working of
mines of coal and metal.
But they have also their points of unlikejiess, each
one differing from all the rest in {a) relative position,
(p) in form and size, {c) in scenery, and {d) in the
quantity of their mineral wealth (see p. 21.)
The Pennine chain lies apart from the rest by its
inland position ; by its form of a long narrow wedge
driven down the centre of the country, it divides
iv.J MOUNTAIN GROUPS. 53
between two parts' of England so as to check com-
munication, while on the other hand the mountains of
the coast form a barrier, not between two portions of the
land, but between land and sea. But as the Pennines
traverse the narrowest and most remote part of England,
and run in a direction from north to south, the barrier
which they form does not wholly cut off any part of the
island from all other parts, and their influence in retard-
ing the spread of free intercourse is slight. In this
they differ from the Cheviot Mountains, which run
across the island from east to west, and so break it into
distinct parts, which remained separate kingdoms for
many hundred years. The Pennine Moors differ also
from the other mountain groups in the greater extent
of their coal fields, and in the variety of the manufac-
tures peculiar to them, for example, wool, cotton,
silk, pottery, hardware, and cutlery.
The three groups which rest on the sea contrast
strongly with one another in the four points mentioned.
They differ (a) in relative position. The Cumbrian
group lies west of the high mass of the Pennine Chain ;
the hills of Devon and Cornwall west of the low chalk
downs of southern England ; and the Welsh Mountains
west of the broken central plain of England, (d.) Again,
their forms are different ; the Cumbrian group is a small,
round, compact ring of heights, projecting very little
into the sea ; the Devonian group, a long, irregular,
and narrow peninsula thrust out into the ocean for
a great distance ; and the Welsh group, a much larger
mass than the other two, very broad, reaching out
into tlie sea farther than the northern group but not so
54 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
far as the southern, and sending out from its west-
ern shores two projecting tongues of land, {c.) The
character of the scenery varies in each group. The
Cumbrian Mountains are steep and high, lying close
together, and parted only by narrow valleys, with a
lake lying in the centre of each valley. Devon and
Cornwall, on the contrary, form a mountain plain
raised high above the sea level, chiefly composed of a
succession of bleak moorlands, broken here and there
by hills, but having no fertile valleys, no lakes, and no
steep mountain heights. The Welsh group combines
in itself the character of the other two. In the north
and south it has mountains like those of the Cum-
brian group, but far steeper, higher, bolder, and more ex-
tensive ; while in the centre and south-east there are
high moors and mountain plains like those of Devon or
Cornwall, but far wilder and more desolate. Owing
to its greater size, however, it differs in a very
marked way from the other groups in the extent
and importance of its river-system. (d.) There
is a difference, too, in the mineral wealth of the three
districts. The Cumbrian Hills are poor in minerals,
possessing only a bed of coal and a few lead-mines ;
Cornwall has its rare metals of tin and copper ;
while Wales contains, besides lead and copper, one of
the greatest coal and iron fields in Britain.
Mountains.
T/ie Pennine Range.
Cross Fell 2,892 feet.
Mickle Fell 2,591 „
iv.l
MOUNTAIN GROUPS.
55
Wheraside 2,414 feet.
Ingleborougli 2,373 „
Pen-y-gent 2,273 »
Pendle Hill 1,831 „
The Peak, Kinderscaut . . . 1,981 „
The Peak, Lord's Seat . . . 1,816 „
Axe Edge Hill 1,810 „
Weaver Hill ij205 ,,
The Cumbrian Group.
Scafell 3,162 feet.
Helvellyn 3,118 „
Skiddaw 3>o54 »
Fairfield 2,863 „
Great Gavel 2,949 „
Bow Fell 2,960 „
Pillar 2,932 „
Saddle Back 2,847 „
Coniston Old Man .... 2,577 „
The Welsh Group
Snowdon . . .
Carnedd Llewellyn
Aran Mowddwy .
Cadcr Idris . . .
Moel Shiabod . .
Brecknock Beacon
Cradle (Brecknock)
Plinlimmon . . .
Radnor Forest . .
Stipcr Stones (hi^'hest poir.t)
Long Mynd
3,570
3,482
2,972
2,929
2,865
2,910
2,630
2,469
2,166
1,759
1,674
feet.
56 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. iv.
Caradoc Hills 1,200 feet.
Wenlock Edge „
Clee Hills 1,805 „
The Devojtian Group.
Exmoor, Dunkerry Beacon . . 1,707 feet
Dartmoor, Yes Tor .... 2,040 „
Cornish Highlands, Brown Willy 1,368 ,,
„ „ Rough Tor 1,296 „
CHAPTER V.
UPLAND RANGES.
Scenery of Eastern England. — If we now look
from the water-parting over eastern England, a very
different scene lies before us from that presented by the
mountainous districts of the west. Instead of rugged
mountains and moorlands covered with heath, bog, or
scanty grass, we see lines of low hills, undulating
downs, and broad river plains with their corn-fields,
grass-lands, and orchards of fruit. Instead of wide
reaches of deserted moors, broken here and there by
the busy life of the coal-fields with their crowded
manufacturing cities, we find a country with the popu-
lation spread evenly over its surface in innumerable
villages and quiet country towns lying by the banks of
rivers. The activity, wealth, and unsightliness of the
mining districts are exchanged for the stillness of
agricultural life. This contrast is brought about by the
different character of the ground. The soft rocks of'
the east are without the mineral wealth, as they are
without the torn and distorted character of the western
mountains. The greatest elevations which we see are
58 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. v.
simply undulations of the ground, formed chiefly by
long lines of uplands dipping and rising again a they
traverse the great plains. In very few parts of eastern
England do the hills rise higher than from 500 to 900
feet, that is, to half the height of the chief mountains
of Devon and Cornwall, or about a quarter the height
of the chief Cumbrian Mountains ; and their gentle
slopes contrast strongly with the bold outlines of the
volcanic rocks and masses of hard slate which are
found in the west.
Uplands. — Before examining the uplands of eastern
England we must be very careful to avoid all confusion
between upland and mountain. An upland is a tract
of country often very extensive, raised sometimes many
hundred feet, sometimes only 200 feet, above the
level of the sea. Its surface may be quite smooth,
or varied by undulating ground — it may be extremely
fertile, or comparatively bleak and barren, accord-
ing to the character of the soil. Again, it is
possible for the upland to be low and even, and
the plain beside it very much broken by hills and
slightly raised, thus making the distinction between
them to be well-nigh lost in parts ; while in other
places the plain may be perfectly flat with the
high ground rising sharply from it like a wall so
as to form a steep escarpment. Thus the uplands
which cut through the broken plains of central and
eastern England are sufficient to add variety and beauty
to the scenery, without giving those strongly-marked
features to the country which distinguish the west.
The soft clays and chalk which compose them are
ENGLIND.
UPLANDS AND PLAINS.
n^mborou^h 1'
nxttmu CHAIN
I. CroM Pen.
t. WhcnMid*.
CBNTRAL FLAIM.
1. Cannock ChAnc.
a. Dudley Hilht.
OOLITtC RANGE,
t. Lrne Regit.
y Bdff* HUli.
4. Northampton ITplnndt.
1:1
9. Yoik Moeni
CHALK RANCH.
I. DorMt Ilewblfa
a. Salitbury Ftila.
3. MarlbortHMrh Dowm.
4. Hampablre Downs.
;. White Hone HUl.
ft. Ihley Down.
7. Chiiiera HUto.
kfiMt AoKiiea UpbuMk.
6o GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
worn away by time and weather into gently rounded
lines of hills, and no part of them is wholly unfit for
either agriculture or pasture.
The Upland Ranges. — Though the features of
upland and plain are sometimes so blended together
in eastern England as to make the line of separation
between them very slight, yet the ranges which form
the skeleton of the country on this side of the water-
parting can be distinctly traced. As the west of
England has its four mountain masses, so the east has
its four ranges of uplands, as the framework on which
it is built up. Of these we may call the first the
Oolitic Range ; while the three others, that is to
say, the Chilterns and East Anglian range, the North
Dow7is, and the South Downs, compose the ranges of
the Chalk. These ranges, however, are disposed in
an order wholly different from that of the west. Begin-
ning on the shores of the English Channel, where
they are closely linked together, they stretch out to
the north-east and east, making the form of a great
misshapen hand — a hand having the palm of a dwarf,
and the fingers of a giant. The northernmost range
is the longest, and contains the steepest heights ; the
other ranges decrease gradually in length and in
height to the South Downs, which is the least of all
in size, so that the whole surface of the land forms a
gradual slope from the oolitic uplands to the sea-shore.
The oolitic range and the first of the chalk ranges are
alike in their general direction ; both of them traverse ;
England from sea to sea, and both form on their \
western sides a tolerably steep escarpment, while
V J UPLAND RANGES. 6i
tlieir eastern slopes descend very gently and gradually
to the plains below. The two more southern branches
of the chalk uplands, the North and South Downs,
differ from them in being much narrower and shorter
lines of hilly country, more uniform on both their faces.
I. The Oolitic Range of uplands takes its
name from the character of the limestones of which
it is in great part composed, whose stones are
made up of a multitude of little round egg-like
particles, oon being the Greek word for an egg.
These uplands form a long chain of heights travers-
ing England from the cliffs which line the shores of
the English Channel on either side of Lyme Regis
in the south, to the mouth of the Tees on the
north-eastern coast. The whole range taken by itself
is in form something like a huge sickle, having its
handle resting on the English Channel, and the flat-
tened end of its blade on the German Ocean. Its great
length is made up of a number of different parts. The
southern extremity, which forms the handle of the sickle,
begins in the rocks by Lyme Regis. Thence an ir-
regular line of low broken heights extends northwards
towards the estuary of the Severn, where they suddenly
change in character as they emerge into the Cotswold
Jfills. These hills form a range of high tablelands
with a very steep escarpment looking out over the
Severn valley, and a gradual slope on their eastern
side ; their soil will grow little but a thin grass, so
that their whole industry consists of sheep grazing.
The long line of the Cotswolds as it trends round to
the north-east forms the beginning of the blade of the
62 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
sickle, and sinking lower and lower, soon passes into
the smaller and more broken Edge Hills. From the
Edge Hills the Northampton Heights stretch in a north-
easterly direction, and present a-low broad tableland,
scarcely raised above the plain to west of it. Their
north-eastern portion is known by the name of
Rockingham Forest, from the extremity of which a
narrow belt of the same gently undulating country,
called the Lincoln Uplands, runs northwards to the
Humber, where it unites with a second very short
line of uplands formed of chalk, the Lincoln Wolds.
To the north of the Humber both these ranges
are prolonged together in a neck of high land
called the York Wolds, composed for the most
part of chalk. They are for some distance nar-
rowed to right and left by the Plain of York
and the Holderness marsh ; but suddenly the heights
expand on either side — eastward to the sea-shore
at Flamboroiigh Head, the beginning of a long wall
of sea- cliffs reaching to the Tees, and westward
in the semi-circular line of the Hamhledon Hills.
The broad northern end of the whole range is
formed by the York Moors, a tract of wild moorland
■which runs east and west, and unites the Hambledon
Hills with the sea- cliffs of the eastern coast. These
moors are the highest and wildest part of the whole
range, and therefore of the whole of eastern England.
They are bleak and solitary, with their steep and
barren heights, their scattered sheep-farms, their
lonely tracts of gorse, and their clusters of stunted
trees lying in sheltered hollows. Their southern side is
v.] UPLAND RANGES. 63
deeply cut by narrow river valleys which run down to the
low ground of the Vale of Pickering, shut in between
the Moors and the Wolds : while their northern face
towards the Tees forms the steep line of the Cleveland
Hills ^ famous for producing the best iron in England,
and for being at present the only mining and manu-
facturing district of the English uplands.
Throughout the whole extent of the range, made up
as it is of all these parts, the western face is steeper
than the eastern, and forms a great escarpment which
overlooks the plains of central England and of
York. This escarpment, like the uplands which it
bounds, rises to its greatest height in its two opposite
extremities, the York Moors, and the Cotswold Hills,
while the lower central part of the range dips to the
plain, and like it is covered with corn and wheat and
richer pasture-lands. But the western escarpment of
the uplands is throughout its whole length clearly
defined by the river valleys which run along its base.
The valley of the Ouse bounds the Hambledon Hills
and York Wolds ; the valley of the Trent lies below
the Lincoln heights ; the Avon passes under the North-
ampton uplands and Edge Hills to the Cotswolds,
below which lies the Severn.
The oolitic range is important as marking a very
distinct natural division between two parts of Eng-
land. It fonns the eastern boundary of the manu-
facturing districts, which nowhere cross the limits
set by it. To the west and north-west of the
range, therefore, lie the whole industrial wealth and
activity of England, its centres of dense population,
64 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
and its commercial cities, inhabited chiefly by in-
telligent and trained artisans, classes of rising im-
portance in English political and social life. To
the south-east of the range, on the contrary, are the
agricultural districts of England, containing but one
great centre of crowded population in the valley of
the Thames.
II. The Chalk Ranges. — If we now look at Eng-
land from this oolitic range eastward we shall see that
what remains of it is an irregular triangle bounded
by the English Channel, the North Sea, and a line
drawn from the Wash to the Channel about Lyme.
All this vast triangle is occupied by the chalk uplands,
and the river plains and valleys which part their
branches from one another.
(i.) The northernmost of these chalk ranges ap-
proaches very nearly to the oolitic in position, in form,
and in direction, save that its course is shorter. It forms
a tableland with a steep flat-topped escarpment facing
west, and with a gradual slope to the south-east and
east, furrowed by small river valleys ; and it runs in
a direction almost parallel to the oolitic uplands
from the English Channel to the North Sea. Begin-
ning on the shores of the Channel east of Lyme in
the Dorset Heights, it so closely adjoins the oolitic
range as to form with it for some distance almost
one tract of uplands. The Dorset Heights as they pass
northwards widen to Salisbury Plain, a barren and
woodless tract of undulating country covered with a
short thin grass and difficult of cultivation save in
the valleys of the streams crossing it. North of
v.] UPLAND RANGES. 65
Salisbury Plain lie the Marlborough Downs^ whence
the range bends to the eastward, and forms the
escarpment of the White Horse Hill and Ilsley
Downs. It is now sharply broken across by a
cleft through which the river Thames passes ; and
on the further side of this gap it takes the name
of the Chiltem Hills^ a high range of chalk downs
running to the north-east. From the Chilterns to
Hunstanton Cliff on the shores of the Wash, the
uplands are known as the East Anglian Heights.
Here the chalk range widens until it fills nearly
the whole of that broad tract of land which pro-
jects eastward into the North Sea ; and as its western
side becomes less steep and clearly marked, and at
the same time its eastern slopes grow more and more
gradual in their decline, it forms a wide expanse of
gently-swelling upland, entirely given up to pasture
and agriculture.
(2.) The two remaining ranges of high ground in
southern England are formed of the same chalk rocks
as the Chilterns and the East Anglian Heights — but
they differ from that range in direction, in size, and
in form.
As the two northernmost ranges, the Oolitic and the
Chalk, are bound together at their first beginning in
the south, so the two southernmost ranges, the North
and South Downs, are in like manner linked together
for a time. From the eastern side of Salisbury Plain
a broad tract of chalk uplands, known as the Hamp-
shire Downs^ extends in an easterly direction, and
presently breaks into two short branches, which form
66 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
the two last fingers of the hand we have imagined.
These two branches, the North and South Downs,
have for their starting point the country about the
town of Winchester, whence the northern branch, the
No7'th Downs^ runs due east to the sea in a narrow
ridge of hills, which broadens at its eastern ex-
tremity till it ends in the North and South Forelands
and the cliffs of Dover and Folkestone.
(3.) The range of the South Doivns stretches from
the same point, and has a south-easterly direction to
Beachy Head on the English Channel. Like the
North Downs it runs in low flat-topped ridges never
mounting to 900 feet in height, or in lines of very
gentle curves rising one behind the other with a
monotony peculiar to chalk scenery.
Uplands.
Oolitic Range.
Cotswold Hills, Cleave Hills . 1,093 feet.
Edge Hills 826 „
Northampton uplands, highest
point 735 „
York Wolds, Wilton Beacon . 785 „
York Moors, Botton Head . . 1,489 „
Chalk Ratifies.
(i.) Dorset Heights, Pillesden Pen . 910 feet.
Salisbury Plain, highest point . 754 ,,
Marlborough Downs, Milk Hill 967 „
v.] UPLAND RANGES.
Ilsley Downs 800 feet.
Chiltern Hills .... 900 to 300 „
East Anglian Heights . . 300 to 60 „
(2.) Hampshire Downs —
Inkpen Beacon 972
Highclere Beacon .... 863 „
North Downs .... 863 to 300 ','
(3.) South Downs .... 880 to 100 «
67
CHAPTER VI.
THE PLAINS.
The Plains. — '^y plains wo: mean the low country
lying between the mountains or uplands which we .
have already surveyed. As we have seen, the plains
are often but little lower than the uplands, and are
varied in character, being sometimes broken by
low hilis and undulating ground, while at other times
they are perfectly level. In most cases they form the
valleys of rivers thrown down from the higher ground
by which the plains are shut in, and are thus the most
fruitful districts in England. (See p. 59).
I. The most extensive plain in England is that which
lies to the west and north-west of the Oolitic Range,
parting these uplands for their northern half from
the Pennine Chain, and for their southern half from
the group of the Welsh mountains. The two ends of
this great plain lie on opposite coasts of England,
one opening on the North Sea to the north of the
York Moors, the other on the Irish Sea between the
Welsh and Cumbrian mountains ; while its central
part is sharply curved round so as to inclose the south-
CH. VI.] THE PLAINS. 69
em extremity of the Pennine Chain in the Peak.
Thus the whole plain has the form of the letter J.
This plain is divided by its river valleys into three
separate parts.
{a.) One portion runs due north and south, parting
the Pennine Moors on its western side from the York
Moors and Wolds on the east. This portion is called
the Plain of York, or the Valley of the River
Ouse, and consists of a broad and perfectly level tract
of country, well watered by a great number of fine
rivers which flow across it in every part from the
neighbouring hills and moors, and make it through-
out its whole length one of the most fertile agricul-
tural districts in England.
{b.) The character of the country greatly changes at
the base of the Pennine Chain, where the plain sweeps
westward round the Peak of Derbyshire. Here it
widens considerably to form the great Central Plain
of England, or the Valley of the Trent, which
stretches between the basin of the Severn on the west,
Rockingham Poorest on the east, and the Pennine range
and the Cotswolds on the north and south. This broad
tract of low country is broken by undulating ground,
by low uplands such as that of Cannock Chase to the
north-west, and even by steep hills thrown up abruptly
from the level country, as the Dudley Hills near the
Welsh border. It differs from the York Plain not only
in its scenery but in its industries. While in some
parts the country is purely agricultural, in others the
industry wholly depends on mineral wealth and manu-
factures. Especially round the upthrow of the Dudley
70 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Hills, beds of coal and iron-mines have been dis-
covered, which have become the centre of one of
the busiest manufacturing districts of England and
have converted the country into a vast series of
furnaces, manufactories, coal-pits, iron-works, and
potteries, whose smoke almost destroys vegetation,
and has given to this region the name of the Black
Country.
(c.) Immediately to the north-west of the manufac-
turing district lies that portion of the great plain which
opens on the Irish Sea, the greater part of which is
known as the Plain of Cheshire. It extends for
some distance northwards along the western slopes of the
South Pennine Moors, and forms a deep and wide basin
parting them from the Welsh mountains. The ground
is for the most part perfectly level, only varied by one
line of low hills, and wholly given up to pasture for
cattle, and great dairy farms. In the centre of the plain,
however, along the valley of the Weaver, there is a
considerable sinking of the ground, marked by brine-
springs and deep mines of rock salt, where the chief
salt manufacture of England is carried on.
The whole of this immense plain, stretching as it
does from the North Sea to the Irish Sea, is thus as
varied in character as the upland range which bounds
its eastern side. While the line of uplands is high
at either end and lower in the centre, the extremities
of the plain are level and its central part raised.
As this higher ground adjoins the lowest part of
the upland range, that is, the low heights of the North-
ampton uplands, it follows that the difference in
VI.] THE PLAINS. 71
elevation between the two is not very clearly marked ;
and thus the whole central district of England, from
the Welsh border to the shores of the Wash, presents
the same appearance of very varied though quiet,
undulating country, unmarked by violent features of
any kind, affording throughout its greater part ex-
cellent soil for tillage and pasture, well-watered by
rivers, and rich in woodland.
II. The second valley or plain lies between the ranges
of the Oolitic and Chalk Uplands. It forms a long
belt of low tumbled country running in a north-
easterly direction, very narrow for the greater part, but
increasing to considerable width as it approaches the
shores of the Wash. In the south-east the Upper
Valley of the Thames parts the Marlborough
Downs from the Cotswolds and the Edge Hills, and
includes to westward the VaU of White Horse^ and to
eastward the wider and more broken VaU of Ayles-
bury^ running below the steep ridge of the Chiltern
Hills. This last vale leads into the Valley of the
Ouse, which separates the East Anglian uplands
from the low undulations of Rockingham Forest.
Near the shores of the Wash this tract of low
country becomes still broader; it opens in fact into
a wide stretch of level, monotonous marsh, traversed
by a multitude of sluggish streams. This district
of the Fens, sometimes known as Holland or the
hollow land, which in former times was merely a
swampy wilderness full of unhealthy vapours, has been
drained at immense cost of money and labour, and
been made very fertile and moderately healthy, but it
72 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
retains its dull monotony of scenery, long stagnant
water-courses winding through flat fields, and lines
of straight canals bordered by endless rows of willows.
III. A third plain parts the two northernmost
ranges of chalk uplands, and constitutes one of the
largest and most fertile valleys in England, and the
most important in its history. It is formed by the
lower Basin of the River Thames, the first and
greatest highway of communication between England
and the Continent. The valley consists of a sunken
clay soil, diversified here and there by low rising
grounds, through the midst of which the river runs with
innumerable windings, gathering to itself on its way the
many streams which fall down the gentle slopes of the
hills to north and south of it. At first narrow where it
is shut in between the Marlborough Downs and the
Hampshire Downs, the valley widens greatly at its
eastern opening, becoming more broken and undulating
where it parts the Chiltern Hills and the East Anglian
uplands from the North Downs. The low heights of
Epping and Haijiault Forests^ which still retain re-
mains of the ancient woods that once clothed them,
occupy the country to the north of the Thames estuary,
till they die down into the flat, swampy marshes which
lie along the sea-shore. The whole of this low-lying
plain is exceedingly fertile and highly cultivated, but
its great importance lies in the broad estuary of the
Thames as it widens out to the German Ocean, and
there opens the way by which vessels pass into the
port of London, the capital of England.
IV. A fourth plain is that inclosed between the
VI.] THE PLAINS. 73
Steep escarpments of the North and South Downs,
and called the Weald. This is wholly different
from the valley of the Thames. In form indeed
it is not very unlike it, having also a wide opening
on the sea to the east, and narrowing greatly to its
opposite extremity. Its soil also consists for the
most part of heavy clay. But along its centre lies,
not a low river valley, but a ridge of sandy heights,
called the Forest Ridge or the Wealden Heights^ which
forms the water-parting of the district. The rivers
of the Weald thus flow north and south from its
central heights, cutting right through the soft chalk
ranges on either side, instead of flowing like those of
the Thames basin from the hills on its borders to the
river valley in its centre. In appearance and fertility
the Weald is also very different from the Thames
valley ; on all sides we see lines of low rises which were
once a mass of tangled forest, and are still covered in
great part by trees, and but partially brought under
cultivation. It contains no large towns, and its vil-
lages are supported by agriculture and the employment
given by the extensive woodland. The whole of this
Wealden district and the neighbouring chalk downs
are remarkable for their exact resemblance in geolo-
gical structure to the district of Boulogne on the
opposite French coast, from which they have been
broken off by the narrow strait of Dover. The
likeness between the two shores of the channel is
thus marked as clearly in the later rocks of the east
as in the old formations of the west.
V. The smallest of all the English plains is the Plain
74 GEOGRAPHY. [CH. vi.
of Southampton, which lies on the southern coast. It
is a low basin of clay surrounded on three sides by chalk
downs — on the east by the South Downs, on the
north by the Hampshire Downs, and on the west by
the Downs of Dorset. Even on the southern side
chalk heights can be traced in the long cliff-line of
Purbeck, running out sharply to the eastward, and
continued across the southern half of the Isle of
Wight. In the centre of this low plain is the New
Forest, a hunting-ground of the kings of England
800 years ago, and still a wide tract of woodland.
This valley differs from the Weald in its level and
monotonous character, and also in containing the two
great sea-ports of the southern coast, Soicthampton and
Portsmouth ; while at the same time it differs from
the basin of the Thames in being very much less
fertile, and in having no large river to form a high-
way from its harbours to the heart of the country.
We thus see how great a part of England consists
of low plains, all of which are crossed by innumerable
roads, by canals measuring together 2,000 miles in
length, and by railroads, which carry the produce of
the country easily and rapidly to the great towns and
the trading-ports. Their most important feature,
however, is the system of rivers by which they are
traversed, and which we must now pass on to
survey.
CHAPTER VI r.
RIVER SYSTEM.
Importance of Rivers. — As in tracing the courses
of the hill masses and uplands we are led to examine
the plains which lie between them, so in studying
these plains, we are drawn to trace the courses of the
rivers which run through their midst. This study
is also forced on us by the fact that the well-being
of any country depends in the first instance on
its river system. There are vast tracts of lands in
various parts of the world wholly forsaken and deso-
late because they have no rivers : all the great cities
of ancient times, and by far the greater number of
modem towns have sprung up on the banks of some
great stream : the chief centres of population and
wealth have always been found in river valleys. The
reasons of this are simple. Agriatlture is only
possible where the land is drained and watered by
rivers ; a supply of running water is of the first im-
portance in vtanufaduring districts ; the inUmal com-
merce of a country, which is so much more important
to its wealth than the external, is in its first beginnings
76 GEOGRAPPIY. [chap.
to a very great extent dependent on water- communi-
cation between town and town : and foreign trade is
developed by means of those great rivers whose
channels open a highway between nation and nation,
and whose estuaries give harbourage for ships.
The English Rivers. — England is remarkable
for the perfection of its river-system. Other countries
have higher mountains, broader plains, a richer soil,
and a happier climate, but, owing to the amount of its
rainfall and the undulating character of its ground,
no country is more completely furnished with a net-
work of streams, great and small, spread over its
entire surface. The greater rivers form harbours
and waterways leading to the very heart of the
kingdom; the lesser streams feed canals by which
goods can be easily carried from place to place;
all alike gather together and convey across the plains
the waters needed for the fruits of the field, or for
the supply of towns.
The Two Water-partings. — This great river
system is formed into a very beautiful and perfect or-
der, an order easy to understand when we have once
clearly grasped the lie of the mountains and uplands
by which the waters are thrown down to the plains
and there pent in till they find an outlet to the ocean.
The first great natural division of the river groups
is made by the hills and rising grounds which lie
between the sources of rivers flowing to different seas,
and so form the water-parting. In England there are
two distinct lines of water-parting. The main line
has been described in Chapter II : it passes in a
VII.]
RIVER SYSTEM.
77
sinuous course from the Cheviot Hills along the crest of
the Pennine range, across the rising grounds of central
ENGLAND.
RIVER SYSTEMS.
S^t^'^emt'MtmU'
England, where it turns eastward to the Northampton
uplands, and then curves back again to end on the
78 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Cotswolds (p. 2i). This water-parting divides between
the rivers which flow to the Irish and the North Seas.
A second water-parting runs from east to west along
the uplands of southern England, forming with the first
the figure of an inverted JL- Its course is very irregu-
lar, passing along the Wealden Heights, the Hampshire
Downs, Sahsbury Plain, Exmoor, Dartmoor, and the
Cornish Highlands. The streams thrown down from
it flow southward to the English Channel, or north-
wards to the Bristol Channel and the Thames estuary.
By these two lines of water-parting England is
divided into three distinct river systems : (i) That of
the eastern country between the main water-parting
and the North Sea; (2) that of the southern slopes
towards the English Channel; (3) that of the western
country lying towards the Irish Sea. In this last
group are included the rivers of Wales, as they pour
their waters into the same sea.
Contrast of River Basins. — A glance at the
map will shew the differences that exist between the
rivers of these three watersheds of England, (i.) As
the high ground of England strikes down its western
districts, it follows that the main water-parting, where
the sources of the great rivers take their rise,
must lie much nearer the western than the eastern
coast. From this it follows that the greatest number
of rivers flow eastward to the North Sea. In fact, so
general is this easterly direction given to the river-
courses by the structure of the ground, that the four
chief streams which fall into the western sea, the
Dee, Severn, Wye, and Usk, all travel for the greater
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 79
part of their length from west to east, and are
only turned westward just before entering the sea.
The rivers which have a general westerly direction
are thus very few in number. (2.) For the same
reason the eastern rivers have a long course^ and so
gather a great volume of water before reaching the
sea, while the western rivers have but a short way
to travel and are of little consequence. Indeed
the only great rivers of the west are those which
come in a winding easterly course from the Welsh
Mountains, not from the English water-parting.
(3.) The rivers of the east, as they wind among the up-
land ranges, receive from them many tributary streams,
so that their basin, or the extent of land drained by
them, is very great. This is not the case in western
England, where the streams fall down the mountain
slopes by the shortest course to the sea, and their
affluents are generally few and unimportant (p. 59).
The rivers of the south have a very short course,
and are all small and unimportant.
The Grouping of Rivers. — In tracing the
sources of the rivers along the water-parting we find
that they never occur singly, but always in groups of
several springs, and that these groups do not lie
evenly distributed, but are scattered unequally here
and there. For example,' six of these chief knots of
head-waters are strewn along the Pennine Chain : two
more lie in the pasture-lands and low hills of the
central plain ; and three in the uplands of the oolitic
range. Sometimes these knots of springs lie wholly on
one side of the water-parting, and all the streams then
So GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
flow to the same sea; but generally the group is
divided and the rivers flow in opposite directions.
As there is a grouping together of the head
waters of rivers, so there is also a grouping of their
openings into the sea. There are certain bays and
estuaries lying round the coast of England which
receive the greater part of the running waters of the
island, for example the three great estuaries of the
Humber, the Wash, and the Thames, into which
nearly all the streams of the east coast are gathered..;
In considering the rivers, therefore, we shall divide!
them into those groups into which they are thrown
by the natural formation of the country.
[x\.] The Rivers of the East. These rivers, the
most important for their numbers, their length, and
the size of their basins, are divided into four groups.
I. The Northumbrian Rivers, or those rivers
which fall into the sea to the north of the Humber,
form the first group.
The river which lies to the extreme north of Eng-
land, the river Tweed, we may pass by for the present,
as it is not properly speaking an English river. The
greater part of its course, in fact, lies in Scotland ; it is
only as it passes to the east of the Cheviot Hills and
nears the sea that it touches English soil, and thence
becomes the boundary line between Scodand and
England.
The three rivers which fall into the North Sea
below the Tweed — the Tyne, the Wear, and the
Tees, — are closely connected in their sources, in
their river-valleys, and in tlieir industrial value. The
vn.]
RIVER SYSTEM.
gi
WATERSHED
OF THB
NORTH SEA.
Springs of all three lie close together, high up in
the bleak moors of tlie nortli Pennine Range,
o
82 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
whence their course to the sea is too short to
allow them to attain very great size. But their
position gives them considerable importance. As the
Tyne and the Wear reach the foot of the moorland
slopes they enter at once on the great mining district
of the north, where a wide bed of coal stretches
along the sea-shore for a very great distance, and
alone yields twice as much coal as the whole of
France, and where not only the coal, but the iron,
zinc, and lead found in the rocks have given rise to
a large manufacturing industry. The Tyne passes
across the very centre of this busy region, the Wear
runs along its southern borders, and both rivers as
they enter the ocean break the level coast line, and
form harbours which are the only outlets by sea for
this immense trading industry. There is no port on
the whole continent into which so large a number of
vessels enters yearly as the port of Newcastle at the
mouth of the Tyne, and Sunderland on the Wear is
only second to it.
The history of the Tees is somewhat different. Its
upper course lies indeed like that of the two last
rivers among wild mountain moors, but it finally
emerges on low ground at the extremity of the
agricultural plain of York, where the only manufac-
tures are those of sail-cloth and shipping for the
northern trading ports. At its estuary, however, the
Tees lies just under the great iron district of the
Cleveland Hills, and it thus shares in the import-
ance of the other rivers of this group in forming
a sea-port for the commerce of northern England.
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 83
II. Passing south we come to the great group of
rivers which are gathered together into the Humber
(p. 81). The Humber is an estuary whose channel is
out through the range of uplands which parts the
plain of York from the North Sea : to the north of it
lie the Wolds of York, to the south the Wolds of
Lincoln. As this is the only opening in the long
barrier of uplands which runs along this portion of
the coast, and as it leads to the very heart of the great
plain shut in between these uplands and the Pennine
range, it has from the mere fact of its position become
the channel into which all the rivers watering this dis-
trict are poured, and by which they are carried to the
ocean. Here both the rivers of the plain of York,
severed from the sea by the northern part of the oolitic
uplands, and the rivers of the central plain of England,
equally severed from the sea by the central part of
the same range, find their natural outlet (see p. 59).
This Humber river-group is therefore the largest in
England, draining as it does such an immense extent
of country, not only the York Plain but also the
great plain of Central England, an area in all of 9,500
square miles. By far the greater number of its rivers
have their head-waters in the moors of the Pennine
range, but as they fall to the plains they are taken up
by two main streams. The Ousg gathers into itself
all the waters from the northern half of the plain ;
the Tnnty all those from the southern. Thus the
rivers which unite in the Humber are naturally divided
into two distinct groups, (i) those brought to it by the
(Jusc, and (2) those brought to it by the Trent
84 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
(i.) The Ouse and its tributaries water the rich
plain of York, which lies between the Pennine range and
the Yorkshire Moors. To trace the sources of the Ouse,
we must go up into the Pennine moorlands, to a point
where two streams, the Swale and the Ure, take their
rise side by side and flow in deep valleys down the
mountain slopes to the low land, where both turn south-
ward and soon after unite to form the Ouse. As this
river winds through the rich plain in a long course of
114 miles it presently receives one after another three!
more streams coming from the same region whence*
flowed its first two tributaries. These three rivers,
the Nidd, the Wharfe, and the Aire, are all thrown
down the slopes of a high range of moorland
which forms the southern wall of the upper valley
of the Ure, and from their wild valleys among the
hills they enter the plain one beyond the other, and
so fall into the Ouse at equal distances, forming by
their courses three parallel curves. The first stream,
the Nidd, has the shortest course; then comes the
Wharfe ; while the outermost circle of the Aire is the
greatest of all. Thus five rivers flow into the Ouse
on its western banks, and these are all drawn from
the same district in the Pennine range. On its eastern
banks the river takes up only one stream, the Der-
went, which is thrown down from the Yorkshire
Moors. The Derwent rises among the heights close
to the coast ; from these it falls down to the broad
Vale of Pickering, and thence flows into the Plain of
York, where after some time it joins the Ouse, and
thus passes on to the Humber and to the sea,
m
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 85
One river yet remains to be added to this group.
The river Don rises far from the rest in a distinct
group of head-waters lying near the southern end of
the Pennine Chain, and flows in a north-easterly
direction to join the Humber almost at the point
where the Ouse empties itself into that estuary. Its
course from the moorlands, and the place of its
junction with the Humber, mark it out as belonging
to the group of the Ouse rivers, whose number is
thus made up to seven.
These rivers of the Pennine Moors have some
resemblance to those of the Northumbrian group.
Their wild mountain valleys are of the same character,
and the two southernmost of the streams as they
descend the hiil slopes also enter on a great coal field,
that which lies stretched along the eastern side of the
Pennine Chain from the valley of the Aire as far as the
valley of the Trent or the central plain of England.
The Aire, which marks roughly speaking the northern
limit of this coal-field, passes across its broadest and
busiest part, while the Don cuts through its centre,
where it is narrower. But as this mining district is
bounded eastward, not by the sea, but by a level
inland plain, the rivers do not play the same im-
portant part as they do in the north in forming
outlets for foreign trade. The main value of the whole
group of streams, as they are gathered in from east
and west by the Ouse, lies partly in their supplying the
running waters needed for manufacturing purposes in
the coal-field, partly in their course through the plain,
which they water and make fertile in every part ;
86 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
while both plain and coal-field are opened to trade
with foreign lands by means of the Humber.
(2,) As the Ouse and its tributary streams occupy
the north-eastern part of the vast plain which half
encircles the Pennine Moors, so the Trent and its
tributaries drain the whole of its central and south-
eastern portion. The Trcjit rises on the south-
western slopes of the Pennines, on the confines of the
low plain of Cheshire. It first flows downwards to the
southern extremity of the moorland range, sweeps
right round it as it traverses the low broken country
of central England, then bends northwards till its
course forms a great semicircle, and empties itself at
last into the Humber after a journey of 147 miles. Iti
receives four rivers on its way to the sea, two on the'
right hand, and two on the left, all of which meet it in
that part of its course which lies exactly below the
extremity of the Pennines at the Peak ; and from this'
point it widens so much as to become navigable, and
thus opens a waterway from the very centre of England?
to the sea. Its two northern tributaries, the Dove and
the Derwenf, descend from the moors of the Peak in'
parallel channels not very far apart; the Derwent from
its source in the heights close to the Don forming a^
narrow river valley of extreme beauty among the steep
rocks of the mountain range. On the south the Trent
receives the Tame coming from Cannock Chase, and
the Soar, which springs in a rising ground more to the
west, and empties itself into the Trent just opposite the
mouth of the Derwent. By these two rivers it drains
that irregular tract of country which lies between the
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 87
hills bounding the Severn valley, and the upland
range of Rockingham Forest (see p. 59). The group
of rivers carried to the Humber by the Trent is
thus smaller in number 'than the group gathered
up by the Ouse, but this inferiority in numbers is
fully atoned for by the great size and importance of
the main stream, by the length of its course across
almost the whole width of England, by the immense
area of fertile country which it drains, and by the
extent of its navigable waters.
These two great river-groups in their junction with
the Humber unite in one most important work, the
bringing the whole of the agricultural and manufac-
turing industries of central and north-eastern England
into connection with the greatest seaport of the north-
east, the port of JIuU on the Humber. The Ouse
and its affluents flow through the agricultural
district of the plain of York, and among the
coal-mines and iron-works of the Pennine slopes, and
the woollen manufactures of the moors. The Trent
and its tributaries pass in their course by a great
number of the chief manufacturing industries of
England — its potteries, its iron-works, its coal-mines,
its breweries, its manufactures of lace and stock-
ings, and the centres of its com and cattle trade.
The immense extent and variety of the industries thus
represented by these two river-groups as they fall
together into the Humber give to that estuary its
very great importance as a sea-port. Besides its posi-
tion as the outlet of all these rivers, the Humber
has a further valMC derived from its position relatively
8S GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
to Other harbours and to the Continent; it is
far removed from any rival port, the nearest being
that of the Thames estuary in the south-east, and it
thus forms the sole highv;ay for trade to North Europe
and the ports of the Baltic.
III. A third river-group, which lies next to the
south, is formed by the streams that unite in the
estuary of the Wash, as the rivers of the Ouse and the
Trent unite in the Humber. The Wash is a wide,
shallow inlet of the sea, with an area of about 300
square miles, bounded on its land side by a low
swamp, and utterly useless for all purposes of
harbourage. Its basin, 5,800 square miles in extent,
or more than one-ninth part of England, is parted from
that of the Trent by the low uplands of Northampton
and Lincoln (see p. 59). The direction of this higher
ground is marked by the springs of the four streams
which are thrown down its gentle slopes and emerge
on the broad, dreary flats of the Fens, where their
waters once mingled in a vast marsh, and where even
now they have no clearly defined ' valleys, but wind
sluggishly in constantly changing courses through
tracts of level ground reclaimed by immense labour,
or through low, unhealthy swamps, to the desolate
shores of the Wash (see p. 81).
The Wit ham rises in the Lincoln uplands and flows
northwards along their western side for some distance,
then suddenly bends east, cuts through a depression
in the ridge, and turns south on its other side, passing
through the swamps inclosed between the oolitic
uplands and the chalk Wolds to the shores of the
VII,] RIVER SYSTEM. 89
Wash. The two next rivers, the Welland and the
Nai^ take their rise among a group of river sources in
the Northampton uplands. They both flow to the north-
east not far apart from one another, inclosing between
them the high ground of Rockingham Forest, and
drawing closer together as they sink into the low Fen
country near the Wash. The last river of this group,
the Great Ouse, rises yet further south, on the borders
of the Northampton uplands, and soon flows into the
low, irregular ground which parts the oolitic from the
chalk ranges. Here after endless windings and turnings
in the tumbled ground it bends sharply towards the
East Anglian uplands, and flows in a direct line to the
Wash beneath their white chalk cliffs, with the wide
expanse of the Fens stretching away in the distance
on its opposite banks. The Ouse is very much the
greatest of all these streams, being 156 miles long^
or nearly twice as long as the Witham ; and its basin
extends under almost the whole length of the East
Anglian Heights and the Chiltern Hills.
These rivers of the Wash form a striking contrast to
the group of the Humber. They rise on that part of
the water-parting which most nearly approaches the
eastern coast, and hence their courses are generally
shorter. As they all have their springs on the same
low uplands, and as all flow through the same mono-
tonous level to the same harbourless estuary, the
character of the country they traverse is everywhere
alike. It is a j)urely agricultural district, thinly
inhabited, with scarcely a large town, and lying entirely
apart from the manufacturing industry of the Humber
90
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
rivers. For commercial purposes their waters are
all but useless.
IV. A fourth group is composed of the Rivers of
the Basin of the Thames and its Estuary.
y'- 'vn^ — ^ E NGLIS H
Basin of the Thames.
The whole importance of this group depends on
the Thames itself. Rising little more than 300 feet
above the sea-level, it is the largest river in England,
and is navigable for nearly the whole of its
great length of 215 miles. It thus forms a water-
way across southern England in the same way that
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 91
the Trent does across central England ; and this water-
way communicates with the sea by a wide estuary
which is the most important of all English harbours.
The basin of the Thames has an area of 6,000
square miles, and may be divided into two parts.
(a.) From its springs in the Cotswold Hills, not
far from the estuary of the Severn, the river flows
through the low ground lying between the Edge Hills
and the Marlborough Downs, and thus severs the
oolitic from the chalk uplands (see p. 59). After a
time it turns due south and cuts straight through the
chalk escarpment which before bounded its valley,
by a channel which parts the Ilsley Downs from the
Chilterns. (d.) It now enters on the second part of its
course, and from this point its valley consists chiefly of
a great basin of low clay inclosed between ranges of
hills, from which lesser streams are thrown do^vn ; to
the north lie the Chilterns and the East Anglian up-
lands, to the south the Hampshire Downs and the
Wealden Heights. The scenery of the Thames valley
is throughout of a very quiet character. The only
high ground is at the point where the river cuts
through the chalk escarpment; everywhere else the
river winds peacefully between level banks through a
rich agricultural country parted by the whole width
of two upland ranges from the manufacturing districts
of central England. But as it widens to its estuary
the scene suddenly changes. For this estuary, the
most splendid natural harbour of the British Islands,
has by its form and position been destined to become
the trading centre of the world. It is wider and
92 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
mere commodious than the Humber, deeper and
safer than the Wash. Placed in the south-eastern
angle of England, it opens on the narrow channel
which forms a highway for the commerce of northern
Europe, while lying as it does midway between all the
European seas, from Gibraltar to the North Cape, and
being situated at the centre of the main lines of navi-
gation of the world, it has necessarily drawn to itself
commerce from every quarter of the globe. On its
banks has grown up the greatest and most populous
city of the earth, — Lo7idon; and from this city to
the sea, throughout the entire length of the estuary,
its shore is lined with warehouses and dockyards
filled with shipping from foreign lands, while its
waters are covered with countless vessels, carrying
the immense trade of the greatest of all trading
countries.
Four streams join the Thames on its northern
banks, and four on its southern. Of the northern
streams two, the Cheniiell and the Thame, meet it in
the first part of its course, just before it breaks
through the chalk uplands ; two more, the Colne and
the Lea, join it in its lower valley. On the southern
side falls in the Ken?iet, whose course lies below the
Hampshire Downs, and which joins the Thames
at the point where it passes into its lower valley.
Further on two rivers are thrown down from the
south, the Wey and the Mole; and in the east, where
the Thames estuary opens into the ocean, it takes
up the Afedway, which alone is of any considerable
size and navigable for some distance, and which by
vrr.] RIVER SYSTEM. 93
a branch called the East Swale encircles the island
of Sheppey at its mouth.
These rivers flow directly into the Thames ; but
there are besides a few small streams included in the
same group which fall into the wide bay formed by its
estuary. Most of these come from the low eastern
slopes of the East Anglian uplands. The Yare and
the Wavefiey empty themselves into the North Sea
as the coast bends inwards towards the Thames
estuary (see p. 81) ; farther south are the (9rar//and
the Siour, which unite at their mouths to form a small
estuary. On the southern shores of the bay a second
river Stour falls into the North Sea, which once
enclosed by a branch stream, now dried up, the Isle of
Thanet at its mouth. These rivers are of no importance
in their very short course, save for the little harbours
formed at their mouths.
[B.] The Rivers of the South. All the rivers of
southern England have their sources along the lesser
line of water-parting which crosses the island from
the Atlantic to the North Sea, and flow northwards
to the Thames and Bristol Channel, or southward
to the English Channel (see p. 77).
I. The first group is formed by the rivers of
the Weald, rivers small in size, crossing a country
but thinly inhabited, and of no commercial importance.
All have the same origin in a line of high ground
which crosses the centre of the Weald from east to west
(sec p. 90). This line of heights throws down small
streams to north and south. The first cut channels for
themselves through the North Downs, and so make their
94 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
way into the Thames or the German Ocean. Among
these are the Mole, Medway, and Siour. The rivers
of the southern slopes are of very Httle consequence.
The largest of them is the Ouse, which falls into the
English Channel west of Beachy Head : and yet
further to the west is the Arun.
II. A second group, yet smaller in numbers but
made up of larger streams, is that of the rivers of the
southern chalk downs (see p. 96). The plain of
Southampton and of the New Forest is inclosed on
three sides by chalk uplands, whose waters are thrown
down to the English Channel. The smallest of these,
the Itchen, and the Test or Anton, on the eastern side
of the New Forest, fall into the estuary called South-
ampton Water, behind the Isle of Wight. To the
west of the New Forest is a much larger river, the
Avon, navigable for many miles. A fourth river, the
Frome, flows in a valley running east and west below
the long line of the Purbeck heights, and at its mouth
forms the inlet of Foole Harbour, whose opening lies
in a right line with the Isle of Wight.
III. The Rivers of Devon and Cornwall form
a third group, also of small importance, since in this
narrow peninsula the distance from the heights where
the rivers spring to the sea is so short that no streams
of any size can be formed (see p. 96). The two largest
on the south-eastern side are the Exe and the Tamar.
The Exe rises in the bleak Exmoor heights and flows
southwards across the plain below them to the
English Channel. The Tamar has its source in the
heights above Bideford Bay whence it also flows south
vii ] RIVER SYSTEM. 95
to form at its mouth on the Channel the estuary of
Plymouth Sound. Three streams are thrown down
from the water-parting to the north-west : the Tawe
and the Torridge to Bideford Bay, and the Parrd, to
the Bristol Channel.
[C] The Rivers of the West. When we pass
from the southern to the western coast of England
we find a water-system of far greater importance,
containing groups of rivers of very great size and of
even greater commercial importance than the rivers
of the eastern plains. It is true that the streams
which flow westward from the main water-parting
of England are fewer and generally shorter than
those which flow eastward. But among the rivers
of the western coast we must include the streams
drawn from the mountains of Wales, of which some
flow eastward into English land and unite with streams
from the English water-parting to form rivers of con-
siderable size. The main cause, however, of the
commercial value of these streams lies in the great
advantage which they have over the eastern rivers
in their position to the westward, by which they
command the whole of the Irish trade, and the
vast and constantly increasing trade with the New
World.
The rivers of the west are divided into four distinct
groups. Two of the.se groups, the rivers of the Bristol
Channel^ and the rivers of the plains of Cheshire and
Lancashire are great centres of commercial activity
corresponding to the groups of the Thames and the
number in the east (see p. 77). The two remaining
96
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
groups, those of the Welsh and the Cumbriaii mou7itains,
are composed of small rivers of less note.
I. In the group of the Bristol Channel the
rivers of England and Wales are so closely united
Card
PI a An % I
I. of WiTf^ p
St^nf'nrdi Geoa'-K.^tai'
Watershed of thk Bristol. Channel,
that it is difficult to separate them ; for while some
streams of this group belong wholly to England,
others belong equally to both countries.
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 97
Five chief rivers fall into the inner part of the
Bristol Channel from the various heights — Welsh
mountains or English uplands — which lie to north
and south and east of it The greatest of all these
rivers is that which lies in the centre of the group
— the Severn; into its estuary the four other rivers
pour their waters, two on the northern, and two on
the southern side.
(i.) The Severn takes its rise near the summit of
the great mountain of Plinlimmon in the centre of
Wales. Its upper course lies in Wales, where it
flows in a north-easterly direction through the wild
moorlands which branch off from Plinlimmon ; but as
it breaks out on the plain which bounds the Welsh
mountains it enters on English ground (p. 59). Here
the river bends suddenly southwards and skirts the
borders of the irregular heights of eastern Wales. On
its right bank in this portion of its course lie long
ridges of slate-hills, outliers of the mountains beyond,
the Stiper Stones, the Long Mynd, Wenlock Edge,
and the group of the Clee Hills ; along its left bank
stretches the plain of central England broken by
the Wrekin and the Dudley Hills. The rest of its
course to the Bristol Channel lies in a deep valley
not many miles wide, inclosed between steep ridges
of hills. The western wall of this valley is formed
by the Abbcrley and the Malvern Hills, the east
em by the Clent and the Lickey Hills ; while the
broader opening which forms the estuary of the
river lies between the Cotswold Hills and the Forest
of Dean.
u
98 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
The Severn has a total length of 158 miles, and is
thus the third greatest river in England ; and its basin
is not only of considerable extent — 4.350 square miles
— but also of great commercial importance, since its
estuary is driven through the midst of the coal-
measures of the south-west, while its affluents lead into
the very centre of England, connecting it with the
basins of the Trent and the Thames. By the great
length of its navigable course from the point where
the river reaches the plain, and by the splendid
estuary at its mouth, which is flooded at high water
by a tide that rises higher than in any other harbour
in Europe and carries large vessels safely over shoals
and sandbanks, the Severn is naturally fitted to form
one of the great trading centres of the west ; and its
port of Bristol has drawn to itself the chief commerce
of Ireland and the West Indies.
The tributaries of the Severn are mostly small. It
receives two streams from the Welsh mountains : one,
the Virnwy, reaches it as it first touches the plain;
the second, the Teme, makes its way to join it through
the gap between the Abberley and the Malvern Hills.
Two small streams come to it from the rising grounds
of the central plain of England, the Tern from the
north, the Stour from the Dudley Hills on the east.
But a much greater river than these empties itself
into the Severn ; this is the Avon. For its source we
must go far away to the upland range near Rockingham
Forest where we have already found the springs of the
Welland and the Nen (see p. 81). While these rivers
flow eastward to the Wash, the Avon falls down the
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM, 99
western slopes of the uplands and winds along the
base of the oolitic range past the Edge Hills to the
Vale of Evesham below the Cotswolds, and so on to
the Severn.
(2.) The second of the rivers which merge in the
Bristol Channel is the IVye. At the opening and
close of its career the Wye is closely connected with
the Severn : their springs lie side by side on the same
mountain of Plinlimmon, and they empty themselves
side by side into the same estuary. But through the
rest of their courses they are widely separated. While
the Severn turns to the north-east towards the plains
of Cheshire and central England, the Wye flows south-
wards, and journeys among the desert, almost unin-
habited moorlands of south-eastern Wales, till it enters
from the west on the fertile plain of Hereford, and
winds among its hills, its orchards, its hop-gardens,
and its cider manufactories, to the Forest of Dean.
From this point it soon makes its way to the Bristol
Channel.
(3.) The Us/:, the third river of the group which
meet in the same channel, is a much smaller stream than
the Wye, though it is more striking for the grandeur
of its scenery. This river rises at the western end of the
Black Mountains, and flows in a deep valley eastward
along the foot of the chief mountain chain of South
Wales, the Black Mountains and Brecknock Beacon,
whose rugged sides tower above the deep bed of the
stream like a gigantic wall. It finally bends round
the eastern extremity of this chain, and falls into the
Severn estuary not far from the Wye.
H a
loo GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
(4.) The two streams which flow into the southern
side of the Bristol Channel, the Avo?t and the Farret,
come from the uplands which occupy the country to
the east of it. The Avon rises in the Cotswolds, and
though its course is short, at its opening into the
estuary of the Severn it forms the most important har-
bour of the Bristol Channel, that of Bristol itself. The
Parret comes from the Dorset heights, uplands of the
southern water-parting. Its lower valley lies between
the two ridges of the Polden and Quantock Hills as
far as Bridgwater Bay, above which lies the port of
Bridgwater with a considerable shipping-trade.
II. A second group of western waters is formed by
the Welsh rivers, whose courses lie wholly within
Wales. The line of high ground in which these
streams take their rise strikes down the centre of
Wales from north to south, near the western coast
(p. 46) ; and its chief rivers — the Severn, the Wye,
the Usk, and the Dee — are thrown down from it east-
ward into the deep depression which extends from the
Irish Sea to the British Channel, and severs England
from the Welsh mountain group. In this low ground
these rivers enter on English soil, and as they He to
westward of the English water-parting, they are by
the character of the country thrown into the Western
Sea (see p. 21). But there are four lesser streams
which never cross the borders of Wales. Two of these
rivers lie in South Wales; the other two in North Wales.
{a.) The To7t'y and the Teify, the two streams of the
south, have their sources close together in the upper
CTiu of that long range of heights which begins in
vn.l RIVER SYSTEM. loi
Plinlimmon and ends on the shores of St. Bride's Bay
(see p. 96). The Towy is thrown down their southern
slopes, and pours its waters into the sea in Carmarthen
Bay. The Teify runs in a deep valley along the
middle part of the range, and finally falls down its
northern slopes into Cardigan Bay.
(d.) The two northern streams are the Conway and
the Clwyd^ which run on either side of the low slaty
hills of Denbighshu-e to the Irish Sea (see p. 102).
The little valley of the Conway, with its pleasant fer-
tile fields, lies between the Denbighshire hills and the
barren mountains of the Snowdon range. On the
eastern side of the same Denbighshire hills lies the
parallel valley of the Clwyd, shut in to the eastward
by the hills of Flintshire.
III. A third group, that of the Rivers of Cheshire
and Lancashire, is made up, like the group of the
Bristol Channel, of streams from both England and
Wales. The low marshy coast of the plain which lies
along the Irish Sea between the Welsh and Cumbrian
mountains is broken by three great estuaries, those
of the Dee, the Mersey,* and the Ribble, the first two
lying very close together with but a narrow neck of
land between them, while the third is half-way up the
line of coast to the north of these.
(i.) The head waters of the Dee rise in the range of
the Berwyn Mountains in Wales. Not far from its
source the river passes through Bala Lake, and winding
along the base of the mountain range escapes by the
vale of Llangollen into the low plain of Cheshire, where
it turns northward, and flows in a wide full stream by the
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
WATER SH ED
OF THE
IRISH SEA
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 103
eastern borders of the Welsh mountains till it falls by
a very wide estuary into the sea. This estuary once
formed a port of great value, but has in the course of
centuries been so silted up as to make it worthless
for shipping purposes, and is now at low water a merfe
expanse of sand.
(2.) The Mersey is the most important river of this
group. It is formed by the union of several streams
coming from the Pennine moors, and its course passes
across the low plain between these moors and the sea.
By the magnificent estuary through which it enters the
sea, and by the marvellous wealth of the country it
traverses, the Mersey has become the most important
river in England after the Thames. On its southern
bank lies the luxuriant pasture-land of Cheshire, a
wide stretch of low country which reaches from the
Mersey to the Welsh mountains (p. 59). Along its
northern banks is a vast coal-field which, beginning on
the high slopes of the Pennine moors, extends through
southern Lancashire nearly to the sea-shore, and is
occupied throughout its whole extent by the cotton
manufactures of England. Easy communication with
these wealthy districts on either side of the Mersey
is secured by two streams which flow to it from north
and south. The Iru'dl comes to meet it from the
north, having first gathered up into itself all the
streams which traverse the manufacturing district
The Weaver^ which falls into its estuary, comes
from the rich southern pasture-lands ^ and through
the heart of the sunken district in the centre of
the plain, where the salt-mines and springs of brine
I04 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
occur, the centre of the English salt manufacture.
The Mersey, therefore, by its own course and by that
of its tributaries, comes in contact with both the agri-
cultural and the manufacturing industries of England,
and opens for them a highway to the sea of the first
importance. As the Humber, on the opposite coast
of England, is the sea-port of the woollen trade, so is
the Mersey the sea-port of the cotton trade. But the
Mersey possesses great advantages over the Humber,
both as being the geographical centre of Great Britain
and Ireland and the natural point of convergence for
their commerce, and as having its outlook, not to-
wards Norway and Denmark, but towards America
with its immense commercial resources. It has even
taken a higher place than the estuary of the Severn
by its situation on the very borders of those coal-
measures on which the greatest manufactures of the
world have grown up. There is no port in any
country, save that of London, with so great a trading
industry as the Mersey ; and in fact, if it is below
London in the amount of its imports, it exceeds it in
its exports. Not less than half of the manufactured
goods sent out of the British Islands pass through its
great ports of Liverpool and Birkenhead, where its
estuary is lined with docks for five miles, each dock
representing a different trade and different nation.
(3.) The third river of this group, the Ribble, is of
less importance. It rises in that knot of head-waters
where the greatest number of the northern rivers of the
Humber have their springs, the Wharfe, Aire, &c. Its
upper course lies aniong barren moorlands ; its lower
VII.] RIVER SYSTEM. 105
valley and estuary cut through the marsh which
here lines the shore. The harbour of Preston lies at
the head of the Qstuary.
IV. The northernmost river group of the western
coast is that formed by the Cumbrian rivers. Four
streams belong to this group. Two of these rise
near the line of the main water-parting of England,
and form by their valleys the eastern boundary of the
Cumbrian mountains ; while two smaller streams rise
within the circle of the Cumbrian mountains them-
selves and are thence thrown down westward to
the sea.
{a.) The two greater rivers are the Edtn and the
Lune^ whose springs lie close together on the Pennine
moors, on the opposite side of the water-parting from
the sources of the Ure and the Swale. As they fall
down the hill-sides to the lower ground, the Lune
turns south and flows in a steep, wild, and narrow
valley to Lancaster Bay ; while the Eden bends north-
wards and passes through a broad fertile plain,
bounded by the Cumbrian hills on the west and by
the Pennines on the east, to the Solway Firth. This
valley forms a valuable tract of rich agricultural land,
thrust in like a wedge between the barren hills of
northern England.
(^.) The two lesser streams of this group spring
from the Cumbrian heights; these are the Duddon^
which flows in a wild mountain valley to the sea on
the western side of Furness ; and the river Denvetit^
which rises in the centre of the mountains, and drains
many of the lakes on its way westward to the sea.
I06 GEOGRAPHY. [ciiAP.
Table of River Groups.
I. Northumbrian Rivers —
{Tyne, Wear, Tees.)
II. Rivers of the H umber —
(i.) Ouse —
{Ure, Swale, Nidd, Wharf e, Aire, Don, Derwent.)
(2.) Trent—
{Dove, Derwent, Tame, Soar.)
III. Rivers of the Wash —
{Witham, Welland, Nen, Ouse.)
IV. Rivers of the Thames basin —
{Thames, Cherwell, Thame, Colne, Lea, Ke^tnef,
Wey, Mole, Medway, Yare, Waveney, Stour.)
V. Rivers of the Weald —
{Ouse, Arun.)
VI. Rivers of the Southern Downs —
{lichen, Teslj Avon, Frome.)
VII. Rivers of the Bristol Channel—
{Severn, Wye, Usk, Avon, Paj'ret)
VIII. Welsh Rivers—
{Towy, Teify, Conway, Clwyd.)
IX. Rivers of Cheshire and Lancashire —
{Dee, Mersey, Ribble.)
X. Cumbrian Rivers —
{Lune, Duddon, Derwent, Eden.)
VII,]
RIVER SYSTEM.
107
Rivers.
Lenglh
ID miles.
Area of Basin
in square miles.
Thames ....
Severn
/-Trent . .
Humber-j Ouse . .
IHumber .
Great Ouse ....
Wye
Nen
Tees
Dee
Witham
Eden
Avon (of Bristol) . .
Usk
Tyne
Welland
Wear
Yare
Avon (of Salisbury) .
Mersey
215
.158
147
114
38
156
135
100
79
70
80
69
62
65
73
70
65
48
61
68
6,160
4,350
[ 9,550
2,980
1,609
1,077
708
813
1,079
1 891
634
1,130
760
456
880
1,132
1,000
ENGLAND.
COUNTIES.
U ■' ^^'- <i \ ^ i-Vieic^'a? ■•'•■•■\ fiorfolk \
'^-; ,<^
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ENGLISH COUNTIES.
Political Divisions. — We have now traversed,
however rapidly and roughly, the whole face of Eng-
land; we have surveyed its mountains and uplands, its
CH. VIII.] THE ENGLISH COUNTIES. 109
plains and liver groups, till the whole of its physical
structure lies before us. But the physical structure
of a country is only the scaffolding on which its
political geography is built up. Hill and valley and
plain have become the habitation of man, and have
shaped by their form and character the political divi-
sions of the English nation. In very early times
they furnished boundaries and settlements for the
various tribes of the English race, or for their con-
querors. But as England drew together into a realm,
and the tribes were joined into one people, these
early kingdoms or settlements died down into mere
divisions, for the purposes of local government, which
are known as Counties or Shires. Though we cannot
dwell here on the origin of these divisions, we must
remember that it has left its stamp on their form and
character ; and that it is only by the history of their
upgrowth that we can explain the great differences of
size between them, as well as other differences, such
as the formation of their names, their local dialects,
and the peculiar customs and character of their peoples.
Here however we have to deal with counties simply
as geographioil divisions, and as enabling us to take
a survey of the land in its political and industrial
character, as we have already done in its physical
structure.
England is broken up for political purposes into
forty Shires, each one of which has its County-toivn
where the county business is carried on, such as
Quarter Sessions, or Assizes. These towns were for-
merly the most important places in the county, but
no GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
have in many cases been outgrown in size by other
towns in the shire.
Groups of Counties. — It is by the river system
of England, which we have aheady minutely studied,
that the political divisions of the country have
been mainly determined. It is only when we tho-
roughly understand the lie of the great river-basins,
and their position with regard to the heights which
limit them, that we can grasp the form and relations
of the counties which occupy their area, and which
naturally group themselves in these great geogra-
phical divisions. Thus the counties generally known
as the Northern Counties are those traversed by the
waters which fall to east and west from the north
Pennine moors ; while the North-7vestern Counties
form the basins of the Ribble and the Mersey. The
West Midlands occupy the basin of the Severn : those
which are called the Midland Counties lie in the basin
of the Trent, and Yorkshire in that of the Ouse ; while
the East Midlands gather round the waters which flow
into the Wash. Another group lies along the banks of
the Thames : the Eastern Counties border the estuary
of the Thames : the Souther?! Counties are those
watered by the streams of the southern water-parting
which flow to the English Channel : and the South-
western Comities occupy the slopes of the water-
parting of Devon and Cornwall. In this manner the
forty counties into which England is divided are
gathered together into nijie distinct groups, which are
given, with the names of the counties that compose
them, in the following table : —
VTii.] THE ENGLISH COUNTIES. in
I. Counties of the Northern River-basins —
{Northumberlajid, Durham^ Cmnberlandj West'
moreland. )
Area, 5,248 square miles ; population, 1,356,998.
II. Counties of the Ribble and Mersey basins—
{Lancashire, Cheshire.)
Area, 3,010 square miles ; population, 3,380,696.
III. Counties of the Severn basin —
{Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, War-
wickshire, Herefordshire^ Monmouthshire.)
Area, 5,580 square miles ; population, 2,076,595.
IV. Counties of the Humber basin —
{Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Notting-
hamshire, Yorkshire^
Area, 9,859 square miles ; population, 4,263,144.
V. Counties of the Wash —
{Lificolnshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Hunt'
ingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire^
Area, 5,552 square miles ; population, 1,099,434.
VI. East Anglian Counties —
{Norfolk, Suffolk)
Area, 3,597 square miles ; population, 787,525.
VII. Counties of the Thames basin —
{Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Buckingham-
shire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent.)
Area, 7,098 square miles ; population, 5,688,685.
VIII. Counties of the Southern Water-parting —
{Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire.)
Area, 5,471 square miles; population, 1,414,854.
IX. Counties of the South-western Water-parting—
{Somersetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall.)
Area, 5,590 square miles ; population, 1,427,200.
112 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
The great differences which exist between these
groups of counties, in area, in structure, in scenery,
in industry, and in population, depend on the cha-
racter of the river basins in which they He. Five of
them, the first four and the last, are specially distin-
guished as comprising the raining and manufacturing
districts which gather round the mountain masses of
northern and western England. They form therefore
the most populous, the most wealthy, the most indus-
trious, and the most influential half of England. The
following table, which gives the position and extent
of the coal-measures of southern Britain, shows the
counties whose industry is thus stimulated by mineral
wealth. The remaining four groups of the eastern
and south-eastern counties are wholly agricultural and
pastoral, are less densely peopled in proportion to
their extent, and contain fewer towns of importance.
The district immediately round London in the lower
valley of the Thames forms the only exception to this
general rule.
COAL-FlELDS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.
{Coal-Fields of the Penniiie Cham)
Area in
sq. miles.
Northumberland and Durham . . . 460
York and Derby 760
Lancashire 217
North Stafford 75
South Stafford 93
Leicestershire 15
Warwickshire 30
Till.] THE ENGLISH COUNTIES. H3
{Coal- Fields of the Cumbrian Mountains^
Whitehaven 25
{Coal- Fields of the Welsh Mountains^
Anglesea 9
Flintshire 35
Denbighshire 47
Shropshire 28
South Wales 906
Forest of Dean 34
Bristol and Somerset 1 50
Total area . . . 2,884
CHAPTER IX.
THE COUNTIES OF THE NORTHERN RIVER- BASINS OR
THE NORTHUMBRIAN COUNTIES.
The highest point of the Pennine range is the moun-
tain of Crossfell ; and from its sides or from the
neighbouring heights are thrown down the four great
rivers which water the north of England (see p. 77). To
the east flow the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees ; to the
westward a number of little tributary streams swell
the waters of the Eden on its way to the north. The
basins of these rivers and the surrounding country
form a group of four counties, which we may term the
Northumbrian shires, two of which lie on either side
of the water-parting. If we look in fancy from Cross-
fell to the north and north-east, the course of the Tyne
leads us to Northumberland, a great tract of country
wedged in between the Cheviot Mountains and the
North Sea. As we look eastward the deep valley of
the Wear broadens into the plains of Durham, which
extend along the shores of the North Sea as far as
the valley of the Tees. To the south, on the borders
of the moors of Westmoreland, we see the springs of
en, ix.J THE NORTHUMBRIAN COUNTIES.
"S
the Lune and of the Eden ; as we track the Eden in
its course to the north-west, we pass from Westmore-
land into Cu7nbei-land ; while beyond the Eden valley
Northumbrian Counties,— Towns and R.vers.
we see rising the mass of the Cumbrian Mountains,
overlapping the borders of both counties and shutting
out from view the Irish Sea. (See p. io8.)
The counties of this group have certain points of
I 2
ii5 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
resemblance. All alike extend from the Pennine Moors
to the sea-coast, and have therefore the same varied
scenery of moorland and plain ; all have easy com-
munication with the sea ; and all but one share in
the industries which gather on the coal-fields of the
northern hills.
I. Northumberland is the northernmost of Eng-
lish counties ; it has an area of nearly 2,000 square
miles, and a population of 386,646 persons. In its
rude triangular form it is not very unlike a miniature
England. The base of this triangle rests on the Tyne
and the Derwent to the south ; its point to the north
is formed by the town of Berwick-on-Tweed ; Scotland
and Cumberland bound its western side, the North
Sea its eastern. The western portion of the shire
which lies within these limits is occupied by great
mountain ranges, the Cheviot Hills on the Scotch
border, the Pen7iine chain in that part which adjoins
Cumberland ; and the county is practically composed
of the long sloping moors by which these hills descend
to the sea — wild and bleak tracts furrowed by deep
river-gorges in whose shelter the little agriculture
possible in this soil is carried on. There are only
two rivers of any importance — the Tweed on its
northern border, and the Tyne which, with its tributary
the Derwent, marks its southern boundary.
Northumberland is shut out from many means of
wealth and progress by its remote position, its harsh
climate, and the barren soil of its mountain sides ; and
in old times was chiefly important as the border land
between England and Scotland. But the discovery of
IX.] THE NORTHUMBRIAN COUNTIES. 117
a great coal-field, which lies happily along the more
level ground on the banks of the Tyne and the ad-
joining sea-coast, opened out to it a new source of
industry, owing to the ease and cheapness of the trans-
port of its coal to other parts of England by sea. The
Tyne, for a distance of twelve miles from its mouth,
has been turned into a long succession of towns,
docks, and factories, which have grown up into one
continuous city. On its northern bank, within the
limits of Northumberland, lie Newcastle-on-Tyne, with
130,000 inhabitants, and a trade only inferior to that
of London and Liverpool, North Shields, and Tyne-
vtouth; all engaged principally in the exportation of
coal, but also in the manufacture of the iron, zinc, and
lead found in the mines of the district. The remaining
towns are, from the character of the county, few and
of little importance. The moorlands are thinly peopled
— here and there a little agricultural town nestles in
a river valley, such as Hexham on the upper Tyne,
Morpeth, and Alnwick; the rest are mere fishing vil-
lages near the coast, where the mouths of streams
form little harbours, such as Blyth. The old castb of
JSamborough stands on a sea- cliff to the north, looking
out to Holy Island and the little group of the Fame
Islands. In the extreme north is the independent town
of Berwick-on-Tweed, once a very important Scotch
port, now fallen from its old greatness, but holding a
free position between Scotland and England.
II. Durham was originally nothing but a desolate
tract of moorland which served as a march or border
between the tribes of Northumberland and those ol
ii8 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Yorkshire. It is only half the size of Northum-
berland, having an area of 973 square miles ; like that
county its shape is a rough triangle — but a triangle
pointing to the west and not the north. Its broad
end rests on the North Sea, while its western ex-
tremity just touches Cumberland and Westmoreland.
The county consists of three parts — a small portion
to the west lies in the moorlands of the Pennine
chain and contains lead-mines ; a broad tract of coal-
measures stretches from Northumberland across the
centre of the shire ; and a belt of undulating agricul-
tural land extends along the coast, in the southern
part of which salt-mines are found.
The form of the county is clearly marked by its
rivers, which all rise close together in the mountains
forming its western point, and all make important
harbours at their mouths. The Tyne and its tributary
the Derwent mark the northern side of the triangle, and
the Tees the southern, while the Wear winds through its
centre. In the valley of this central river, the Wear,
lie the old agricultural towns of the county ; Durham,
the capital, with its old cathedral and castle built
on the summit of a mass of rock rising from the
river : and to north and south of it the small towns
of Chester-le-Street and Bis hop -Auckland. But all the
towns of importance for size and industry lie, as in
Northumberland, on the estuaries of the two rivers,
the Tyne and the Wear, which pass through the centre
of the coal district and carry its trade to the sea.
The greatest of these are Sunderland with Monk
Wear mouth and Bishop Wearfnouth, at the mouth of
IX.] THE NORTHUMBRIAN COUNTIES. 119
the Wear, which together have 104,000 inhabitants ;
South Shields on the estuary of the Tyne ; and Gates-
head opposite Newcastle ; all of which are maintained
by the trade in coal and iron, the manufacture of glass,
and ship- building. On the southern borders of the
county lie the towns of the Tees valley : Bamai'd
Castle on the upper Tees ; nearer the mouth of the
river Darlington and Stockton-o?i-Tees ; and Hartlepool^
a sea-port to the north of its estuary. These towns of
the south are principally engaged in salt-manufac-
ture, in shipping, and in the making of sail-cloth.
Durham has thus many advantages over Northum-
berland, in the greater variety of its industries,
the greater extent of its fertile ground in the river
valleys and by the coast, and the number of its sea-
ports. Its population is nearly twice as great as that
of Northumberland, being 685,089 — though the county
is only half as large.
III. Cumberland is a county of very irregular
form, which lies on the north-western shores of Eng-
land, and stretches in a slanting direction from the
moors of Northumberland on the east to the Irish
Sea on the west. To north and north-west of it are
Scotland and the Solway Firth, to the south the district
of Furness and Westmoreland. The county itself is but
little smaller than Northumberland, having an area of
1,565 square miles. It is composed of three distinct
parts : the south-western half is very mountainous,
containing the greater part of the Cumbrian hills ; the
north-eastern portion is formed of the wild and desolate
elopes of the Pennine moorlands; and between the
I20 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
two lies a broad and fertile plain, the lower valley of
the Eden. Cumberland contains the highest moun-
tains in England, and most of the English lakes.
The chief mountains are Scafell Pikes, and the two
great neighbouring heights of Scafell and Bowfell,
lying near its southern borders ; and in the centre of
the county Skiddaw (see page 43). The lakes lie in
the hilly country between these mountains. Derwent
Water and B assent hwatte Water lie under the heights
of Skiddaw, Wast Water below the Scafell Pikes, and
half-way between these are Buttermere and Crummock
Water. The high and beautiful valley of Borrowdale
stretching from Derwent Water towards Wast Water
closes this semicircle of the Cumberland lakes. The
only large river of Cumberland is the Eden. Next
in size is the Derwe?it, which with its tributaries
drains four of the lakes. The Duddon and many other
small mountain torrents are only famous for their wild
and beautiful scenery.
As the only industry of the mountainous parts
consists of sheep-grazing and slate-quarrying, the
population and the large towns were in former times
chiefly gathered in the central agricultural plain. Here
on the banks of the Eden grew up the chief town,
Carlisle, with its cathedral, and in later times its
cotton manufactures ; and some others not a fourth
its size, Penrith higher up the valley ; Bra7npto?i and
Longtown east of the Eden ; and Wigton west of it.
Among the mountain villages, Keswick on the Der-
went alone arrived at any importance by its lead
mines and manufacture of pencils. But in later times
IX.] THE NORTHUMBRIAN COUNTIES. 121
the discovery of a bed of coal with iron ore on the
sea-coast led to a great increase of population on the
western side of the Cumbrian hills, and to the building
of new towns entirely maintained by the mining trade,
such as Cockermouth on the Derwent ; and along the
sea-coast, Afaryport, Workington, and Whitehaven^ the
largest of all the towns after Carlisle ; Egre7nont, farther
south, lies among the iron mines. The industries of
Cumberland, however, are limited to a small part of
the county, and its population is very much less than
that of its neighbours to the east, being but 220,250.
IV. Westmoreland, the smallest of the northern
counties, has an area of 758 square miles and is
about half the size of Cumberland. It is almost
wholly inclosed between that county and Yorkshire ;
Durham just touches it on the north-east ; to the south
and south-west lie Lancashire and its outlying district,
Furness, between which Westmoreland succeeds in
penetrating at one point to the sea. The county is
very mountainous ; on the east it creeps up the
Pennine Moors of Yorkshire ; on its western side it
stretches into the heart of the Cumbrian group and
includes the second greatest of English mountains,
Ilelvellyfij and two large lakes which lie on either side
of it, Ulleswater, the greatest of all English lakes, on
the Cumberland side, and Windermere on the Furness
side. These heights to east and west of the shire are
bound together by a line of lower moorlands run-
ning between them, and slighdy broken in the centre
by the Pass of Shap Fell. To the north of this line
the ground becomes comparatively level and forms
122 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. ix.
the upper valley of the river Eden. To the south two
narrow valleys formed by the rivers Lmie and Ke7it lie
between low ridges of heights, and constitute the squai-e
projection which extends from the body of the county
southward.
In so hilly a country little agriculture is pos-
sible ; there is no means of livelihood for the inhabi-
tants save the grazing of mountain sheep and the
working of a few mines of copper and lead. Hence
Westmoreland with its 65,000 inhabitants is more thinly
peopled than any other county in England. It has but
two towns in its lower grounds ; Kendal^ wdiich lies
in the south on the river Kent near the sea, and
has grown to considerable size by manufactures of
wool and cotton ; and Appleby in the Eden valley,
not a sixth the size of Kendal but yet holding the
place of county town. The village of Ambleside
at the head of Windermere has become famous to
tourists for its beautiful situation.
CHAPTER X.
THE COUNTIES OF THE RIBBLE AND MERSEY BASINS.
As we pass from Crossfell southward along the
Pennine range, we see two great rivers, the Ribble and
the Mersey, thrown down from its western slopes.
The basins of these rivers form the bulk of the
counties of Lancashire and Cheshire, which lie along
the lowlands of the coast from the Cumbrian to the
Welsh mountains, and thus form the western extremity
of the great plain which sweeps round the southern
part of the Pennine range. (See p. 59.) They therefore
share in the mineral wealth of the mountains and
the agricultural riches of the plain, while they possess
the advantage of easy communication with the sea ;
and in industry and population they far surpass the
whole group of the northern counties taken together.
(See p. 108.)
I. Lancashire is a tract of country shut in
between the moorlands of Yorkshire on the east and
the Irish Sea on the west. Its northern point touches
Westmoreland, its broad southern end is bounded by
the river Mersey and by Cheshire. In form it is pear-
124
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
X.] COUNTIES OF THE KIBBLE AND MERSEY. 125
shaped, narrow at one end and very broad at the
other ; in size it is about equal to Northumberland, its
area being 1,905 square miles. The shire consists of
two great divisions of wholly different character and
scenery — a mountainous district on the east formed by
a succession of moors thrown out from the Pennine
chain, and a belt of low and marshy soil running along
the sea-coast on the west. The contrast between the
two sides may be seen by comparing the highest
mountain of the county, Pcfidle Hill^ on its eastern
border, with the broad, dreary marsh of the Fylde to
the west.
Lancasliire is cleft by three large rivers ; the Mersey^
which forms its southern boundary, the Lune in the
north, and the Ribble^ which cuts through its centre.
The smaller Wyre passes through the district of the
Fylde, making for itself a large and important opening
in the low coast.
The Ribble as it passes through the midst of
Lancashire divides it into two parts which are
strikingly contrasted in importance, wealth, popula-
tion, and industry.
(i.) North Lancashire, or the district which lies to
the north of the Ribble, is agricultural and pastoral,
with a very few towns near the sea-coast, and a scanty
population. Lancaster, the county town, lies at the
mouth of the Lune ; Fleet-wood, a sea-port on the Wyre,
Blackpool, Lytham, and Kirkham, are all situated near
the sea-shore in the midst of a dull, swampy, and un-
healthy flat, and are of little importance ; there is
indeed one great manufacturing town, Preston on the
126 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Ribble, but this lies so close to the borders of south
Lancashire as to share in its industry and wealth.
(2.) South Lancashire, on the other hand, the district
between the Ribble and the Mersey, is the richest and
most populous part of England, and differs equally
from the northern part of the county in the character of
its physical structure and in its industrial conditions.
It consists mainly of a great three-cornered wedge of
moorlands thrown out westward from the Pennine
chain, which gradually sink as they near the sea.
The broad base of this wedge fills the whole space
between the upper valleys of the Ribble and Mersey,
while the narrow end extends to a point near St.
Helen's. On the west these moorlands are parted from
the sea by a belt of level ground ; on the north they
slope rapidly to the narrow valley of the Ribble, and
throw down from their steep sides to this river two
small streams, the Calder and the Darwe?i; on the
south they fall by a gradual descent to the plain
watered by the Mersey. A number of streams which
rise in the highest parts of the moorland district are
gathered up on its southern slopes by the Irwell, and
by it carried down to the Mersey.
The tract of moorland which thus forms the
framework of south Lancashire is at the same time the
main source of its wealth and importance ; for it con-
tains the western half of a vast coal-field which once
stretched across England, but has been rent in two by
the upheaval of the Pennine range, and now lies half
in Lancashire, and half in Yorkshire. On this great
coal-field, which owing to its position on the moor-
X.] COUNTIES OF THE RIBBLE AND MERSEY. 127
land slopes is traversed by a complete system of
running waters, has sprung up one of the chief manu-
factures of England, that of cotton. Before its coal-
mines were opened, indeed, the whole district was very
rude and wild, and contained but a small pastoral and
agricultural population, living in little hamlets hidden
in its river valleys. But with the growth of mines and
manufactures these hamlets quickly expanded into
some of the greatest towns not only of England but of
the world ; and the whole county has now the appear-
ance of one unbroken city of mills and factories, all
busied in the same trade, the weaving, dyeing, and
printing of cotton. The towns lie for the most part
on the banks of some mountain stream : those situ-
ated far up among the moors are comparatively small,
while the most important have grown up lower down
where the- rivers are larger and their valleys broader.
The towns of Todmorden, Baaip, Hasltngderty and
Wtgafiy mark the crest of the heights. On the steep
northern slopes of the moorlands, in the basin of the
Ribble, are Cohie^ Burnley ^ Accrington, Over Darwen,
and Chorley. Nearer to the Ribble lie Clitheroe^
Padiham^ and greater than all these, Blackburn, with
its 76,000 people, situated in the lower valley of tlie
Darwen. All these towns have a large manufacturing
industry. But it is the long southern slope of the
coal-fields towards the Mersey that forms the chief
seat of the cotton trade, having a more sheltered
climate, a more abundant water-supply, and more
easy means of river communication with the sea. In
these southern valleys lie Bolton, Bury, Rochdale,
128 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Heywoodj Middkton, Oldham, and Ashton-under-Lyme
on the borders of the county, a group of towns which
for the most part contain from 40,000 to 80,000 in-
habitants.
All these towns except the last lie near streams
which empty themselves into the Irwell, and which
carry into its broader valley the trade that gathers along
their course. The banks of the Irwell itself there-
fore, at a point where three streams meet, have become
the site of a city whose population and wealth exceed
that of the whole group of towns taken together of
which it is the centre. This is Manchester^ which with
its suburb, Salford, has 480,000 inhabitants, that is,
100,000 more than the whole population of Northum-
berland. Lying on the highway which leads from the
moorland valleys to the Mersey, and so to the sea,
and thus gathering into itself the trade of the towns
scattered along these valleys, just as the Irwell gathets
up their streams, Manchester has become the capital
of the trade of south Lancashire, the store-house in
fact of all its manufactured goods, and one of the
most important towns of England.
To the west of Manchester lie other large towns
engaged in the cotton trade, Leigh, Newto?i, and
St. Helens with great manufactures of plate glass ;
and Warrington on the Mersey. Passing yet further
westward along the Mersey, we come to a town even
greater than Manchester, the sea-port of Liverpool,
with 500,000 inhabitants, and with a suburb on the
opposite shore of the river, Birke^ihead, which contains
50,000 people. The magnificent harbour formed by
J
X.] COUNTIES OF THE RIBBLE AND MERSEY. 129
the estuary of the Mersey has made Liverpool the
outlet for the whole foreign trade of north-western
England, and above all for the cotton trade with
America ; the river is here lined for many miles with
docks in which every country of the world is repre-
sented, and is only second to the Thames in the
extent of its commerce, as Liverpool is only second
to London in size and wealth.
The population of Lancashire is 2,819,495 ; greater
than that of Yorkshire, a county three times as large
in extent, and much greater than that of the four
northern counties together. This is owing to the
immense natural advantages which it has above all
those shires both for manufactures and for com-
merce.
To the county of Lancashire belongs also a part
of the Cumbrian hill country, called Furness, which
lies between Westmoreland and Cumberland, and
projects into Morecambe Bay. This outlying district
has all the characteristics of the Cumbrian group to
which it geographically belongs (see p. 43). It includes
two of the Cumbrian Lakes — Coniston Lake\x\ its centre,
and Windermere along its borders. The high mountain
of Old Man rises at the head of Coniston Lake, and
from it the hills sink gradually down in long lines to
the southern sea-shore, where the island of Walney
lies in a long low line guarding the coast. The penin-
sula which stretches south between the river Duddon
and Morecambe Bayis very rich in minerals — coal, iron,
lead, and copper; and here has grown up a great
mining town, Barrow-in- Furness ^ famous for its
ijo GEOGRAPHY. [ckap.
wonderfully rapid development. In 1846 one hut
marked its site, and one-fishing boat lay in its har-
bour ; in 1874, 40,000 people were gathered together
round the rich iron-mines which had been opened in
its neighbourhood, and the factories to which they
had given rise. Dalton and Ulverston, a little to the
north of it, are but small towns.
II. Cheshire is the last of the counties which
lie between the Pennine Moors and the Irish Sea, and
its character is very different from that of the other
shires which we have traversed, breaking away as it
does so quickly from the mountainous country and
opening into the plain of central England. It has an
area of i, 100 square miles ; its form is that of a casket
with two handles, one of which, Longendale, runs up
into the Pennine moors, while the other, Wt'rral, forms
a peninsula reaching out to the Irish Sea. To the north
and east Cheshire is shut in by mountainous country,
the moorlands of Lancashire, and the Peak of Derby-
shire; to the south it broadens to the plains of Stafford-
shire and Shropshire ; while the Welsh mountains
close it in again on the south-west, so that it has but a
narrow opening to the sea between the estuaries of the
Dee and the Mersey.
The bulk of Cheshire lies between these rivers,
the Dee and the Mersey, and is cleft in two by
the Weaver, which flows in a valley occupied by
the greatest salt-mines and brine springs of England.
The shire consists mainly of a broad plain of
red marls, little fitted for tillage, but forming some of
the best pasture-land in England, and divided into
X.] COUNTIES OF THE RIBBLE AND MERSEY. 131
great dairy and cheese-making farms. A tributary of
the Weaver, however, the Dafie, is thrown down from
a tract of rising ground to the east, where the county
runs up into the Pennine Moors and has a different
character, more like that of the other shires of the
northern group. Here are the heights of Macclesfield
Forest and Congleton Edge, outHers of the Pennine
chain, with mines of copper and lead, and quarries of
building stone ; and here too is a belt of coal-measures
which stretches from south Lancashire between the
upper valleys of the Mersey and the Dane. It is in
this district therefore that the manufactures of Cheshire
and the bulk of its population are gathered — in fact
tliere are but two towns of any note to westward of
the valley of the Weaver.
The towns of Cheshire group themselves naturally
along the river valleys according to their various
industries, (i.) Those of the Mersey share in the
trade of Lancashire, as Staleybridge 2iX\d Stockport v^'iih.
their great cotton factories ; Altrincham indeed is a little
agricultural town a few miles from the river as it enters
on the plain of grazing land; but Runcorn at the junction
of the Mersey and the Weaver is wholly engaged in the
working of iron ; and at the mouth of the river is the
port of Birkenhead, the busy suburb of Liverpool.
(2.) The region on either side of the Dane is the
centre of a special trade of Cheshire, the silk manu-
facture. A few miles to the north of the river is
Macclesfield, the capital of the silk weaving district ;
Congleton on the Dane itself, and SandbacJi to the
south of i^, carry on the same trade. (3.) The towns
K 2
132 GEOGRAPFIY. [chap. x.
which lie in the low valley of the Weaver are engaged
in the manufacture of salt from the brine springs and
mines of rock-salt for which this valley has been
famous for probably 1800 years. They are Nantwich
on the Weaver, Middlewich on the Dane, and North-
wich at the meeting of the two rivers. Near Nant-
wich is the town of Crewe, important only as the
junction of a great network of railways. (4.) The
last river, the Dee, which skirts the grazing plain to
the south-west, has on its banks the county town Chester,
with a cathedral and old castle ; this was an im-
portant port till the choking up of the estuary with
sand robbed it of its trade. The population of
Cheshire is 561,200 persons, and is chiefly gathered in
the manufacturing districts.
CHAPTER XI.
THE COUNTIES OF THE SEVERN BASIN, OR WEST
MIDLANDS.
If we pass southwards over the belt of low undu-
lating country which bounds the plain of Cheshire, we
enter directly on the ba5i?i of the Severn (see p. 59).
The shires which occupy this basin we may term from
their position the West Midland Counties. They form the
borderland between England and Wales; indeed of
two which lie west of the Severn channel, Hereford
and Monmouth^ the last was detached from Wales as
late as the reign of Henry VIII. On the eastern side
of the river lie the bulk of Shropshire^ Worcester shire y
and Gloucestershire, while Warwickshire occupies the
valley of the chief affluent of the Severn, the
Avon, and thus forms a narrow wedge which runs up
into the heart of England. All these counties lie
wholly inland save at the point where the Severn
breaks out into the estuary of the Bristol Channel
(see p. 108).
I. At the head of the Severn basin, where the
river pours down its waters from the Welsh hills
134
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
and winds round their outliers to the south, lies
Shropshire — a county with an area of 1,290
fOsirestTf
^j Newport \
Much° i •. n J.
■po" - ^^v- ;j'ee \/,_ 1*-' >7''"/' ^ Coventry \
A-udlow
I<,i<t3min^ibyi
Kidrierm,n3t£r ' ^.o' i^ Ru^
t" ■
DroiUrich\
Worcester
Warwic
The Couniies of the Severn Basin. — Tcwns and Rivers.
square miles, a little larger than Cheshire. This shire
belongs half to the central plain of England, half to
XL] COUNTIES OF THE SEVERN BASIN. 135
the Welsh group of mountains. On the north and east
it is bounded by the lowlands of Cheshire and Stafford ;
along its western borders rise the hills of Denbigh,
Montgomery, and Radnor, all parts of the Welsh
mountain-group; and on the south is the broken
country of Hereford and Worcester. Shropshire itself
consists of two distinct parts. The northern half,
which adjoins the English plain, is a level tract of rich
pasture-land well watered by rivers ; the southern half
is a wild and rugged district of lofty ridges and
hills thrown out from the Welsh mountains.
These two parts are separated by the valley
of the Severn, which crosses the county diagonally
and gathers into itself all the rivers of the shire.
These flow to it for the most part through the wide
pasture-fields of the northern plain, as the Tern, the
Rodeii, and the Perry. There is but one stream, the
Teme, on the borders of the county, whose course lies
on the southern side of the Severn. As the rivers
with one exception lie to the north of the Severn,
so the mountains with one exception lie to the south
of it. From the heights of Clun Forest in the south-
west, long ridges of hill radiate to the north-east like
spokes of a wheel, till cut short by the great Severn
valley — Shelve Hill, Stiper Stones, the Long Mynd,
the Caradoc Hills, and Wenlock Edge ; to the east of
these the round mass of the Clee Hills rises in the
centre of a broad plain, and the high ground of the
Forest of Wyre occupies the south-eastern corner of
the county. The solitary upthrow of the Wrekin, 1320
feet high, close to the northern banks of the Severn,
136 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
is the one hill which breaks tli^ level plain beyond
that river.
The towns of Shropshire are chiefly gathered
in the valley of the Severn or its neighbourhood.
Shrewsbury^ the chief town, lies in a loop of the river
which almost encircles the ground on which it stands.
Further to the east, as its stream passes the Wrekin
and winds through the narrow rocky pass of Coal-
brook Dale, the Severn channel lies across a small belt
of coal-measures which forms the manufacturing
district of the county, but whose stores are rapidly
becoming exhausted. Here Wellington, Madeley,
and Ironbridge are all occupied in the iron and
coal trade ; while Broseley is famous for its pipe
manufactures. Bridgnorth, lower down the river, is
like Shrewsbury wholly agricultural. In the great level
stretch of rich soil to the north of the Severn valley
there are a number of quiet country towns depending
on grazing and agricultural industries : Oswestry, Elles-
mere, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, and Newport, all
lying near the borders of the county, and Shiffnal,
whose trade is in corn and cattle for the mining
district. Among the bleak hills of the south the popu-
lation is very scanty ; the little town of Much Wenlock
lies near the Severn, and Ludlow shelters itself in the
valley of the Teme. The population of the whole
county, 248,111 persons, is less than half that of
Cheshire with its fruitful plains and many manufac-
tures.
II. If we follow the Severn as it quits Shropshire,
flowing mahily to the south-west, we pass into Wor-
Xl.l COUNTIES OF THE, SEVERN BASIN. 137
cestershire, a shire bounded on the north by
the plain of Stafford, on the east by that of Warwick,
on the north-west and south-west by Shropshire and
Hereford, and on the south by Gloucestershire.
Worcestershire is a rather small county, having an
area of 738 square miles : it coincides for the most
part with the deep valley of the middle Severn, as it
divides the Welsh mountain group of the west from
the plains and uplands of eastern Britain. This
valley, about sixteen miles wide, is shut in on the
west by the line of the Abberley and the Malvern
Hills ; on the east by the Clent and the Lickey
Hills, 1,000 feet and 800 feet in height. Between
these two walls of low heights the Severn passes
through the county from north to south. On its right
it receives the Teme, which cuts through the western
line of hills to join it ; on its left, as it leaves the
southern border, it takes up the much greater river
Avon, which comes from the heart of England, and
which in its passage through the uneven ground of
south-eastern Worcestershire, follows a second smaller
depression, the Vale of Evesham.
The valleys of Worcestershire abound in luxuriant
hop-gardens and orchards of apples and pears;
but besides its agricultural industries it possesses
a variety of manufactures. In the valley of the
Severn lie the capital Worcester^ famous for its
porcelain and its gloves ; Droitwich, the centre of a
salt-mining district which extends along the little
river Salwarp ; and Kidderminsiery grown great by its
manufacture of carpets. But the chief manufacturing
13^ GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
towns lie in the north, where the iron and coal trade
of Staffordshire overlaps the border. Here, in a
detached bit of the county lying in Staffordshire, are
the immense ironworks of Dudley, and close by, the
lesser factories of Oldbury, and the glass and iron
works of Stourbridge. A smaller town, Redditch^ where
needles and fishhooks are made, is situated at the
foot of the Clent Hills in the east. The quiet little
country town of Evtskmn lies in its vale by the Avon,
and on the western border, at the foot of the
Malvern Hills, is Malvern, famous for its mineral
springs. The population of Worcestershire, owing to its
many industries, is large for the size of the county :
it contains 338,837 inhabitants, a number greater than
that of the much bigger county of Shropshire.
in. The Severn crosses the southern border of
Worcestershire near Tewkesbury, and flows in irregular
windings to the head of its estuary through the county
of Gloucester, In this lower part of its course the
Severn valley is bounded on the west by the heights
of Dean Forest, and on the east by the long escarp-
ment of the Cotswold Hills. Between these heights,
and spreading over them to east and west, lies
Gloucestershire. This shire has an area of 1,258
square miles : to the west it is bounded by Mon-
mouth and Hereford; to the north by Worces-
tershire; and to the north-west by Warwickshire
■ — all shires belonging to the basin of the Severn. To
the east lie Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, which belong
to the basin of the Thames, and to the south the
broken country of Somersetshire. Though the Thames
XI.] COUNTIES OF THE SEVERN BASIN. 139
rises on the Cotswold slopes within the eastern borders
of the shire, the Severn is the only great river which
flows right through the county ; in its passage it takes
up on the northern borders the greater Avo?i^ and on
the southern boundary the lesser Avon.
By its physical structure Gloucestershire is broken
into three well-marked portions, (i.) The first of
these, a tract of red marls bordering the Forest
of Dean on the west of the Severn, is small and
unimportant. (2.) To the east of the Severn, and
between that river and the escarpment of the
Cotswolds, a long narrow strip of country runs
from north to south — a country of tillage and of
orchards for the most part, containing the agri-
cultural town of Tewkesbury^ and Gloucester the chief
town of the county, both on the banks of the Severn ;
and on the slopes of the Cotswolds to the east,
the watering-place of Chelte7iham. The clothing
manufactures of Stroud and Dursley lie on the range
of the Cotswolds as they extend southwards, over-
looking the vale of Berkeley. Yet farther south, between
the Cotswolds and the Severn estuary, an outlying
fragment of the Somersetshire coal-field extends across
the southern borders of the shire ; and here, on the
little Avon as it runs into the Severn estuary, stands the
great town of Bristol with its population of 180,000
persons, and its manufactures of glass, sugar, tobacco,
soap, wax, machinery and metal work. In the port of
Bristol nearly all the trade between England and
Ireland is carried on, besides an extensive commerce
with the West Indies, South America, and the Black
140 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Sea. This central strip of low-lying land forms there-
fore the richest and most populous part of Gloucester-
shire. (3.) From the Cotswold escarpment eastward
stretches a third tract composed of uplands which
belong to the great oolitic range — a lonely tract of
grazing country, in which Cirencester is the only im-
portant town. The whole population of Gloucester-
shire amounts to 534,640 persons, and is chiefly
gathered into its central district by the Severn.
IV. As the oolitic uplands stretch away from the
Cotswolds through Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire,
their escarpment looks down to the north-west over the
valley of the greatest among the eastern affluents of
the Severn. This is the river Ai'on, and the basin
of the Avon forms the bulk of Warwickshire, which
thus links itself naturally to the counties of the
Severn.
Warwickshire has an area of 880 square miles.
It is only on its southern and eastern borders that it
belongs to the oolitic range, which skirts it on this side
in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire;
for the bulk of the county as it stretches on the north-
west to Staffordshire and Leicestershire, and on the
west to Worcestershire, belongs to the plain of central
England. Its scenery answers to this position. On
the southern borders of the county where it adjoins the
upland range there are low hills, as the Edge Hills ;
while in all other parts the surface of the ground is only
varied by gentle undulations, which were once covered
by the Forest of Arden, but now form a tract of open
land very fertile and still rich in wood. Across the
XI.] COUNTIES OF THE SEVERN BASIN 141
centre of this plain lies the depression made by the
valley of the Avon. Though the Tame and a few
smaller streams flow northwards to the Trent, it is the
Avon which gathers in the greater number of the rivers
of the shire, and carrying them to the Severn adds
Warwickshire to the counties which occupy its basin.
Most of the Warwickshire towns lie in this broad
pleasant valley of the Avon. As the river enters the
shire it passes near Rugby, important for its great
school ; Coventry, a large town supported by silk and
ribbon manufactures, lies a few miles to the north of
the river ; Kenilworth Castle is not far from Coventry.
At the junction of the Learn with the Avon in the
centre of the shire is Leamington, noted for its mineral
springs ; and close by, Warwick, the chief town of the
county; Straiford-on-Avon, the birthplace of Shake-
speare, lies where the river first touches the southern
border of Warwickshire. The towns situated outside
the Avon valley are Nuneaton, a small place on the
northern border, and Birmingham in the north-east.
This last town is one of the largest in England, contain-
ing nearly 350,000 inhabitants ; it lies in a little tongue
of Warwickshire which runs out into the midst of the
coal-fields of south Staffordshire, and shares in the
enormous manufacturing prosperity of that region, of
which Birmingham has become the trading centre.
By its immense factories for steel, iron, needles, pins,
plated ware, &c., it has now grown to be more than
thirty-three times as great as the capital of the shire.
The manufacturing industry which at this point crosses
o\er the border of Warwickshire has raised its popula-
142 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
tion to 634,190 inhabitants, a very large number for
the size of the county.
V. The Severn has but one great affluent on the east,
whose basin, as we have seen, is occupied by Warwick-
shire. But on the west its estuary receives two great
tributaries, the Wye and the Usk. The basins of these
rivers form the counties of Hereford and Momnouth.
Herefordshire is a broken, circular plain with
an area of 836 square miles, which is shut in on the
north by the hills of southern Shropshire, on the west
by the high moors and mountains of Radnor and Breck-
nock, and on the east by the Malvern Hills and the
Forest of Dean. The plain thus inclosed on all
sides save that towards Monmouthshire on the south,
belongs to the basin of the river Wye^ which flows across
its centre, receiving tributaries from the surrounding
hills, as the Lug from the north and the Monnow
from the west. The scenery of Herefordshire is
varied by gentle hills lying principally along its
eastern borders. Its whole industry is agricultural,
its abundant streams and great fertility having covered
it with hop-gardens and orchards, which have given
rise to its main business of cider-making. The popu-
lation is small, 125,370, and the towns are few.
The chief among them are Hereford in the centre of
the county on the Wye, and north of it Leominster
on the Lug. Ross on the Wye in the south, and
Ledbury in the east, are both very small country
towns.
VI. Through the one open border of Herefordshire
to the south, the Wye makes its way in a direct line
x-i.] COUNTIES OF THE SEVERN BASIN. 143
to the estuary of the Severn — a line running due north
and south, which forms the eastern boundary of Mon-
mouthshire. This is a very small county, with an area
of only 576 square miles ; it lies between the plain of
Hereford on the north, and the Bristol Channel on the
south, while to the east rise the low heights of Glouces-
tershire, and on the west the Welsh mountains of
Brecknock and Glamorgan. On the northern and
western borders of the county adjoining the Welsh
mountains are some high outlying hills of the Breck-
nock range, the highest point of which is the Sugarloaf
Mount in the north. These hills fall in long slopes to
the varied plain which forms the greater part of the
shire, a plain which is in fact the basin of the river
Usk. From its source in the Welsh mountains, the
Usk flows across the heart of Monmouthshire on its
way to the estuary of the Severn, thus linking this
shire with the counties of the Severn basin, and form-
ing by its valley the eastern boundary of the coal-field
of South Wales, while it at the same time opens an
outlet to the sea for its mineral wealth.
The towns of the shire lie for the most part along
the river-valleys. The county town Mojimouth takes
its name from the Monnow, being built at the junction
of that stream with the Wye ; and the little port of
Chepstow lies at the mouth of the Wye. On the
banks of the Usk are situated Abergavenfiy^ Usk^ and
Newport, This last town is of considerable import-
ance, owing to its being the sea- port of the valley of
the Usk and the lateral valleys to westward of it — a
tract of country which lies within the limits of the
144 GEOGRAPHY. [chap., xr.
coal-measures of wSouth Wales, and has a large mining
and manufacturing industry. The chief towns of
this district are T?'edcgar and Po7itypool^ which are
engaged in the working of coal and iron, and whose
exports are carried out of the country through
Newport.
Owing to its manufacturing industries the little
county of Monmouth has a population of 195,500,
one larger, that is, than that of Hereford.
CHAPTER XII.
COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN.
The basin of the Humberis, as we have seen (p. 59),
of very great size, for it extends from Cheshire on the
south-west to Durham on the north-east, and thus
includes the whole tract of low country which
encircles the Pennine range from the Tees to the
basins of the Mersey and the Severn. The group of
five counties which lies within its limits has therefore
a greater area than that of any other group in England
— an area of nearly ten thousand square miles. This
vast district, however, is divided into two parts which
correspond to the two distinct river systems which
unite their waters in the Humber, those of the basm of
the Trent y and the basin of the Ouse ; and these parts,
with a general resemblance in industrial resources and
in population, vary greatly in the size and number of
their political divisions, for while the first, with an
area of 3,792 square miles is divided into four shires:
the second and far larger district, with an area of
over 6,000 square miles, forms but a single county.
L
146 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
To the east of the counties of the Severn basin
and only parted from them by a low undulating
belt of country, lie the counties of the basin
of the Trent. The four shires of this group,
Derbyshire^ Staffordshire, Leicestershire and Not-
tinghamshire, form taken together, a rough square
set in the middle of England (see p. 108.) Derby-
shire, the centre of the group, is made up of the
heights which lie at the southern extremity of the
Pennine range; Staffordshire, Leicestershire, and
Nottinghamshire form a half-circle of low country
which sweeps round these Derbyshire hills, and opens
on the north-west into the plain of Cheshire, on the
north-east into the plain of York. Hence these
three counties link together the plain of Cheshire
and the plain of York, and themselves belong to
the central plain of England. But they are bound
together in a very marked way by the fact of their
forming the basin of the Trent, for they include
the whole tract of country drained by that river and
by its affluents (see p. 81). Let us suppose a
spectator to be standing on the Peak of Derbyshire
and thence looking out southwards over the plain
which curves round the base of the moorlands, in
which the Trent lies like a great bow. On his right
he will see the river as it rises on the northern
borders of Staffordshire and winds through the centre
of that county. Leaving the limits of Staffordshire,
he then sees it bend eastward till its course lies right
in front of him, skirting the borders of Leicestershire
and Derbyshire, where it takes up rivers sent down to
XII.] COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN.
147
it from both these counties ; and finally he will watch
it turning northwards through Nottinghamshire to finish
its course on his left hand after having described a
The CouNTihS of the Tkent Basin.— Towns aud Rivers,
I complete half circle. The whole basin of the Trent
lies before him, and the four counties of middle
I England which occupy this basin are bound together
j wiihin it into a natural and sharply defined group.
i L 2
143 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
The counties of the Trent basin differ from the
northern and north-western groups of shires in two
ways : (i) they lie wholly inland, and (2) they belong
with but one exception to the central plain of
England and have therefore little mountainous
scenery. In one important point, however, they
resemble the northern counties, for encircling so
closely as they do the base of the Pennine range, the
borders of all four are overlapped by the coal-
measures of the moors, and they thus share in the
wealth and prosperity of the manufacturing counties
of the north and north-west.
1. Derbyshire forms the centre round which the
other shires are grouped. It is a long narrow county
with an area of 1,029 square miles, and a population
of 379,400 persons, shut into the midst of England
between Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire on one
side, and Staffordshire and Cheshire on the other.
To the north of it lie the Pennine Moors of York-
shire, which are continued through the heart of Derby-
shire, and sink gradually towards the valley of the
Trent on its southern border. Their greatest heights
lie in the northern part of the county, where they
form the mountainous district of the Peak, a region
of rounded hills rising from high moorlands which
are cut by wild and deep valleys. But before we
reach the southern limits of Derbyshire the Pennine
chain, now nearly 200 miles in length, has fallen to
the level plain of central England, and here the
county extends in a long tongue of low land between
Staffordshire and Leicestershire, till it touches the
XII.] COUNTIES OF THE IIUMBER BASIN. 149
northern borders of Warwickshire. There are three
rivers in Derbyshire. The Trent just crosses its
southern part ; but two tributaries of the Trent, thrown
down from the Peak, the Dove and the Derwent^
travel for their whole course within the limits of the
county. While the Dove marks its western boundary,
the Derwent flows in a deep and beautiful mountain
valley through its centre, a valley which forms a
natural division breaking the county into two dif-
ferent parts, one manufacturing, the other agri-
cultural.
{a.) As the Pennine Moors extend from Yorkshire
into Derbyshire they carry with them a continuation
of the great coal-measures of Yorkshire, and these
coal-measures occupy nearly the whole of that part
of Derbyshire which lies to the east of the Derwent
valley. Round the coal-*nines lie manufacturing
towns. Derby ^ the chief town, which is built on the
Derwent, near the coal-field, has manufactures of silk
and cotton. Belper^ on the same river, has cotton
manufactures. Chesterfield^ in the centre of the mining
country, adds to cotton the Yorkshire manufacture of
wool. The working of iron is carried on at Ilkeston
and Alfreton in the east. (^.) On the other hand, the
hilly country to the west of the Derwent is mainly an
agricultural district, where the towns are very small.
They are Ashbourne^ an agricultural town in the valley
of the Dove ; Wirksworth^ built near some mines of
lead; Matlock^ on the Derwent, and Bakeivell and
Buxto7i on its tributary the Wye^ famous for their
mineral springs and rocky scenery; and the little
I50 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
village of Casihton in the Peak district, where visi-
tors go to see the deep caverns and subterranean
streams of the limestone rocks. However, in the north
where the county stretches towards Lancashire, it has
shared in some of the Lancashire industry, and here
the busy town of Glossop carries on a large cotton
manufacture.
II. Let us now once more take our place on one
of the mountains of the Peak, and look out to the
south-west towards the source of the Trent. We see
that between the plain of Cheshire and the western
borders of Derbyshire lies a varied tract of country
called Staffordshire, which stretches southwards
till it touches three counties of the Severn basin,
Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. Staf-
fordshire is about the same size as Derbyshire, having
an area of 1,138 square miles, and belongs wholly
to the central plain of England. Its northern part
alone, which lies on the borders of the Peak district
of Derbyshire, is broken by some of the last hills and
moors thrown out from the Pennine range, such as
the heights of the Axe Edge Hill., the Weaver Hills^
and Mow Cop. But from this somewhat hilly district
to its southern borders the county consists of a gentle
undulating tract of agricultural country, with the low
upland of Camiock Chase in its centre. The whole
of this plain is well watered by rivers ; the Trent
passes through the heart of it, receiving on its way
many small streams, the chief of which are the Dove,
which forms the eastern boundary of the county, and on
the other side the Tame, which crosses it in the south.
xii.}. .COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN. 151
' But though the bulk of Staffordshire is from its
character agricultural, the great wealth and population
of the county. are gathered round two centres near
its northern and southern borders. These centres
are the two coal-fields of Staffordshire. The northern
coal-bed is the end of a long line of coal-measures
which run down from Lancashire across Cheshire into
north Staffordshire, and which have here become the
main seat of the manufacture of earthenware in
England, whence the district takes its name of " the
Potieries.^^ The southern coal-field, separated from the
northern by the valley of the Trent, is given up to
ironworks and hardware manufactures. These great
industries have made Staffordshire one of the richest
and most thickly populated counties of England ; it
contains 858,326 inhabitants, more than twice as many
as Derbyshire, a county of the same size.
The chief town, Stafford, lies half way between the
coal-fields on the little river Sow; it is principally
engaged in the making of boots and shoes. North of
it lie ''the Potteries" with their great town of Stoke-
on-Trent, with 130,000 inhabitants, more than nine
times as great as Stafford, and its dependent towns
Ilajiley, Burslem, Tunstail, and Longton. The neigh-
bouring Newcastle-under-Lyme carries on a large trade
in hats and shoes. The capital of the iron manu-
facturing district in the south is Wolverhampton^
containing 160,000 inhabitants, the largest town of
the county. Walsall is but little smaller, and after
it come Btlston, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich,
Burton-on-Trcnt on the eastern borders has the greatest
I.S2 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
breweries in England. Then follow some quiet agri-
cultural towns, Lichfield with its old cathedral, and
Tamworth in the south ; in the north the large town
of Leek^ and below it Uttoxeter^ and Stone on the
Trent.
III. Looking directly south from our old point of
view on the Peak, we see Derbyshire pushing out a
thin tongue of land which parts Staffordshire on the
south-west from the county of Leicestershire on
the south-east, a county which lies on the farther
side of the Trent, whose course here runs from west
to east and just touches the northern border of the
shire. In extent Leicestershire is the smallest county
of the Midland group, having an area of but 800
square miles ; its form is not unlike that of a heart.
On the east and south-east it is shut in by the uplands
of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland ; the
southern strip of Derbyshire bounds it on the west ;
to the north it opens on the lowlands of Nottingham-
shire ; to the south on those of Warwickshire.
The shire lies wholly within the plain of central
England, and is chiefly composed of the valley of
the river Soar^ which rises near its southern point,
and traverses its centre to join the Trent on its
northern borders. Thus the middle part of the county
is very low, while on either side the ground slightly
rises : on the east it creeps up the slopes of the oolitic
uplands, which as we have seen (see p. 59) form
the boundary between the Trent basin and that of the
Wash ; and on the west it rises to the hilly and some-
what rugged tract of Charnwood Forest, and a small
xiL] COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN. 153
bed of coal which lies beyond it. The streams from
the rising grounds to east and west are thrown down
to the Soar in the middle, and by it carried to the
Trent. The two largest towns lie in the valley of
the Soar — Leicester^ with very great manufactures of
woollen stockings and gloves and of woollen and cotton
thread ; and farther north, Loughborough, also with
manufactures of hosiery and lace. On the rising
ground to westward of the Soar is Ashby-de-la-Zoiich,
a small town in the centre of the coal district. On
the uplands of the east just facing it is Meltoji
Mowbray, an important agricultural town. A few
quiet little country towns are dotted over the plain in
the south, Market Harborough, Lutterworth, Hinckhy,
and Market Bosworth, The county contains 269,300
inhabitants.
IV. Right to the east as we look from the Peak lies
Nottinghamshire, a long narrow belt of low
undulating country, pent in between the uplands of
Lincolnshire on the east and the broken heights
of Derbyshire on the west, while to the north it
opens into the plain of York, and to the south into
the more broken plain of Leicestershire. Notting-
hamshire is scarcely larger than Leicestershire, having
an area of 822 square miles. It consists of two
clearly-marked districts. (^.) To the west is a country
broken by heights pushed out from the Derbyshire
hills, amongst which lies the part once known as
Sherwood Forest ; this district is overlapped by out-
liers of the Derbyshire coal-measures, which here
give rise to some manufacturing industry, {b.) The
154 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
eastern part of the county, on the other hand, is aft
agricultural plain watered by the Trent and by its
affluents, thrown down for the most part from the rising
ground on the west. The chief of these is the Idley
which in its winding course gathers up nearly all the
streams of the west, and cames them to the Trent, on
the northern border of the county.
The towns of Nottinghamshire are few and chiefly
agricultural. The capital indeed, Notti?igham^ which
lies on the borders of the coal-field, is a manu-
facturing town of great size, where shoes, cotton,
stockings, and lace are chiefly made ; and one other
manufacturing town, Sutton-m-AshJield,\\ts]\isi within
the western limits of the shire. Mansfield, Worksop,
and Southwell are smaller towns lying in the plain
to westward of the Trent; but the chief agricul-
tural centre is New ark-on- Trent, where the great corn
and cattle markets of the county are held. The
population of the county is large for its size,
amounting to 319,758 inhabitants.
V. The second great affluent of the Humber is the
Ouse, and the basin of the Ouse forms York-
shire, the largest of all the English counties, having
an area of above 6,000 square miles, and thus cover-
ing more space than all the shires of the northern
group taken together. To the north of it lies
Durham, to the west are Westmoreland and Lan-
cashire, to the east the German Ocean; while three
counties of central England, Lincoln, Nottingham, and
Derby, lie along its southern borders (see p. 108).
Right across the great tract which lies within these
xir.] COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN.
155
limits a broad plain stretches from north to south, to
which the city of York in its centre gives the name of
the plain of York. To right and left of this plain lie
two much smaller valleys which start from its centre
and run to eastward and westward — the Vale of Pick-
Scarborough
'...^ ,-~^ Darnsley Doricasricr f~
YoKKSHiRE. — Towns and Rivers.
ering on the east, and the valley of Settle in the west.
These three plains lie like a gigantic cross on the face
of Yorkshire, and break up the wild hills and
moorlands which form its eastern and western portions
into four distinct masses. To the north- east lie the
156 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Yorkshire and Cleveland Moors ; to the south-east,
parted from them by the Vale of Pickering, are the
Yorkshire Wolds ; across the plain of York to the
north-west are the Richmond and Craven Moors ; and
south of them, beyond the valley of Settle, the long
reach of the Pen7iine mooi'lands stretching as far as
Sheffield.
It is in the north-western moorlands of Richmond
and Craven that the chief rivers of Yorkshire take
their rise. Thence come the Ure^ the Swale, the
Nidd, the Whai-fe, and the Aire, which unite their
waters as they fall into the plain of York. The
Don is the only stream of any size which rises in the
moorlands of the south-west ; and the Derwent alone
is thrown down from the York moors of the north-
east. One special characteristic of Yorkshire is the
way in which all these streams are gathered up into a
single channel, that of the Ouse, and poured out into
the sea by a single estuary, the Humber. Thus nearly
the whole county falls within the basin of the Hum-
ber, for it touches but two rivers of any size not united
to this river group — the Tees which forms its northern
border, and the Ribble, whose head-waters lie among
the western mountains, but whose course soon turns
away out of Yorkshire into Lancashire.
Each of the districts into which we have divided
Yorkshire has its own special character. Let us look
(i) at the plains and (2) at the mountainous regions.
I. (<2.) The Plain of York is formed of the richest
soil in the county ; it is traversed by the Ouse, the
main water-channel into which the rivers from the
X!i.] COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN. 157
moors are poured ; and it has always been the chief
line of communication between England and Scotland.
In the centre of this plain therefore, by the banks of
the Ouse where it first becomes navigable, sprang up
the chief town of Yorkshire, York^ a city which com-
manded at once the fertile plain around it, the com-
merce of the Ouse, and the road to Scotland, and thus
became the capital of northern England. The plain
to the north of York is dotted by small agricultural
towns ; Thirsk and NorthuHerton to eastward on the
Swale j Ripon, on the banks of the Ure, the seat of a
bishopric but otherwise of little note ; in the valley of
the Nidd Knaresborough, containing one of the chief
corn-markets of the north, and Harrogate^ an im-
portant watering-place. To the south of York, near
the borders of the county, is a much greater agricul-
tural town than these, Doncaster^ situated on the Don,
in one of the most fertile districts of England. The
towns which lie along the banks of the Ouse below
York are engaged in the river trade, as Selby with
its shipyards, and in a far greater degree, Hull on
the Humber, the capital of the northern trade with
Europe. The plain of York therefore, with its river
opening to the sea, represents the chief agricultural
and trading industries of north-eastern England.
(A) The Vale of Pickering is a fertile and well-
cultivated valley shut in between the York moors and
wolds, and watered by the river Derwent. Through it
are scattered quiet country towns and villages such as
New Maltofiy which marks the old ford across the
river, and Pickering.
158 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
{c.) The Valley of Settle, and the adjoining table-
lands lying in the heart of the Craven moors comprise
Ribbledale, Wharfedale, and Airedale, or the upper
valleys of these three rivers. The valley of the Aire
is one of the most fruitful tracts of Yorkshire ; the
hill-sides which bound it form great sheep-farms, and
Skipton on the river-banks, the chief town of this
district, is noted for its cattle-markets.
2. The mountainous districts of Yorkshire have
their characteristic features very distinctly marked.
(^.) The York Moors are aline of wild and barren
uplands running east and west from the plain of York
to the sea (p. 59). The Hambleton Hills form their
western escarpment, overlooking the plain of York, out
of which they rise like great inland cliffs. Their north-
ern face is formed by the Cleveland Hills, where they
slope to the river Tees. Since the discovery of iron-
mines in this district about thirty years ago, a large
mining population has gathered on the hill-sides. The
port of Middlesboroiigh on the Tees, and Guisborough
at the foot of the hills, are the chief centres of their
trade, the first being engaged in the export, the second
in the mining trade. But the greater part of the York
moors is a wild and lonely country wholly given up to
sheep-grazing, and contains only a few hamlets in the
narrow river valleys which run down to the Vale of
Pickering, and small sea-ports or watering-places
on the cliffs of the coast, such as Whitby and
Scarborough.
{b.) The York Wolds form a great crescent of chalk
hills sweeping round from Flamborough Head to the
XII.] COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN. 159
H umber, and bounded on the east by the low ground
of Holderness Marsh, on the north by the Vale of
Pickering, and on the west by the Plain of York. To
the north and west the hills rise, like the Hambleton
Hills, in steep smooth cliffs lifted out of the plain as out
of a great sea, and curved into promontories and bays.
The Wold towns are very few and wholly engaged in
agriculture ; all except Market Weighton lie at the foot
of the uplands on the borders of the low and more
fertile ground. The chief among them, Bridlington^
Great Driffield, Beverley, and the sea-port of Hull,
mark the inner side of the crescent of the Wolds.
(^.) The Richmond and Craven Moors of north-
western Yorkshire consist of desolate tracts of fern
and heather broken by crags of blackened stone, and
by the steepest and wildest of the Pennine mountains,
Mickle Fell, Inglebo?vugh, Peii-y-ghent, and Whernside,
among whose heights all the chief rivers of Yorkshire
take their rise. The litde town of Richmond finds
shelter at the opening of Swaledale.
id) The South-western Moorlands, or that
part of the Pennine chain which lies between Settle
and Sheffield, form a most important district. Here
along the moorland slopes is spread a vast coal-field,
where the chief population, wealth, and trade of
Yorkshire have been gathered. The abundant supply
of coal and iron, and of running waters by which
the machinery of mills and factories may be worked,
has given rise to some of the most flourishing manu-
factures of England, those of wool, iron, steel, and
cutlery. The towns busied in these trades are thickly
i6o GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
crowded together so that the whole district has the
appearance of one great city. The chief among them
is Leeds on the Aire, a town with 260,000 inhabi-
tants, six times as large as York; close to it is
Bradford, the next in size, with 150,000 people; a
little to the north of these lies Keighley, and to the
south a whole group, Halifax, Hiiddersfield, Batley,
Dewsbury, and Wakefield. These large towns have
populations varying from 15,000 to 70,000 ; and with
a number of lesser ones are all engaged in the
manufacture of wool, which is here carried on for the
whole of the inland and foreign trade of England.
Two other manufacturing towns lie yet further south
having different industries ; Bamsley, carrying on a
trade in linen ; and Sheffield on the Don, at a point
where five streams meet, almost as great a city
as Leeds, with a population of 240,000 people,
and possessing the greatest cutlery manufactures in
the world.
Political Divisions. — Yorkshire is divided for
political purposes into three great divisions or
Ridings, all of which meet at the chief town, York.
The JS/orih Riding stretches across the whole upper
part of the county, dipping down southward at its
broadest part as far as the city of York in the plain
of the Ouse. It contains the Cleveland Hills and
York Moors, a small part of the south-western Moors,
and the plain lying between them. The East Riding
lies between the Ouse, the Derwent, and the sea
and contains the York Wolds. The West Ridi?ig,
the largest of the three, comprises the high moorlands
XII.] COUNTIES OF THE HUMBER BASIN. i6i
of the Pennine range and that part of the York
plain which lies to the west of the Ouse.
As Yorkshire is the largest of Erglish counties, so
it is one of the most thickly peopled, its population
being nearly 2,436,000. There is but one county in
the north, Lancashire, which has a greater number of
inhabitants.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE COUNTIES OF THE WASH, OR EAST MIDLAND
COUNTIES.
Eastward of the counties of the Trent basin lies the
group of the Counties of the Wash, or the East
Midland Counties . We have already sketched that
great inlet into the eastern coast which is called the
Wash, the common estuary of four rivers, the Witham,
the Welland, the Nen, and the Ouse (see p. 8i).
If we take a point on the sea-shore at the mouth of
the Nen, wc may gain a general view of the basin of the
Wash (see p. 59). Before us stretches a tract of
alluvial soil, whose greatest length, from Lincoln to
Cambridge, is seventy-three miles, and whose greatest
breadth, from Peterborough to the mouth of the Ouse,
is thirty-six miles. This wide tract, the largest level
plain in England, has an area of 1,300 square mile?,
and forms what is known as the Fenland, a district of
low marshy soil traversed by long canals, or by rivers
well-nigh as sluggish as canals, whose courses are
marked by lines of willows as far as the eye can reach
over the flats. Beyond the fens to the west rise the
CH. XIII.] COUNTIES OF THE WASH. 163
gentle heights of the OoHtic uplands, which part the
basin of the Wash from those of the Trent and the
Severn ; while to the south lies the steep escarpment
of the East Anglian heights which sever it from the
valley of the Thames.
The six counties inclosed in the basin between the
crest of these uplands and the sea, and which drain
their waters into the Wash by means of its four great
rivers, radiate outwards like the spokes of a
wheel in a vast half-circle, the narrow end of each
county being turned towards the Wash — Liticobi-
shire to the north, Rutland to the west, North-
amptonshire to the south-west, Bedfordshire and Hunt-
ingdonshire inclined yet more towards the south, and
Cambridgeshire due south (see p. 108). Lying wholly
apart as they do from the manufacturing districts of
England, and depending solely upon agriculture,
their scenery and industry are very different from
those of the shires we have already considered.
I. If we now look northwards from our station at
the mouth of the Nen we see stretching from the
spot where we stand to the Humber the county ot
Lincolnshire, a great tract of land with an area of
2,776 square miles, about half the size of Yorkshire,
and second only to it among English counties. To
tlie north it is severed by the Humber from York-
shire ; to the west it is bounded by the counties of
Nottingham and Leicester; to the east by the
German Ocean, and to the south it reaches to Cam-
bridgeshire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland. The
shire which lies within these limits is made up of two
M 3
I64
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
incoln Hof-nca^e ^^
t- I N C\0 L
Bostorr
\G "ajithu/n
r^ o ^
1 h \e
r C'A'n s
Oai\a^J ^^
"k^K/^
yx
' v^^ .
•^^If/^ac/.
.-^""o J
Peterboro/ih
'' 1
r^l
Stanford^ Geda^ Jiitai'
XIII.] COUNTIES OF THE WASH. 165
parts of different character and scenery, (i) the Up-
lands^ and (2) the Fens. (i.) The Uplands are
divided into two distinct branches which unite on the
shares of the Humber. The Lincoln uplands, or the
High Dyke, form a low rise of oolitic rocks, which run
along the western border of the county, connecting
the York Wolds with the Northampton Heights ;
while a second branch, called the Lincoln Wolds,
consists of a tract of chalk downs which stretch
from the Wash in a north-westerly direction to the
Humber. By these uplands Lincolnshire forms part of
the oolitic range. (2.) The low Fen country, a large
part of which is known as Holland, or the hollow land,
lines the whole of the sea-shore from the Wash to the
Humber, and extends between the Wolds and the
High Dyke northwards. By this tract of marshy land
Lincolnshire belongs to the plain which separates the
oolitic from the chalk ranges (see p. 59).
The rivers of Lincolnshire are the Welland, which
comes from Rutland to wind through the marshes of
the south, and the Witham, which flows through the
centre of the county between its two branches of up-
lands, and enters the Wash close by the Welland.
Two other rivers which lie outside the basin of the
Wash skirt the northern and north-eastern borders
of the county, the Humber, and the Trent.
The industry of the shire is wholly agricultural : its
uplands are given up to sheep-grazing, and its marshes
have been drained for tillage by immense and long-
continued labour. It contains 436,600 inhabitants
about one-sixth of the population of Yorkshire, and
I66 GEOGRAPHY. [ciiAr.
has few towns of any size. These are mainly agricul-
tural, and lie along the river-valleys. In the fen
country by the Welland are the little agricultural
towns of Stamford and Spaldmg, On the upper
Witham lies Grantham ; the capital and cathedral
city of the county, Lificoln, with 26,700 inhabitants,
lies on the slope of a gap cut by the Witham through
the oolitic rocks of the High Dyke ; while Boston, at
its mouth, carries on a shipping trade with northern
Europe. Horticastle is a small town situated at the
foot of the Wolds to eastward of the Witham, and
Loiith, famous for its carpet manufactures, lies on the
chalk uplands. The remaining towns are situated on
the borders of the county in the basin of the Humber ;
they are Gainsborough on the Trent ; Glanford Brigg
on an affluent of the Humber; and on the estuary
itself Barton, and Grimsby, a trading port.
n. If we now look due west from our station on
the Wash, we see a very small three-cornered tract of
land, tightly wedged in between Lincolnshire and
Northamptonshire, and bounded by Leicestershire on
the west. This is Rutland, the smallest of English
counties, with an area of 150 square miles. Lying on
the oolitic range of uplands, it forms a fertile tract of
undulating land watered by the Welland, which
marks its southern borders, and by some small tribu-
tary streams. Its population is small, 22,073, and its
quiet agricultural towns are little more than villages, —
tlie chief among them are Oakham, in the Vale of
Catmoss, and Uppingham.
III.- Looking from the Wash straight to the south-
XIII.] COUNTIES OF THE WASH. 167
west the eye runs along a narrow mass of uplands
which is in fact the central portion of the oolitic range.
This long narrow mass is Northamptonshire,
whose area is 985 square miles, not very much more
than a third of Lincolnshire. It lies isolated among
lowlands ; to the north-west it is bounded by the
plains of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, and to the
south-east by the low broken country of Buckingham-
shire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Cambridge-
shire. Only at the two narrow extremities of the
country the oolitic uplands of which it is composed
are prolonged northwards through Lincolnshire, and
to the south-west through Oxfordshire.
Northamptonshire thus consists of a tract of rising
ground bounded on either side by low plains ; and by
this clearly marked structure of the county the direc-
tion and character of its river-system is determined.
The uplands of the shire form a part of the water
parting of central England (see p. 21) where many
of its greatest rivers take their rise. Hence all the
rivers which traverse the county flow from the midst
of it outwards^ while not one is able to pass into it
from the surrounding plains. There are two chief
groups of headwaters in the shire. The first lies in
the north-west, where the springs of three large rivers,
the Wetland^ the Nen^ and the Avon, rise close
together, the Avon falling down westward to the
Severn, the Welland and the Nen eastward to the
Wash, along opposite borders of the county. The
second group lies in the southern part of the shire
near Daventry, where the Ouse and the Cherwell take
i68 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
their rise, the Ouse flowing to the Wash, the Cherwell
to the Thames. As the rivers which fall into the
Wash flow through Northamptonshire almost from end
to end, while little more than the springs of the Avon
and Cherwell He within its limits, the county does in
fact belong to the basin of the Wash.
The uplands of the shire are mainly given up to
cattle-grazing. In a few places the working of iron-
stone found in the soil is carried on, but the chief
manufacture is that of boots and shoes. The centre
of this trade is Northampton, a large town on the
banks of the Nen. All the principal towns lie in the
basin of the same river — Daventry in the west, Wel-
lingbof'ourh not far below Northampton, and Kettering
a few miles further north, on a tributary of the Nen.
A more ancient and famous town than these is
Peterborough, which lies on the Nen just as it forsakes
the county; it is noted for its great cathedral and
gives its name to a bishopric. The population of
Northamptonshire is 243,890.
IV. If we look from the Wash yet more to the
south-west, we see a belt of low clay ground running
below the oolitic range of Northamptonshire. This
is the county of Huntingdon, one of the smallest
in England, with an area of only 361 square miles.
The low clay soil of which it is composed stretches
beyond it in a south-westerly direction into Bedford-
shire, and widens into Cambridgeshire in the east.
Huntingdonshire is for the most part a level and
monotonous agricultural plain that stretches from
the Nen in the north to the Ouse in the south, both
xm.] COUNTIES OF THE WASH. 169
of which rivers belong to the basin of the Wash. The
population of the county, 63,700, is smaller than that of
any shire in England save Rutland, and its towns are
little more than agricultural villages. The most im-
portant of these lie in the valley of the Ouse — S. Neofs
where the river enters the county, ffuntijtgdon, the
county town, in the centre of its course, and S. Ives
where it leaves the shire.
V. If we still look in the same direction from the
Wash, and if our sight could reach across Hunting-
donshire, we should see beyond it a tract of low
country with the oolitic uplands of Northampton still
lying to the north-west of it, while to the south-east
rises the steep chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills
as they traverse the counties of Hertford and Cam-
bridge. The depression between these ranges is
occupied by a fertile plain of 462 square miles in
area, which forms the county of Bedford. On
the south-west the low ground is prolonged into
Buckinghamshire, and on the north-west into Hun-
tingdonshire; in fact the depression in which these
three counties lie forms but one valley, the basin of the
Great Ouse (see p. 59).
This river winds in a very irregular course through
the centre of Bedfordshire, gathering up as it goes
a number of streams thrown down from the Chiltern
Hills. The fertile soil thus richly watered has become
a well-cultivated agricultural district ; the only manu-
facture is that of straw-plaiting, a trade which gives
employment to a considerable number of people and
is carried on in most of the towns. The chief town of
170 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
the county is Bedford on the Ouse in its centre ; Luton,
Dunstable, and Leighion Buzzard lie on its southern
borders, and the little agricultural town of Biggles-
wade in the east. The whole population amounts to
146,260, which is more than twice that of the shire of
Huntingdon,
VI. As we look from the Wash directly to the
south, we see at the mouth of the belt of low country
which we have just described the shire of Cam-
bridge. Here the valley of the Ouse opens
out into the Fenland which surrounds the Wash, and
the county of Cambridge lies for the most part within
that district. It has an area of 818 square miles : its
form is roughly speaking that of a crescent which
half encircles the little shire of Huntingdon on its
western side. In the north it runs up into the Fens
of Lincolnshire ; its southern side is bounded by the
chalk uplands of Hertfordshire and Essex, and its
eastern by the uplands of Norfolk and Suffolk. The
two great rivers of the county, the Nen on the north,
and the Great Ouse which crosses the centre of the
shire, come to it from Huntingdonshire. The basins
of these rivers form two distinct districts.
{a) The district round the Nen consists of a low
unhealthy marsh which forms part of the Fen country,
and has only been made fit for habitation and culti-
vation by laborious drainage. A part of it, which lies
between the Nen and the Ouse, the Isk of Ely, was
formerly a knoll surrounded by low swamps wholly
uninhabited, in the midst of which rose the very
ancient town and cathedral of Ely on the banks of
XTii.] COUNTIES OF THE WASH. 171
the Ouse. The whole of this district is even now
very thinly peopled, containing only the small town
of March, besides Wisbeach on the northern borders of
the county, which is important for its corn and cattle
markets.
{b) The Ouse drains the more populous and healthy
plain which lies to the south — a plain given up to
grazing and dairy farms, and thickly studded with
small villages. The chief tributary of the Ouse is
the Cam, which gives its name to the county town of
Cambridge on its banks, the seat of one of the two
great English Universities.
The small town of Newmarket, chiefly known for
its horse-races, lies on the eastern border of the
county. In consequence of its disadvantages of
soil and climate, the population of Cambridgeshire,
186,900, is very small for the size of the county; it
has scarcely more inhabitants than Bedfordshire, whose
area is but a little greater than half ihat of Cambridge-
shire.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EAST ANGLIAN COUNTIES.
"' The two Eastern Counties, Norfolk and Suffolk, lie
along the shores of the German Ocean between the
Wash and the estuary of the Thames, and derive their
names from the tribe of the East Anglian people who
first conquered and settled this district (p. io8). They
belong so far as the bulk of the country is concerned
to that range of chalk which traverses England from
the Dorset Heights to Hunstanton Cliff on the shores
of the Wash ; and which in its passage through these
counties takes the name of the East Anglian Heights
(p. 2i). But while these chalk uplands occupy the
western part of Norfolk and Suffolk, their eastern
part is formed of the low reaches of sand, gravel, and
clay which here line the shore of the North Sea.
From the similarity between the Eastern Counties
in position, in structure, and in the character of their
soil, it follows that they are also alike in their history,
their climate, and their industrial pursuits. They were
peopled by the same race, they share in the same dry
and cold climate, are open to the same sharp easterly
CH. XIV.] THE EAST ANGLIAN COUNTIES.
173
winds, and have the same agricultural industries, the
same shipping-trade in the towns of the coast, and
the same small manufacture of silk-crape and baize
T h e
\
W a
> king's Lynn
North ^Wahht
Ay Is ha
N R F"o L K
■Oo
Diss
6^
S U F F
Woodh/id£e
^
[^udbury
Hadleigh\
•Stan/irij Gteg^ZjtaJb''
Easi' Anglian Counties. — Towns and Rivers.
which they received from the neighbouring European
countries. All thek large towns lie by the sea-side,
where they can carry on fisheries and a little coasting
^ trade, which is limited by the fact that the harbours
174 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
along their shores are too small to admit vessels of any
considerable size.
I. Norfolk, the home of the " north folk," or that
tribe of the Anglian invaders whose settlements lay to
the North, is one of the largest counties in England,
with an area of 2,116 square miles. It is bounded
on the north and east by the North Sea; on the
south by the river Waveney which parts it from
Suffolk ; and on the west by the lowlands of Cambridge-
shire. The greater part of the county is occupied
by the East Anglian Heights, whose steep western
escarpment overlooks a strip of the level Fen country
which is included within the limits of Norfolk, and
through which the Great Ouse winds sluggishly to
empty itself into the Wash by the port of King's
Lynn. All the other rivers of Norfolk rise among the
uplands of the county itself, and are thence thrown
down their gentle slopes eastward to the North Sea,
traversing on their M-ay a belt of alluvial soil which
stretches along the sea and forms the eastern portion
of the shire. The chief of these, the Bure, the Yare,
and the Waveney^ have the same opening into the
sea at Yarmouth^ the great sea-port of the county.
Norfolk is not very thickly peopled ; its population
of 438,656 inhabitants is about the same as that of
Lincolnshire. The chief town, Norwich^ which lies
on the Wensum, a tributary of the Yare, is a cathe-
dral city, with 80,000 inhabitants, and large m.anu-
factures of silk and wool : Yarmouth^ on the Yare,
its trading port, contains more than 40,000 people.
But its other towns. Wells on the north coast,
XIV.] THE EAST ANGLIAN COUNTIES 175
North Walsham and Aylsham in the valley of
the Bure, and Thetford and Diss on the southern
borders of the county, are little more than agricultural
villages.
II. Suffolk, the kingdom of the " south folk," lies
between Norfolk and Essex, from which counties it
is severed by the rivers Waveney and Stour ; and is
bounded on the west by Cambridgeshire, and on
the east by the North Sea. It is not so large as
Norfolk, having an area of 1,480 square miles ;
and like that county is partly occupied by the
broad undulating downs of the East Anglian
Heights, and partly by the belt of low alluvial land
which borders the sea. Its rivers, which rise in the
upland district, flow directly to the North Sea — the
Waveney and the Stour on the northern and southern
borders of the county, and the Orwell^ which unites
with the Stour at its mouth to form a harbour at the
southern boundary of Suffolk, answering to that at the
mouth of the Waveney at its northern extremity. These
harbours, however, lie outside the limits of Suffolk, and
the trade of this shire is confined to one seaport
town, Lowestoft^ with very large herring fisheries. The
chief industry of the county is agricultural : its most
important town, Ipswich on the Orwell, has 43,000
inhabitants, and large manufactures for the machinery
needed in tillage ; the agricultural towns are
Bury S. Edmunds on the chalk downs of the west;
Eye^ Bungay, and Beccles, in the valley of the
Waveney; and two others near the Stour in the
176 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. xiv.
south, Sudbury and Hadleigh. Though Suffolk is
little more than half the size of Norfolk, and con-
tains no single town so large as Norwich, yet its
whole population, which is more evenly distributed
over the surface of the county, amounts to 348,8^0,
a number nearly as great as that of Norfolk.
CHAPTER XV.
COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN,
To the south of the counties of the West Midland
group lies a line of shires stretching eastward and
westward along the basin of the Thames (see p. io8).
We have already described the remarkable structure
of this basin in its upper course between the oolitic
and chalk ranges, and in that broader and more
important part of its valley which is inclosed between
the range of the Chilterns and East Anglian Heights,
and that of the Hampshire Downs and Wealden
Heights (see p. 59). From the point where the river
quits Gloucestershire, it forms a continuous boundary
between shire and shire ; and, unlike the I'rent or the
Severn, it in no case enters within the limits of any
one of them. On its northern banks are ranged the
counties of Essex, Middlesex., and Hertford, which
stretch from the river up to the East Anglian and
Chiltern Hills that bound its valley on the north,
and Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, which extend
beyond the chalk range into the upper valley of the
Thames among the oolitic clays. On its southern
178
GEOGRAPHY
[ciiAr.
• ^^f /% .^4'.
:i^j-
-i-.
XV.] COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN. 179
banks, in reverse order, lie Berkshire, Surrey, and
Kent, spreading out to the Hampshire Downs and
Wealden Heights, which form the Hmits of the basin to
the south.
I. To the south of Suffolk lies the county of Essex,
so named after its first conquerors, a tribe which
took the name of the East Saxons. It is the largest
county of the Thames group, having an area of
1,657 square miles, and forms a rough square
bounded by the German Ocean on the east, and by
rivers on its three other sides. The Stour parts it
from Suffolk on the north, the Lea and the Stort
sever it from Middlesex and Hertfordshire on the
east, and the Tha^nes cuts it off from Kent on the
south. Its physical structure is the same as that
of the East Anglian counties ; but the chalk which
forms so great a feature in these only passes
over the north-western comer of Essex on its way to
Hertfordshire, while the strip of alluvial soil which
edges the eastern counties becomes in Essex a broad
tract of clay extending over the greater part of its
surface. It is however only along the sea-shore and
along the banks of the Thames that these clays show
themselves in flat ground, and form a fringe of low
unhealthy marsh, where fever and ague have been but
partially driven out by drainage. In the bulk of the
county, but especially on its western side, the Essex
clays rise into low hilly ground once covered by forests
such as those o( Epping and Hainault, which have
now given place for the most part to rich meadow-
lands.
i8o GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
The chief rivers within the county take their rise in
the chalk downs of the north-west, and wind among the
clay liills eastward to the German Ocean, as the Colne^
the Blackwater, and the Crouch^ or southward to the
Thames, as the Roding. Tlie coast is deeply indented
by shallow creeks and bays formed at the river
mouths, and broken into a number of islands which
are little more than tracts of low swamp. The
industry of Essex is almost wholly agricultural, though
some little manufacture of silk survives among the
small towns, and a fishing-trade is carried on in the
ports along the coast. Its population, 466,436, is
larger than that of Norfolk, though the county is so
much smaller : and is very evenly distributed over its
whole surface in small towns scattered along the
various river- valleys. Harwich is a little fishing
town on th^ mouth of the Stour; on the Colne
lie Halstead and Colchester. This last is the only
large town of the county, and its prosperity depends
partly on its great markets for com and cattle^
and partly on its valuable oyster-fisheries. The Black-
water, which is known in the upper part of its course
as the Pant, has near its source the little town of
Saffron Walden lying in the midst of chalk downs, and
surrounded by fields of saffron whence the London
market is supplied ; lower down the stream is Brain-
tree^ and near its mouth the fishing port of Maldon.
Chelmsford, the county town, lies on the Chelmer^ an
affluent of the Blackwater. At the mouth of the
Thames is Shocburyncss, the chief artillery station in
XV.] COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN. i3i
England. The little town of Barking lies on the
Roding as it enters the Thames.
II. The tract of alluvial clay which covers the bulk
of Essex stretches westward along the Thames, whose
ancient river-bed it represents, to form the smallest
but one of English counties, Middlesex. This
county, which takes its name from the tribe of Saxons
who settled this middle district, has an area of 282
square miles, and a very irregular form determined by
its river boundaries. The chalk downs of Hertfordshire
run along its northern borders ; but on the south the
windings of the Thames part it from Surrey ; on the
east the Lea flows between it and Essex ; on the west
the Colne severs it from Buckinghamshire. Another
small river, the Brent ^ which like the rest joins the
Thames, crosses the centre of the county, where it
winds among the low clay hills which vary the surface
of Middlesex. The rising ground of Harrow lies to
westward of its waters, that of Hampstead and High-
gate to eastv;ard.
Middlesex, though so very insignificant in point of
size, is yet the most important of English counties.
Its population, 2,539,765, is larger than that of
Yorkshire, a shire which is 2 1 times greater in mere
extent, and at the same time one of the most
thickly peopled in England. This importance is due
to the fact that within the limits of Middlesex lies the
chief part of the wealthiest and most populous city
in the world, LONDON, the capital of the British
Empire. The greatness of this city is the consequence
of the advantages of its geographical position. Situ-
i82 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
ated at the outlet of the valley of the Thames, it is
enriched by the agricultural wealth of the most fertile
district in Britain ; lying at the centre of the network
of roads which converge from every part of England
on the chief sea-port of the country, it forms the
trading centre of the island ; its site on the magnifi-
cent estuary of the Thames, with its relation to the
neighbouring seas and the European mainland, make
it the first commercial city of Europe ; and finally its
position at the centre of the continental masses of the
globe constitutes it the greatest among all international
trading ports. Since the importance of London thus
depends mainly on its commercial greatness, it only
attained its true development with the rapid growth of
commerce which followed on improved means of
navigation in the last century. As the capital of
international trade the city has drawn into itself since
that time a larger number of inhabitants than have
ever before been gathered into one place — 3,250,000
persons ; that is, a greater mass of people than that
contained in any county of England, even in York-
shire or Lancashire. This population is still growing
at so rapid a rate that the increase is equal to the
addition of a village of 240 persons in every day of
the year, or the addition of more than one house to
the existing mass in every hour ; and the length of
the streets is already so great, that if stretched out in a
continuous straight line they would reach across Europe
and Asia, as far as the southern borders of India. A
part of this vast city extends to the southern banks of
the Thames, and lies therefore outside the borders of
XV.] COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN. 1S3
Middlesex, so that its population is only partially
included in that shire.
The greatness of London reduces the remaining
towns of the county to places of little importance.
They are Brentford, the county town, at the junction
of the Brent and the Thames; Hounslow on the
borders of a great heath to westward of it; and
Harrow^ famous for one of the great schools of
England.
III. The chalk uplands which form so small a por-
tion of Essex play a much larger part in the county to
which they pass on the west, Hertfordshire. This
shire has an area of 611 square miles. It does not
touch the Thames, though lying within its basin, but
belongs wholly to the range of the Chiltern Hills
which enter it from Buckinghamshire on the south
west, and stretch out beyond it to Cambridgeshire on
the north-east. The steep escarpment of this range
runs along the north-western side of the county and
overlooks the plain of Bedford and the valley of
the Ouse ; but the bulk of Hertfordshire consists of
the long gentle slopes by which its uplands fall to the
low country of Middlesex and Essex on the south-
east.
The rivers of the shire, as the Colne and the
Lea^ are thrown down these slopes to the valley of the
Thames ; and along their banks lie quiet little agri-
iltural towns, with a small industry in straw-plaiting,
i he chief among them are Hertford the county town,
id Ware on the Lea, and Bishop Stortford on the
biort, one of its tributaries. In the valley of tho
1 84 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Colne are S. Albans and Watford: Hitchtn, a town
larger than any of these, with straw-plait manufac-
tures, lies on the north-western border. The popula-
tion of the whole shire is 192,226.
IV. From Hertfordshire the line of the Chilterns
stretches to the south-west across the central part of
the county of Buckingham. This shire is a long
narrow strip of land with an area of 730 square miles,
ranging north and south between the valleys of the
Ouse and of the Thames. The Ouse parts it from
Northampton, the Thames from Berkshire; on the
east lie Middlesex, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire,
while Oxfordshire extends along the whole of its
western border.
The chalk downs of the Chilterns, which cross the
southern district of Buckinghamshire, and are parted
from Middlesex by the Colne, form its smallest and
least important part, and till modern times were little
more than a wild forest country. As they slope
rapidly to the valley of the Thames, several towns
gather on or near the river-banks. High Wycombe,
Great Marlow, and Eton, famous for containing the
largest school in England.
The northern and larger part of Buckinghamshire
lies in the great plain which is overlooked by the
steep escarpment of the Chilterns. The Vale of
Aylesbury, w^hich lies directly below the chalk cliffs, is
one of the richest grazing lands in England, and is
watered by the Thame, an affluent of the Thames,
which has on its banks the county town of Aylesbury.
In this district we have entered on the upper basin of
xv.J COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN. 185
the Thames, that is to say, on that part of it which is
shut in between the oolitic and chalk ranges ; and
from this we pass, in the extreme north of the county
into the basin of the Ouse^ where the plain sends its
waters, not to the Thames, but to the Ouse, which
just crosses its northern border. On this river lie the
little towns of Buckingham and Olney. The industry
of Buckinghamshire is chiefly agricultural, but to this
is added some small manufactures of straw-plait, paper,
lace, boots, and shoes. The population, 175,880, is
not great for its size, being less than that of Hertford,
a smaller county.
V. As we pass from Buckinghamshire westward,
whether we follow the course of the Chiltem Hills or
of the valley of the Thame, we are led directly into
Oxfordshire, through which both the uplands and
the plain are continued. This county is of almost
exactly the same size as Buckinghamshire, having an
area of 739 square miles, and is very irregular in
form. It consists of a broad mass of country which
stretches along the northern banks of the Thames
from Gloucestershire to Buckinghamshire, and sends
out a tongue of land by the eastern bank of the
same river as it bends southwards between the towns
of Oxford and Reading, as far as the point where it
breaks through the chalk range into its lower valley.
The shire thus lies wholly within the upper valley of
ilic Thames (sec p. 59).
The broad northern portion of the county is made
up of that low and broken belt of oolitic uplands which
connects the Cotswolds on the west with the Northamp-
i86 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
ton uplands on the north-east, and forms along the
north-western side of Oxfordshire the escarpment of
the Edge Hills, overlooking the plain of Warwickshire
and the valley of the Avon. Small rivers are thrown
down from the crest of these uplands to the valley of
the Thames at their base, as the Windrush, the Even-
lode^ and the Cherwell, and along these streams and
their tributaries lie the quiet little agricultural towns of
this district, such as Witney ; Chipping Norton and
Woodstock ; and Banbury. This last town lies on the
Cherwell as it enters the county from the north ; on
the banks of the same river as it passes south-
ward into a low and perfectly level tract of land
where it empties itself into the Thames, is the
chief town of the shire, Oxford, the seat of a
bishopric, and of one of the two greater English
Universities.
Close to Oxford the Thames bends sharply to the
south, and in this part of its course it passes through
country of a different character. The narrow neck
of land which runs along the river between Berkshire
and Buckinghamshire, and is traversed by the lower
valley of the 27ta7ne, forms a belt of low flat ground
dotted with agricultural villages, but without a single
town of any size. This plain is bounded to the south-
east by the escarpment of the Chiltern Hills, which
strike across the extreme southern part of Oxfordshire
to the very borders of the Thames, where the river has
cleft a channel through their soft rocks and bends
round their extremity in a half-circle to Henley, the
only iniportant town of southern Oxfordshire. The
XV.] COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN. 1S7
whole population of the shire, which is chiefly gathered
in its northern half, is about 178,000.
VI. In Oxfordshire we have been brought very
near the head-waters of the Thames — we now there-
fore cross the river to travel along the counties of its
southern bank. The great chalk range whose course
we have followed from Norfolk to Oxfordshire has led
us to the left bank of the Thames, at the point
where that river breaks its. way southwards through
the Chiltern Hills (see p. 59). On the opposite or
right bank of the stream the chalk range again rises in
the escarpment of the Ilsley Downs and White Horse
Hiily which traverse the county of Berkshire from
the western banks of the Thames to the Marlborough
Downs of Wiltshire.
By this line of heights Berkshire is broken into
two distinct parts, (i.) The steep white cliffs which
i i irm the northern face of the range look out over the
/ \iie of White Horse and the valley of the river Ock^
which runs from west to cast below the heights ; this
Iky belongs to the upper basin of the Thames.
) To the south the downs fall in gentle slopes
the valley of the Kennety a river which also
. Avs from west to east, parallel to the line of the
t liiilk uplands ; but whose course lies within the
lower basin of the Thames. On the further side
of the Kennet valley rises the steep escarpment of
the Hampshire Downs, which close in Berkshire to the
south by a long straight line of heights. The shire
thus consists of a scjuare mass of country lying in the
upper valley of the Thames between Wiltshire and
i88 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Oxfordshire, with a narrow strip of land thrown out
eastward into the lower valley of the same river between
Hampshire, Surrey, and Buckinghamshire. In fact
Berkshire is in form not at all unlike an inverted
Oxfordshire, and is very nearly the same size, having
an area of 705 square miles.
Its industry is wholly agricultural. In its northern
part, in the fruitful valley of the Ock, are scattered
quiet little country towns, Farringdon and Wafitage,
with Abingdon and Walli?igford on the Thames.
To the south of the chalk downs Hungerford and
Neivbury lie on the banks of the Kennet ; and at
the place where this river pours its waters into the
Thames is the large county town, Reading. It is
at this point that the Thames, having finally
broken through the chalk uplands, enters fully on
its lower basin, and having taken up its first tributary,
the Kennet, turns eastward by the neck of low
clay land sent out in this direction from the main
body of Berkshire, and passes under Maidenhead
and the Royal palace of Windsor Castle. Berkshire
is more thickly peopled than Oxfordshire, having in a
smaller tract of country 196,475 inhabitants.
VII. As we travel along the course of the Thames
eastward from Berkshire, and enter a much wider part
of its basin, we pass into the county of Surrey,
so-called from the joiith rik, or kingdom, of the
Saxons. This is a county rather larger than Berkshire,
with an area of 748 square miles ; it forms a rough
square which stretches from the southern bank of the
Thames, as it flows past Middlesex, to the Wealden
XV.] COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN. 189
Heights of Sussex, which shut in the Thames basin
to the south. The Hampshire Downs run in a
sharply marked escarpment along its western border,
and send out eastward the range of the North
Downs, which crosses the centre of Surrey and passes
into Kent on its eastern side.
The chalk uplands of the North Downs form
the chief feature of the scenery of the shire. Begin-
ning in the narrow line of the Ho^s Back, near
Farnham, a perfectly straight ridge of six miles in
length, they gradually widen to the downs of Epsom
and Croydon in the east On their way they are cleft
in several places by natural gaps, and by the channels
of rivers such as the Wey and the Mole, which have
their head-waters in the Wealden Heights, and cut
through the chalk downs on their way to join the
Thames. The passes thus formed are of very great
importance, since it is they that determine the lines
along which the roads from London to the south must
pass. These breaks in the line of the North Downs
are therefore marked by the chief towns of the
county, which lie so as to command the passes :
Jfamham between the Hampshire DownS and the
! eastern extremity of the Hog's Back ; Guildford, the
county town, situated on the Wey as it cleaves its
passage through the chalk heights ; Dorking in a
similar pass formed by the Mole ; and Reigate near
a pass to eastward of it. noted for its mineral springs.
The Downs fall on their southern side to a narrow
(belt of low undulating country belonging to the
Weald, and composed of heavy clay. Its soil fur-
190 GEOGRAPHY. [ciiAr.
nishes a fuller's earth which gives rise to a small
industry, but for the most part its villages are wholly
employed in agriculture. The northern escarpment
of the Downs overlooks the low clay valley of the
Thames ; here the population gathers more and more
thickly as we near the river banks. Two large districts
of London, Soiithwark and Lambeth, lie on the Surrey
side of the Thames, and the country for miles round
forms a succession of towns which are simply suburbs
of London. Richmond and Kingston are situated on
the river itself The population of Surrey is very
large, nearly 1,100,000, the greater part of which
belongs to the thickly-peopled districts about London
and its suburbs.
VIIL If we follow the line either of the Thames
valley, or of the North Downs as they pass eastward
beyond the border of Surrey, we are led directly into
Kent, a county which forms the south-eastern ex-
tremity of England. With an area of 1,627 square
miles, it is nearly as large as Essex, which lies just
opposite to it at the mouth of the Thames, and more
than twice as large as any other county of the Thames
basin. From the river estuary on the north it extends
southwards to the Wealden Heights of Sussex, the
southern boundary of the Thames basin ; and the
Straits of Dover and the North Sea lie along its
eastern shores.
The inner character of Kent is the same in
all its features as that of Surrey. The North Downs,
which enter the county from the east, widen con-
stantly as they pass eastward to the sea, till they
XV.] COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIN. 191
end in the chalk cliffs of the Isle of Thanei, at the
mouth of the Stour, and the broad mass of uplands
which stretch from thence southward along the Straits
of Dover to Folkestone. These chalk heights there-
fore occupy the main portion of the county, but to
the south of them lies, as in Surrey, a belt of undu-
lating country belonging to the Wealden district. This
lower land is separated from Sussex by the river
Rother, and ends in the English Channel in Romney
Marsh. Under the northern face of the Downs, and
parting them from the Thames, runs a narrow strip of
low clay, broken by river estuaries and marshy islands,
such as the Isle of Sheppey^ at the mouth of the Med-
way.
The line of the North Downs is cleft, as in
Surrey, by the valleys of rivers flowing northwards to
the Thames; the little valley of the Darent to the
west, the much greater Medway in the centre, and the
Stour in the east, which falls into the German Ocean
after passing round the Isle of Thanct. This river
was formerly connected with the Thames estuary by a
channel of the sea opening at Reculvers and cutting
otf Thanet into an island, but the channel is now dried
up, leaving Thanet united to the mainland. The
chief towns of Kent lie along the roads which follow
these rivers in their passage through the hills. The
Medway rises near the mineral springs of Tunbridge
IlVells, on the borders of Sussex, and winds among low
I clay hills past Ttmbridge; Maidstone^ the county town,
marks the place where its channel cuts through the
chalk downs ; and Rochester^ an old cathedral city,
i;2 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
guards the opGning of the pass where the river emerges
on the low clay valley of the Thames. The passage
of the Stour in its long deep valley across the Downs
is marked by Canterbury, a very ancient cathedral
city, and the seat of the first Archbishop of Eng-
land. The whole of the country traversed bj these
rivers is very fertile, abounding in cherry-orchards and
great hop-gardens: tlie hop-grounds alone cover
50,000 acres, and their cultivation affords the chief
industry of the agricultural districts.
But the inland towns are few, as in all agricultural
counties, and the larger part of the population of Kent
lies along its shores to north and east. The chalk cliffs
in which the North Downs abruptly end to eastward on
the sea are marked by summer bathing-places, such as
Margate and Ramsgate ; and by seaport towns such
as Deal, Dover, and Folkestone, lying on the Straits of
.Dover. The most wealthy and important trade of
Kent, however, is that which gathers in its northern
parts, along the banks of the Thames, where the river
may still be considered as the vast port of London,
and where its enormous commercial and miUtary
importance have given rise to an almost unbroken
succession of busy towns and great dockyards. Not
far from London are the docks of Deptfoi'd, and the
naval hospital of Greenwich, and beyond these the
chief military arsenal of England, Woolwich, each of
these towns having a population of 40,000 inhabitants.
The shipping-port of Gravesetid is smaller, but Chat-
hafn, on the estuary of the Medvvay, with its immense
docks and naval arsenal, has 44,000 inhabitants ; and
XV.] COUNTIES OF THE THAMES BASIX.
193
at the mouth of the same river, on the Isle of Sheppey,
are the dockyards of Sheerness. This side of the
Thames estuary, with its succession of docks
crowded by vessels from every country of the world,
forms a striking contrast to the silent and deserted
marshes of its opposite banks lying within the count/
of Essex. The important shipping industries of Kent
have raised its population to 848,300, a number nearly
double that of Essex.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE COUNTIES OF THE SOUTHERN WATER-PARTING.
The basin of the Thames is bounded on the south
by a line of low heights, the Wealden Heights, the
Hampshire Downs, and Salisbury Plain. These up-
lands form the southern water-parting of England,
from whence a group of small rivers is thrown down
to the English Channel (see p. 21). The district
which lies between this water-parting and the sea is
occupied by four counties — Sussex, Hampshire, Wilt-
shire, and Dorsetshire. The whole group forms a long
and narrow triangle laid along the sea-coast ; Sussex
forms its eastern point, while its broad western side is
made up of Wiltshire and Dorsetshire. (See p. 108.)
These counties, lying as they do to the south, and
open to soft southerly winds, are very much milder in
climate than the more northerly parts of England.
The harvest in Hampshire is a fortnight earlier than
it is in Yorkshire, and fruits and shrubs which will not
bear the climate of central England can be grown in
its southern shires.
CH. XV[.]
SOUTHERN COUNTIES.
196 . GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
I. To the south of Surrey and Kent a narrow
belt of country stretches along the shores of the
EngUsh Channel from Romney Marsh to the Hamp-
shire Downs. This is Sussex, the settlement of the
South Saxons in early times. Its area is 1,460 square
miles, and its scenery throughout is of a very broken
and varied character. The county naturally divides
itself into three parallel belts of country, the Weald, the
South Downs, and the coast, (i.) Along the northern
limits of the shire, where it borders on Kent and
Surrey, runs from west to east the broken line of the
JVealden Heights, or the Forest Ridge, whose southern
slopes covered with woodland fall to a deep clay basin,
also belonging to the district of the Weald. (2.) From
the further side of this valley rises the steep escarpment
of the South Downs, which come from the Downs of
Hampshire in the west, and pass eastward to the sea at
Beachy Head in a long level line of heights, with the soft
monotonous outline peculiar to chalk hills. (3.) The
straight lines of the Downs are only broken here and
there by narrow channels cut by the little Wealden
rivers, the Ouse, and the Arun, as they cleave their
way across the chalk, and enter on the strip of alluvial
soil which forms the low sea-coast. To westward of
the Arun this strip widens to a broader tract of clay,
broken by creeks and inlets of the sea, of which the
chief is Chichester Harbour.
The district of the Weald in the north of Sussex
was till modern times one of the wildest and least
inhabited parts of England. The heights which form
the water-parting were covered with the dense masses
XVI.] SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 197
of forest from which they took iheir name, and were
traversed only by narrow lanes or mule-tracks. The
country is now brought under cultivation, but is still
thinly peopled, and has only two small towns, Horsham^
and Midhurst. The inhabitants of its villages live by
agriculture, hop-picking, foresting, and the making of
barrels from the wood grown on their hill-sides.
The greater part of the population of Sussex is
therefore gathered in the towns of the coast district.
Lrwes lies in the gap made by the river Ouse,
through the South Downs, and commands the high
road from London to the sea-ports of the coast,
which in old times were some of the most important
in England. Since the use of vessels too large for
their harbours, however, they have sunk into mere
fishing-ports, or watering-places. The chief of these
are Hastings^ and near it St. Leonard's ; Eastbourne ;
Brighton, with 90,000 inhabitants, the largest watering-
place in England ; Worthing; and Chichester, at the
head of Chichester Harbour, a town which has lost
its old greatness, and is now only important as being
tlie county town and a cathedral city. The population
of Sussex is 417,460.
II. If we follow the line of water-parting westward
from Sussex, we pass at once into the county of
Hampshire, where the sources of the rivers lie
along the crest of a great mass of chalk uplands
known as the Hampshire Downs. These downs
form a steep escarpment which runs along the
northern border of the county, and from the summit
of which we may look southwards over the whole
iqS geography. [chap.
extent of Hampshire, with its area of 1,672 square
miles. The Downs on which we stand are prolonged
across the western border of the county into Wiltshire,
while on its eastern side they break up into the North
Downs of Surrey, and the South Downs of Sussex.
To the north their escarpment, curved into bays and
headlands, overlooks the valley of the Kennet in
Berkshire ; and on the south they fall in long undu-
lating lines to a level tract of alluvial soil which
borders the shores of the English Channel. On this
side they throw down small rivers, such as the Test
and the Itchin, which traverse the low ground that
lies at their base, and finally empty themselves into
the Southampton estuary. This tract of chalk up-
lands, with its great reaches of gently swelling downs,
scantily wooded, and scarred with patches of white
soil gleaming here and there through its grasslands, is
wholly given up to agriculture. Quiet little villages and
towns lie in the hollows where its undulations dip
and rise again, or in the sheltered river valleys. Near
the centre of the shire is the county town Winchester^
which was one of the earliest and most important
cathedral cities of England : the little towns of And-
over and Basingstoke lie in the north, and that of
Fetersfield on the eastern border of the downs.
But though the chalk downs cover so great an
extent of ground, they do not form the most im-
portant part of Hampshire, for it is the belt of alluvial
soil by the coast which contains the chief wealth and
trade of the county. The strip of clay which borders
the sea from Chichester Harbour to the Test is broken
i
XVI.] SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 199
by two of the greatest harbours in England. To the
east lies Portsmouth Harbour^ with its immense dock-
yards and naval arsenal, and clustered round it a
group of towns, Portsmouth having 113,000 inhabit-
ants, Portsea, Kingston^ and Gosport. In the middle
of the coast is the great estuary of Southampton
IFater, and here the large town of SouthamptoUy at
the head of the estuary, with 54,000 inhabitants, is
the centre of a very busy foreign trade, chiefly witli
the Mediterranean.
On the western shores of Southampton Water the
lowlands broaden into a square tract of country which
stretches out to the borders of Dorsetshire, and forms
the district of the New Forest^ formerly the hunting-
ground of the English Kings, and still in great part
covered with wood, and without any towns (p. 59). It
is bounded on its western side by the river Avon^
at whose mouth lies the seaport of Christchurch
and near it the sheltered watering-place of Bourne-
mouth. Hampshire contains altogether 544,684
inhabitants.
The Isle of Wight is geographically a part of
Hampshire, though cut off from it by the channels of the
So/ent and Spithead. Its northern half is formed of
.1 tract of low clay like that of the neighbouring coast
of Hampshire; its southern half consists of a line of
chalk heights, which are continued eastward from the
peninsula of Purbeck, and run across the island from
the sharp rocks called the Needles to the Culx^er C tiffs.
The Isle of Wight is famous for its beautiful scenery,
and for the mildnes.s of its climate, in which the ar-
200
GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
butis, the grape, and the fig will flourish. The chief
towns are Newport, having near it the ruins of Caris-
hrook Castle; Cowes and Ryde, watering-places on the
northern coast; and Ventnor, which lies sheltered
under the chalk cliffs, or Undercliff, of the southern
shore.
III. If we follow the water-parting along the crest
of the north Hampshire Downs, we are led westward
into the very midst of Wiltshire, where the division
between the rivers is continued along the summit
of an escarpment of chalk which strikes across the
centre of the county. This escarpment divides Wilt-
shire into two parts.
(i.) It forms the northern edge of a great tableland
of undulating chalk country known as Salisbury Plain
— a tableland twenty miles broad and fifteen miles
long, which consists of a tract of barren and woodless
country, raised 500 or 600 feet above the sea, covered
with a short thin grass, and with a soil which is only
by degrees being brought under cultivation. Its popu-
lation is very scanty, and its few towns gather in the
lower valleys of its streams, where the climate is more
sheltered and the soil more fertile. The chief river is
the Avon, which flows southwards across the downs ; its
tributary, the Wiley, comes from the west. Salisbury,
the county town and a cathedral city, lies on the Avon ;
near it is Stonehenge, a very ancient circle of great
stones whose origin is unknown ; Wilton, with carpet
manufactures, is situated on the Wiley. These downs
of gouthern Wiltshire are bounded on the west by the
oolitic ujDlands of Somerset ; but on the south they
xvr.} SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 201
extend into Dorsetshire, and on the east into Hamp-
shire, where they break up into the chalk ranges of
south-eastern England.
(2.) The escarpment which forms the northern edge
of Salisbury Plain overlooks to the northward the
Vale of Peivseyy a narrow tract of fertile country
which runs across the country from west to east,
and contains the agricultural town of Derizes.
Beyond this valley lies that half of Wiltshire which
stretches northward to tlie Thames, and lies {a)
partly within the basin of the Thames, and (b) partly
within the basin of the Severn.
{a.) The northern side of the Vale of Pewsey is,
like the southern, bounded by an escarpment of chalk,
which forms the edge of a second upland plain, the
Marlborough Downs. This tract of chalk is of the
same character as the first, barren and treeless. It
extends eastward to Berkshire, and its northern face
overlooks the vallsy of the Thames^ part of which,
from Swindon to Cricklade^ lies within Wiltshire. A
deep depression across the centre of these Marlborough
Downs forms the upper valley of the Kennet^ a tribu-
tary of the Thames, which has on its banks the only
town of this district, Marlborough,
(^.) Under the western escarpment of the Marl-
borough Downs lies the valley of the Avon, a river
which empties itself at Bristol into the estuary of the
Severn. It flows among low oolitic clays, which rise
on the west into the Cotswold Hills of Gloucestershire.
The towns along its valley, situated as they are close
to the Gloucestershire border, share for the most part
202 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
in the clothing manufacture which gathers round tlie
Cotswold Hills. They are Malmesbury in the north ;
Bi-adford and Trowbridge near the Avon as it crosses
the opening of the Vale of Pewsey, with Westbiiry at
a little distance.
The form of Wiltshire is an oblong square, like that
of Hampshire, but its area is less, being 1,352 square
miles. Owing to its great tracts of barren soil the
whole county has a population of only 257,177
persons, or not quite so many as are contained in the
single town of Leeds.
IV. The Downs of Wiltshire extend across its
southern border into Dorsetshire, the smallest
county of the southern group. It forms a rough
triangle with an area of 987 square miles, which
extends along the Channel with its broad eastern
end resting on Hampshire, and its western
point thrust between the shires of Somerset and
Devon.
Dorsetshire is remarkable as forming the point
where all the upland ranges of eastern England
are gathered together into one stem, from which they
branch out, as we have seen, over the whole surface
of the country (see p. 59). Both the chalk downs
of Wiltshire, and the oolitic uplands of Somerset are
carried within its borders, and run southwards in
parallel lines, only separated by the Vale of Black-
more, to end side by side on the sea coast near Lyme
Regis. The Dorset Heights, the most important
of these two ranges, form a chain of chalk uplands
which extend from Salisbury Plain by Cranborne Chase
XVI.] SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 203
to Lyme Regis, in a curved line of hills which reach
their greatest height of 900 feet near Beaminster.
From this point they throw out eastward by the sea-
coast the long range of the Purbeck Heights^ which
connects Purbeck Island with the mainland. The
lesser range of oolitic uplands extends from Somerset-
shire past the little town of Sherborne as far as
Lyme Regis; and from here these uplands also
send out eastward along the coast past Bridport^
a long low line of oolitic clays which end in the
Isle of Portland^ a small peninsula connected
with the mainland by Chesil Bank^ a ridge of loose
pebbles ten miles long. On the sheltered bay
shut in between the Isle of Portland and the Pur-
beck Heights is situated a large watering-place,
Weyrnouth.
The only low-lying country of Dorsetshire is its
eastern portion, which is inclosed between the Purbeck
Heights and Cranborne Chase, and which adjoins
Hampshire on the east. This district, composed
of heavy clay like that of the New Forest, is traversed
by two rivers, the Stour and the Frome, The Stour
as it enters the county from the north, crosses the
Vale of Blackmore, cuts a way for. itself througii
the Dorset Heights, and finally passes into Hamp-
shire, where it joins the Avon. The Frome, which
rises in the chalk hills by Beaminster, flows in a deep
valley below the Purbeck Heights for their whole
length, and falls into Poole Harbour.
The county town, Dorchester^ lies on the banks of
this river ; and lower down the stream is Wareham^
204 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. xvi.
close to Poole Harbour. Poole is a seaport on the
western banks of the harbour : the clay in its neigh-
bourhood is much worked for the Staffordshire pot-
teries, and is exported through Poole.
The chief industry of Dorsetshire is agricultural ;
its population is 195,537.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES.
Wb have now followed the course of the southern
water-parting in a tolerably direct line from its eastern
extremity in the Wealden Heights to its junction with
the main water-parting of England in the Wiltshire
Downs. (See p. 2 1.) From this point its course becomes
extremely irregular, forming a sinuous line which
extends along the peninsula of the south-west; and
streams are sent down from it to the channels on
either side, to north-west and to south-east The
country drained by these streams is occupied by three
counties, Somersetshire^ Devonshire^ and Cornwall (p.
108). Somersetshire forms the basin of those streams
which empty themselves into the Bristol Channel ;
Devonshire and Cornwall are drained by rivers flowing
to the Adantic Ocean and the English Channel.
/. These three counties are also linked together by the
11 fact that they belong to the mountain group of the
south-west, which is mainly built up of very ancient
rocks, and contains traces of an ancient population.
They share in the same mild and damp climate, a
206
GKOGRAPIIV.
[chap.
XVII.] THE SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES. 207
climate common to counties lying so far south, and
almost surrounded by sea.
I. The water-parting of southern England passes
from Wiltshire westward in an uneven line which
exactly marks the western and southern boundaries of
the county of Somerset. Its northern border is
formed by the river Avon, a river thrown down almost
from the meeting-point of the two water-partings.
This shire therefore exactly forms the basin of those
streams which fall from the southern water-parting
into the Bristol Channel.
Somersetshire extends very nearly across the
north-eastern extremity of the peninsula included be-
tween the Bristol and the English Channels, being
only separated from the sea on the south by a narrow
pait of Dorsetshire. It has an area of 1,636 square
miles, and resembles in form an arm bent at right
nglcs round the eastern and southern shores of the
I ristol Channel. The valley of the river Parret
(losses it at the bend of the elbow, and divides the
< ounty into two very distinct parts — the broader part
nins northwards between Wiltshire and the Severn
tuary to Gloucestershire ; the narrower part is thrust
lit westward like a wedge between Devonshire and the
•ristol Channel. These two districts differ from one
another geographically in the structure of their rocks
;ind in the character of their scenery, and politically in
their population and history.
(i.) That part of Somersetshire which lies to the
north of the Parret consists of a very broken country
of hill-ranges and low marshes. Its eastern border
2o8 GEOGRAPHY. [chap,
is marked by a line of very irregular oolitic uplands
which stretch from Crewkerne, on the borders of
Dorsetshire, to Bath^ where they rise into the Cots-
wold Hills and pass into Gloucestershire. The town
of Frome among thesQ uplands carries on the clothing
manufacture common in the neighbourhood of the
Cotswolds. From these uplands of the eastern border
two parallel ranges of heights, the Mendip and the
Polden Hills, are thrown out westward to the Bristol
Channel. The Mendip Hills form the most im-
portant range ; they rise at their greatest height to
i,ioo feet, and their top forms a flat with a rapid
slope on either side; their rocks of. mountain-lime-
stone contain veins of lead, copper, and other metals.
The lines of hills are bounded on either side by low
river valleys, {a.) To the north of the Mendip Hills
lies the lower valley of the Avoriy which forms the
boundary between Somersetshire and Gloucestershire.
As the river enters the county it has on its banks the
cathedral ciiy oi Bath, with 52,000 inhabitants, famous
from very early times for its hot mineral springs. In
the district to the south of the river lies a part
of the Bristol coal-field which was once united with
the great coal-measures of South Wales, ip.) To the
south of the Mendip Hills and parting them from
the Polden Hills, is the sunken ground of the Brent
Marshes drained by the tiyqx Brue; these marshes form
an immense tract of swamp containing peat, which
is cut for fuel. The Brue passes by Glastonbury, now
a very small town, but in old times the most famous
monastery in England. Not far from it is Wells,
xvii] THE SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES. 209
little larger in size, but the seat of a bishopric, (c) The
Parret which flows to the south of the Polden Hills
receives two small tributaries, the Isle, which rises
by the little town of Cfiard^ and the Yeo or Jvel^
which has on its banks the large town of Yeovil with
glove manufactures. The Parret falls into Bridgwater
Bay close to the Brue ; the seaport of Bridgwater on
its estuary has a considerable shipping-trade.
The low grounds of these river valleys are chiefly
given up to pasture, and large quanties of butter and
cheese are made in this part of the county.
(2.) If we now cross the Parret we enter on a
second and smaller part of Somersetshire, extending
to the west This division consists almost wholly of
a mass of mountainous country belonging to the
ancient rocks of the older mountain groups. A part
of the high moorlands of Exmoor extends from
north Devon so as to fill the whole western extremity
of Somerset, rising in Dunkerry Beacon to a height
of 1,700 feet, and in Brcndon Hill to 1,300 feet.
i'o the east of these is the range of the Quantock Hills^
rising in parts to 1,300 feet, and overlooking the
N.illey of the Parret. Opposite to them, on the
outhern border of the county, lie the Blackdoivn
Hills, The whole of this mountainous district is
^\ild and barren, with scarcely a village to break
lie solitude of its great tracts of bog and moorland
1 leather. The only low ground is the deep Vale of
launtony formed by the river Tone as it flows between
he Quantock and Blackdown Hills to the Parret; in
I lie midst of this fruitful valley lie the small town of
P
2IO GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Wellington, and the large county town, Taunton.
The whole population of Somerset is 463,483, the
great bulk of which lies in its northern half.
II. Devonshire, lying between the counties of
Somerset and Cornwall, stretches across the broadest
part of the peninsula from the Bristol to the English
Channel, and thus occupies that portion of the south-
western mountain-group where the moorlands rise to
their greatest height and present their grandest and
wildest scenery. This shire is the third in size
among English counties, having an area of 2,589
square miles. It naturally divides itself into three
distinct parts, (i) Exmoorin the north, (2) Dart7noor
in the south, and (3) a broad plain of pasture-land
which lies between them.
(i.) Exmoor, the smallest and least important divi-
sion, consists of a high table-land covered with moun-
tain pasture and great tracts of bog, and absolutely
treeless save in the little river-valleys. A number of
small rivers are thrown down from these heights
southward to the plain, the chief of which is the Exe.
The whole district is almost uninhabited. There is
but one small town, Ilfracombe, which lies on the
cliffs at the western extremity of the Exmoor heights
overlooking the sea, and is famous for the beauty of
its scenery.
(2.) Dartmoor in south Devon, severed from Corn-
wall by the valley of the Tamar, is a high table-land
like that of Exmoor, but steeper, wilder, and more
extensive. Its length from north to south is twenty-
two miles, and its breadth from east to west fourteen
XVI I] THE SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES. an
miles : it forms the highest land in England to the
south of the Trent, rising above the sea-level as far as
2,000 feet in Yes Tor, while its general height is about
1,200 feet. Its surface is barren, with little grass and
great reaches of bog ; but the rocks are rich in mines
of lead, iron, tin, and copper, and in granite, lime-
stone, and veined marble for building purposes. A
group of head-waters is formed in the high district
near Yes Tor, from whence rivers are thrown down
in every direction, and open estuaries in the coast, b)'
which the mineral wealth of the country finds an out-
let to the sea. Some of these streams have a short,
rapid course to the English Channel on the south and
cast, as the Tavy, the P/ym, the Darf, the Ta'gn, and
many more. The Taw£, on the other hand, falls
clown to the west, and has a longer course to Bideford
Bay. The little river-valleys of Dartmoor are marked
by a number of towns which cluster round the foot
of the heights, and are mostly engaged in the mining
nd export trade of the district, while some of them
are fashionable watering-places. The most important
among these towns are Plymouth, a great seaport and
naval arsenal, with 68,000 inhabitants, on Plymouth
Sound, at the mouth of the Plym ; and Devonport on
tlie Tamar, with dockyards and naval arsenal, contain-
ing 50,000 people. Lying close together and having
the same industries, these have gradually grown into
one town, and by their junction have formed the most
populous city on the southern coast. Tavistock has
grown up round the mines of the valley of the Tavy ;
the other towns He on the river estuaries, such as
p a
212 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Dartmouth on the Dart ; Newton Abbot and Teign-
mouth on the Teign ; and Torquay on the north side
of Tor Bay, a large watering-place. Dartmoor and
the district immediately round it is thus the most
important and populous part of Devonshire, being
the centre of all its mining and shipping industries.
(3.) Between Dartmoor and Exmoor stretches an
undulating plain, which rises into low hills on the
north-western coast round Bideford Bay. It is watered
by the Exe from Exmoor, and the Tawe from Dart-
moor, and has besides its own group of head-waters
in the hills of the extreme west, from which the
Tainar is thrown down to the English Channel,
and the Tor ridge to Bideford Bay. The plain forms
some of the richest pasture-land in England, which is
divided into large dairy farms. Its towns lie in the
river-valleys. On the Exe are Twerton, and Exeter,
the county town and the seat of a bishopric ; Honiton,
with its lace manufactures, lies on a little stream near
the eastern border of the shire ; in the north-west, at
the mouth of the Tawe is the port of Barnstaple ; at the
mouth of the Torridge the smaller port of Bideford.
The whole population of the county is a Httle more
than 600,000, or not much greater than that of Liver-
pool and Birkenhead.
III. Cornwall forms the extreme south-western
part of England, thrust out between the Atlantic
Ocean and the English Channel, and ending in two
rocky points, the Lizard and the Land's End. It has
thus but one land boundary, that on the north-east
toward Devonshire, from which it is separated by the
XVII. ] THE SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES. 213
Tamar. The county is little more than half the size
of Devon, having an area of 1,365 square miles. It
consists of high and barren moorlands, with steep
rounded hills of granite, and valleys of boggy soil.
Tlie central ridge of heights has a rapid slope on
either side, furrowed by the valleys of many small
rivers, such as the Camel on the north side, and
the Fal on the south, whose estuaries cut deep into
the coast. The moorlands reach their greatest height
in the north-east, where Brown Willy rises to 1,368
(cct ; from thence they gradually fall to 600 and 800
feet near Mount's Bay.
In the wild and thinly-peopled moorlands between
the Tamar, and the Fal, the only town of any size is
nodmhiy the county town, in the valley of the Camel,
rhroughout the interior of the county, indeed, the
villages consist merely of a few people gathered
round the shaft of a mine, and fully nine-tenths of the
\\ hole population of the county has been drawn down
to a little space in the southern end of the peninsula,
wliere the rocks are richer in varied mineral wealth
than in anyplace throughout all the rest of England.
Here are mines of copper and lead and silver, and
r irer than all these, of tin, which have long made the
\eaUh of Cornwall Thtro^ Cambonu^ and Redruth
re the chief towns of this mining district Along
lie coast, and forming the outlets of the mining
trade, are the ports of Falmouth^ on Falmouth
Harbour; Penzance^ on Mount's Bay; and St. Ives^
on St. Ives Bay, The population of the whole county
amounts to 362,343 persons.
214
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
County. County Town.
Area jft
Sq. Miles.
Population.
{Northern Counties.)
Northumberland .
Newcastle .
1,952
386,646
Durham ....
Durham . .
973
685,089
Cumberland . .
Carlisle . .
1,565
220,253
Westmoreland . .
Appleby . .
758
65,010
{CoMnties of the Me?'sey and Kibble basin.)
Lancashire . . .
Lancaster . | 1,905
2,819,495
Cheshire . . .
Chester . . | 1,105
561,201
{Comities of the Severn basin.)
Shropshire . . .
Shrewsbury .
1,291
248,111
Worcestershire .
Worcester .
738
338,837
Gloucestershire .
Gloucester .
1,2^8
534,640
Warwickshire . .
Warwick . .
881
634,189
Herefordshire . .
Hereford . .
836
125,370
Monmouthshire .
Monmouth .
576
195,448
{Co7{nties of the Number basin.)
Derbyshire • • • Derby . . .
1,029
379,394
Staffordshire . . Stafford . .
1,138
858,326
Leicestershire . . Leicester . .
80 ^^
269,311
Nottinghamshire . Nottingham .
822
319,758
Yorkshire . . . York . . .
6,067
436,355
{Counties of the JVash.)
Lincolnshire . .
Lincoln . .
•2,776
436,599
Rutland ....
Oakham . .
150
22,073
Northamptonshire
Northampton
985
243,891
1 Huntingdonshire .
Huntingdon .
361
63,708
Bedfordshire . .
Bedford . .
462
146,257
Cambridgeshire .
Cambridge .
8!8
186,906
XVII.] THE SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES.
215
County.
County Town.
Area in
Si. Miles.
Population.
{East Anglian Counties.)
Norfolk .... Norwich . . 2,116
438,656
Suffolk .... Ipswich . . 1,481
348,869
{Counties of the Thames basin.)
Essex ....
Chelmsford .
1,657
466,436
Hertfordshire . .
Hertford . .
611
192,226
Middlesex . . .
Brentford . .
281
2,539,765
Buckinghamshire .
Aylesbury
730
175,879
Oxfordshire . .
Oxford . .
739
177,975
Berkshire . . .
Reading . .
705
196,475
Surrey ....
Guildford. .
748
1,091,635
Kent
Maidstone .
1,627
848,294
{Counties of the Southern Water-parti
^A')
Sussex ....
Chichester .
1,460
417,456
Hampshire . . .
Winchester .
1,672
544,684
Wiltshire . . .
Salisbury . .
1,352
257,177
Dorsetshire . .
Dorchester .
987
195,537
( The South-western Counties.)
Somersetshire . .
Taunton . .
1,636
463,483
Devonshire . .
Exeter . .
2,589
60 f, 374
Cornwall . . .
Bodmin . .
1,36s
362,343
,
WALES.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL VIEW OF WALES.
General Features. — Wales, the peninsula which
is thrown out from the western side of Southern Britain
towards Ireland, forms a region which is distinguished
from England at once by its geographical position,
by the age of its rocks, by the height of its mountains
and grandeur of its scenery, and by the origin of its
people.
Geographically, the country lies apart from the
rest of Southern Britain {see Frontispiece). To the
north it is bathed by the Irish Sea, to the south by the
Bristol Channel, while to eastward it was once parted
from England by that deep and remarkable depression
of the ground which strikes southward from the estuary
of the Dee to the estuary of the Severn. The political
changes which have added a part of the original country
of the Welsh people to England have, however, pushed
the eastern boundary of Wales backwards, so that it
CH. I.] GENERAL VIEW OF WALES. 217
now forms a straight line which runs due south from
the mouth of the Dee, cuts across the upper valleys
of the Severn and the Wye, passes over the eastern
extremity of the Black Mountains, and terminates
in Cardiff Harbour. To the west of this line rise the
greater mountains of the Welsh group ; to the east
of it lie tracts of level country, or outlying ranges of
lower hills which fall by degrees to the central plain
of England. The boundary of Wales to the east thus
agrees, roughly speaking, with the change from the
mountains to the plain.
The country which lies within these limits is, in
comparison with England, of very small extent, for it
includes but 7,400 square miles, or an area only equal
to one-twelfih part of Britain. Consisting as it does
practically of two short mountainous peninsulas, it dif-
fers from England no less in structure than in scenery ;
for the Silurian and Devonian rocks, the masses of
slate and limestone and porphyry, of which it is built
up, represent the remains of an ancient Britain which
rose above the ocean at a time when the England
that now exists was being slowly formed in its depths.
But while the mountains of Wales thus contrast
with the lowlands nf England, the two countries have
one feature of their physical structure in common. In
Wales as in England, the chief mountain heights lie
near the western coast ; and the line of water-parting
which they form strikes down the country from north
to south, and throws the great bulk of its running
waters to the eastward (see p. 77). The relative posi-
tion of mountains and river- valleys is therefore the
2i8 GEOGRAPHY. [cuap.
same in both Wales and England, though the relative
extent of the hills and valleys is so different.
As we have already seen, the mountainous struc-
ture of Wales has had very marked effects on the
history and character of the country, (i) In the rocky
fastnesses of its hills the ancient race of the Celtic
people has been preserved, a people who still retain
their old customs and language. (2) Again, the dis-
position of its mountains in great measure determines
the climate of the country as well as its excessive rain-
fall. (3) By the physical character of the ground,
too, the agricultural industry of Wales is strictly
limited. It is only in the valleys near the sea that the
ground is fit for ploughing; tillage is therefore very
scarce, and the chief agricultural wealth of Wales lies
in its mountain pastures. On the other hand, the in-
exhaustible stores of slate, and above all, of coal, which
enrich its barren hills, give rise to a very considerable
trading and manufacturing industry. (4) Lastly, the
structure of Wales has greatly hindered the increase of
its population. The whole country is about one-
seventh the size of England, but owing to its moun-
tainous character it has only 1,200,000 inhabitants,
or one-eighteenth part of the population of England.
It is more than 1,000 square miles greater in extent
than Yorkshire, but it only contains half as many
people as that county, or one-third of the inhabitants
of London.
The Mountain Masses of which Wales is made
up are broken into four distinct ranges, which all lie
athwart the line of water-parting. These are (i) the
1.1 GENERAL VIEW OF WALES. 219
Snowdon xaugQ ; (2) the Berwyn Mountains; (3) the
Plinlimmon range ; (4) the Black Mountains (see p.
46). The first three ranges have the same general
direction, their strike being from north-east to south-
west ; they are alike also in structure, being mainly
composed of slate rocks of the silurian age, broken by
masses of trap and porphyry of volcanic origin. The
fourth range, on the other hand, differs from the rest
not only in having a direction due east and west,
but also in its structure ; for the limestone rocks of
which it consists belong to the somewhat later Devo-
nian age, and are overlaid on the southern slopes of
the Black Mountains by vast coal-measures which
exceed in extent and in depth any of those in England.
We shall best gain a general idea of the true character
of Wales by examining these four mountain chains in
detail.
(i.) The Snowdon Range is situated in the north-
west corner of Wales, where it stretches in a long line of
steep heights along the Menai Straits and Carnarvon
Bay, and forms the northern boundary of Cardigan
Bay. On the east it is sharply cut off from the other
Welsh mountains by the deep valley of the river
Conway.
The central mountain of this range is Snowdon^
whose five peaks of nearly equal height rise 3,590
feet above the sea-level, and from their position and
elevation determine the river system of the surround-
ing district. To the north the lower spurs of the
mountain form the Pass of Uanberis, beyond which
lies a group of heights almost as lofty as Snowdon
220 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
itself, the Glyders, Carnedd Davydd, and Carnedd
Xlewellyn, the highest point of a chain which strikes
northwards to the sea, and terminates in the bold cliffs
of Great Orme' s Head. All these summits are higher
than any in England ; but they form the only Welsh
mountains which reach an elevation of 3,000 feet above
the sea. On the eastern side of Snowdon towards
the Conway the greatest height is that of Moel Siabod,
2,865 f^^^i while to the south-west a line of hilly country
is thrown out which falls rapidly to the sea in the
peninsula of Carnarvon, and ends in the headland of
Braich-y-Fwll.
The wild and rugged scenery of this district
surpasses in grandeur any other mountain scenery
in Britain south of the Tweed. The country is bare
and uncultivated, for amid its rocks of slate and
granite there is little room for tillage ; it is traversed
by few roads, and very thinly inhabited, its villages
being gathered round the slate quarries or the lead and
copper mines which form their only wealth. The chief
resources of northern Wales lie, in fact, in the rocks of
which its mountains are composed. The inexhaustible
stores of slate contained in the district round Snowdon
are worked in quarries of vast extent, such as those of
Penrhyn, which give employment to over 3,000 work-
men, and yield every year 70,000 tons of slate, large
quantities of which are exported to Norway, and even
to America, through a special port named Port Penrhyn,
which is connected with the quarries by a railway and
is wholly engaged in this trade.
(2.) To the south and east of the Snowdon range
I.] GENERAL VIEW OF WALES. 22t
lies a second tract of mountainous country of very
irregular character, whose south-eastern boundary is
formed by the chain of the Berwyn Mountains,
a long line of hills which stretches from the valley of
the Dovey in the south-west as far as the vale of Llan-
gollen or the valley of the Dee in the north-east. A
second belt of high ground called the /7/>;/ I/t7/s
starts from the further side of this valley and runs due
north to the Irish Sea between the estuary of the Dee
and the valley of the Clwyd. The space inclosed be-
tween the Berwyn Mountains, the Flint Hills, and the
Snowdon range is occupied by an uregular mass of
mountainous country that touches the Irish Sea on the
north and Cardigan Bay on the south-west, and divides
itself into two parts which differ in structure as in
scenery.
{a.) The northernmost district, which lies on the
Irish Sea, consists of a tract of tumbled groumi,
known as the Denbigh Hills, whose limestone rocks
never rise to any considerable height, but extend in
irregular hills over the region which lies between the
Conway and the Clwyd, two rivers whose channels
form parallel valleys that open into the Irish Sea.
Almost the whole agricultural industry of the district
is gathered into these two fertile river-valleys ; while
the valley of the Dee, which lies to the south and
east, is distinguished for the mineral resources which
it possesses in the small coal-field of Ruabon^ and
that which extends along its estuary in Flintshire.
(p.) The south-western district, on the other hand,
which lies between the Snowdoo and the Berwyn
222 GEOGRAPHY. [ciiAr.
Mountains, and stretches along the shores of Cardi-
gan Bay to the valley of the Dovey, consists of a mass
of slate mountains, very lofty and wild, and broken
as in Snowdon by trap rocks of volcanic origin. The
centre of this district is marked by the mountains of
Arrenig and Arran Mowddy, in which last summit
the slate rocks attain a height of nearly 3,000 feet;
and the whole surrounding region abounds in quarries,
such as those of Ffestiniog, which are equal in extent
to any in the Snowdon range. To the south-west a
deep depression severs the bulk of these slate hills from
the great mass of Cader Idris, where the volcanic
rocks reach their greatest height of 2,900 feet. As
this same depression strikes in a north-easterly direc-
tion under the heights of the Berwyn chain, it forms
the upper valley of the river Dee, and is marked by
the only large sheet of water in Wales, Bala Lake,
which is traversed and drained by the Dee.
(3.) A third belt of high ground is formed by a
long chain of hills and moorlands which strike south-
ward from the mountain of Plinlimmon, and sweep
in a curve round the shores of Cardigan Bay to end
in the south-west in the peninsula of Pembroke. The
chief mountain of this chain, Plinlimmon, forms an
almost isolated mass of 2,470 feet in height, which
occupies a middle position between the heights of
northern and southern Wales, and forms the connec-
ting link between them. Plinlimmon may be looked
on as the great centre, which, by its outlying hill
ranges, and by its rivers, determines the surrounding
geography of the district in which it lies. Situated
1.] GENERAL VIEW OF WALES. 223
due south of Arrenig and Arran Mowddy, it marks
the most important point in the line of water-parting,
the district in which most of the larger streams of
Wales take their rise. On its eastern side it throws
down the great rivers of the Severn and the Wye, and
on the west the little stream of the Ystwith; while
a short distance to the south are the head-waters of
the Towy and the Teifi. The channels of these two
last rivers form parallel valleys, which define and en-
close between them a long belt of hill and moorland
that trends to the south-west, and terminates on tlie
shore of St. George's Channel in the peninsula of
Pembroke. These moorlands are indeed of incon-
siderable height, and the lower grounds and valleys
of the district, where the plough can be used, form
the best agricultural land in Wales. On the other
hand, the country which lies to eastward of Plinlim-
mon as far as the borders of Wales is utterly wild
and barren. Its vast tracts of moorland, broken
by hills and mountain ridges of limestone, are wholly
worthless for tillage, and remain the most thinly-
peopled regions of southern Britain.
(4.) If we now strike due southward from Plin-
limmon, following the course of the Towy, we find
ourselves at the western extremity of the Black
Mountains, the chief mountain chain of southern
Wales. This is a range of great height which runs
due east and west in a direction differing from that
of the other Welsh ranges ; its northern side is sharply
defined by the valley of the Usk^ from which the moun-
tains rise in a steep and abrupt wall of limestODC cliffs,
224 GEOGRAPHY. . [chap.
and reach in Brecknock Beacon a height of 2,900 feet.
To east and west the range is Umited by the valleys of
the Usk and the Towy ; while to the southward its
heights fall by a long and gradual descent to the
Bristol Channel, having their slopes furrowed by a
multitude of little streams, such as the Tawe, the
Neath and the Taff, with others, whose outlets to the
sea form excellent harbours.
This mountain chain, more regular in form than
those of the north, and unbroken by masses of vol-
canic rocks such as appear in the other ranges, is
far richer than they are in mineral wealth. While the
whole of northern Wales, whose chief resources lie in
its slate- quarries, possesses but a small tract of coal
in the Dee valley, the southern slopes of the Black
Mountains are covered by a coal-bed whose ex-
tent, 900 square miles, exceeds that of any other in
southern Britain, and which reaches a depth of 10,000
feet. Here, therefore, as in the mining districts of
the Pennine chain, the solitude of the moorlands
is exchanged for the busy life of a manufacturing
district, vvdth its mines, its blast-furnaces, its iron-
works, and its copper-foundries. The little river
valleys are thickly studded with mining towns, while
the harbours at their estuaries provide outlets for
the trade in coal and iron which has made this
district the most wealthy and important in Wales, so
that one-third of the whole population of the country
is gathered into it.
The industry of this coal-field, indeed, is not
confined to the working of the minerals which it
I.] GENERAL VIEW OF WALES. 225
produces; for by the great advantages of its geographi-
cal position, and the quality of its mineral deposits, it
has become also the centre of a busy foreign trade,
which is carried on mainly through two seaports
which lie to eastward and westward of the coal-mea-
sures. The port of Cardiff is engaged in the export
of coal and iron, and ranks as the tenth or twelfth in
importance among European harbours. The port of
Sivansea^ on the other hand, has become the first
town in the world for the smelting of copper and
other metals, and from the neighbouring peninsula
of Cornwall, from France, from North and South
America, and from Australia, large quantities of
metal are carried to its foundries.
The River System. — In this sketch of the moun-
tain masses of Wales, we have been led to notice the
main river valleys by which the strike of the hill
ranges is defined, and which break the long reaches
of moorland that form so large a part of the country.
We must now, however, glance briefly at the river
system of Wales taken as a whole.
The division between the running waters of the
country is indicated by a line which branches off from
the main waterparting of England as it passes through
the plain of Cheshire (see p. loi). From this point
the Welsh waterparting strikes to west and south
over the chain of the Berwyn Mountains, across the
summit of Plinlimmon, and along the crest of the
heights which form the peninsula of Pembroke. It
tlius divides the country into two parts, the watershed
rf the Irish Sea^ lying to the north and west, and the
Q
226 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
watershed of the Bristol Channel, which lies to the south
and east. These divisions are very unequal in the
extent and importance of their river system, for as we
have seen, the high grounds of Wales lie like those of
England near its western shores, and the bulk of
its running waters are thrown down to the east and
south. In fact the only river of any consequence in
the basin of the Irish Sea is the Dee, which flows
to the eastward for the greater part of its course,
and only turns northward as it nears its estuary. The
basin of the Bristol Channel, on the other hand,
includes the upper valleys of all those great Welsh
rivers which merge their waters in the estuary of the
Severn (see p. 46).
As the more important among the Welsh rivers
have been described in Chap. VII., it will be only
necessary here to sum up shordy the groups into
which they are naturally thrown by the direction
of their channels and by their openings into the sea
I. The Rivers of the Irish Sea form two
groups, {(i) Those which fall into the sea north-
ward, as the Dee, the Clwyd, and the Conway, {b)
Those which fall into the sea westward, as the Dovey,
the Ysfwith, and the Teifi. All these rivers, save the
Dee, are mere mountain streams, and quite useless for
navigation or harbourage (see p. 46).
II, The Rivers of the Bristol Channel in
like manner form two groups, (a.) Those which
merge in the estuary of the Severn, the Severn, the
Wye, and the Usk ; these are all rivers of import-
ance, but it is merely along their upper valleys, where
I.] GENERAL VIEW OF WALES. 227
the streams are but mountain torrents, that these rivers
are included in Wales, (d.) Those streams which fall
southward into the Bristol Channel, such as the TaJ/^^
the Neathf the Tawe^ and the Towy^ are severed from
the last group by the range of the Black Mountains.
The three first streams, which are thrown down
the southern slopes of that mountain range, are short
and unimportant save for their harbours. The Towy
on the other hand, rising among the hills of the
Plinlimmon range, has a longer course ; and its deep
valley forms a clearly marked geographical boundary
between the slates and porphyry of the hills to west-
ward of it, and the limestone rocks and coal measures
of the Black Mountains. (See p. 96.)
The river system of Wales has few points of re-
semblance with that of England, whether we consider
the size of its streams, the extent of their basins, or
the length of their courses. Nevertheless they play a
very important part in the political geography of the
country. They indicate the course which must be
followed by the roads and railways which traverse the
land, and through them, therefore, all communication
between different parts of the country passes : while it
is only along they: banks that agriculture can be pur-
sued, and that towns and villages can spring up.
Hence we find, as we have already seen in England,
that it is the river-basins of Wales which have
determined its political divisions, and that we shall
best group the shires into which it is broken up
by following carefully the lie of the two watersheds
which form the natural divisions of the land.
Q 2
CHAPTER II.
THE WELSH COUNTIES.
Wales is broken up for political purposes into
hvelve distinct shires or counties, of which six are
comprised in the watershed of the Irish Sea, while
six more form the watershed of the Bristol Channel.
From the form of the country, a short peninsula
washed on three sides by the sea, it follows that
nearly all these shires are situated on the coast, and
in fact there are but three among them which lie
inland.
[A.] — The Counties of the Irish Sea extend
over an area of about 3,000 square miles, and com-
prise the ranges of the Snowdon and the Berwyn
Mountains with the hilly country that lies between
them, and part of the Plinlimmon range. They thus
include the chief mountains of Wales, and form a
wild and uncultivated district which contains but
one-third of the Welsh people, or 458,614 in-
habitants, a population somewhat less than that of
Manchester. All these shires lie directly on the
sea-coast.
CII. II.]
THE WELSH COUNTIES.
229
I. The Island of Anglesea, which forms a
distinct county, is separated from the mainland by the
TU£ WELSU COUNTI£S.-<rowiu aaJ K«v«n.)
narrow Menai Strait, and is the only Welsh county
whose surface is generally low and flat It has an
230 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
area of 300 square miles, and a population of about
50,000 people. Bathed in soft sea-windr, the fertility
of its soil is increased by the mildness of its climate ;
and it possesses a little mineral wealth in a small
coal-field, as well as some rich veins of copper. Its towns
are few ; the trade with England is carried on through
Beaumaris on the Menai Strait, and Abnwch on the
northern coast is situated near some small copper-
mines. A second little island. Holy Island, lies close
to its western shore, and contains the port oiHolyhead,
with a town of the same name which forms the point
of departure of travellers from England to Ireland.
II. The county of Carnarvon, which closely
adjoins Anglesea, lies within sharply defined limits,
since it consists exactly of the rugged mass of the
Snowdon range and the sharp spur of rocks which
runs southward from it to the sea. The shire thus
extends from Great Orme's Head to Braich-y-PwU.
Its form is that of a triangle, with an area of 579
square miles : on the east it is parted from Denbigh-
shire by the river Conway; on the south it is
bounded by Merioneth. The mountain masses which
constitute the county form a bleak and inhospitable
region which contains but a few villages situated
beside the great slate-quarries, such as Penrhyn. The
larger towns lie of necessity in the low ground along
the shore, where Carftarvo?t, Bangor, and Conway, on
the north-western coast, occupy the sites of three
great castles built by the English 600 years ago to
hold their conquests in Wales. Carnarvon, the largest
town of northern Wales, with 10,000 inhabitants,
II.] THE WELSH COUNTIES. 231
guards the southern opening of the Menai Strait :
Bangor, a cathedral city, commands the junction of
two great routes, that which leads westward to Ire-
land, and that which turns southward through Wales :
Conway holds the estuary of the river Conway and
the northern opening of the Menai Strait Watering-
places are also scattered along the seaside, as
Llandudno^ under the rocky promontory of the Great
Orme's Head. The whole population of the shire
amounts to about 106,000 inhabitants.
III. To eastward of Carnarvon lies the shire of
Denbigh, which stretches in a slanting direction from
the Irish Sea on the north to the English border on the
south-east. Its area is 600 square miles, but its form is
very irregular, being so narrowed at the centre by the
shires of Flint and Merioneth on either side of it as to
have an appearance not unlike that of an hour-glass.
The county thus practically consists of two parts, {a,)
Its northern half lies between Carnarvon and Flintshire,
being severed from them by the valleys of the Conway
and the Clwyd. It is chiefly composed of broken
and tumbled ground, and low hills which fall gradually
to the sea. The little agricultural towns, Ruthin
and Denbigh^ lying in the valley of the Clwyd, and
situated at a distance from any great lines of trade,
are without importance, {p.) The south-eastern part
of the shire, on the other hand, forms part of the valley
of the Dee^ which, as it enters Denbighshire, bends
eastward round the extremity of the Berwyn Mountains
and forms the Vale of LlangoUm, When it passes
out of this vale the river enters on a small tract of
232 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
coal-measures which gives rise to two mining towns,
liuaboji and Wrexham, whose position near the
iLnghsh border gives them a considerable trade with
Liverpool and the manufacturing towns of the west.
The population of the shire, 105,100 persons, is about
equal to that of Carnarvon.
IV. If we follow the course of the Dee as it flows
out of Denbighshire to the northward, we are led
directly into Flintshire, the smallest of the Welsh
counties, being merely a narrow strip of land with
an area of 289 square miles, which borders the estuary
of the Dee on its western side, and is itself shut in to
south and west by the shire of Denbigh : an outlying
fragment of the county is imbedded in Shropshire to
the south-east. If Flintshire, however, is the least of
the counties of Wales, it is also for its size one of the
richest, the busiest, and the most thickly peopled.
The coal-measures, which here extend along the
valley of the Dee from the Flint Hills to the river
bank, with their mines of iron, zinc, and lead, give
rise to a good deal of manufacturing industry, while
their neighbourhood to the sea and to some of the
great manufacturing districts of England affords the
needful facilities for commerce. The town of Mold,
in a lateral valley of the Dee, has mines of lead and
coal ; Holywell, near the Dee itself, lies in the midst
of the coal district, and exports its minerals to Liver-
pool through the little port of Fli?it, which gives its
name to the county. The only other towns in the
shire lie in the lower valley of the Clwyd : St. Asaph
is now a mere village, though it still remains an
II.] THE WELSH COUNTIES. 233
episcopal city ; Rhyl is a fashionable watering-place,
situated at the mouth of the river. The industrial
resources of FHntshire enables it to maintain a popula-
tion of about 76,300.
V. These counties all border on the Irish Sea, and
are watered by the rivers which flow northward to that
sea. The two remaining shires of this group lie on
the shores of Cardigan Bay, and are drained by those
streams which are thrown down the western slopes of
the waterparting.
Due south of Carnarvon, and extending from that
shire to the Berwyn Mountains and the border of
Montgomery, lies the county of Merioneth. Its form
is like Carnarvon that of a triangle, with an area of
about the same size, 600 square miles, but turned in
the opposite direction. The narrow eastern extremity,
thrust as it is into the heart of Denbighshire, consists
practically of the upper valley of the Dee^ which with
the hills on either side of it forms a wild and solitary
district without a single town. The broad western
end rests on Cardigan Bay between the shires of
Carnarvon and Cardigan, and is bounded on the
south by the valley of the Dovey, From Bala Lake
to the sea-shore it is composed of a mass of rugged
and barren mountains, amidst which tower the great
summits of Arran M(nvddy and Coder Idris. Its
bleak heights are uninhabited, save for a few villages
gathered round its slate quarries, as at Ffestiniog; and
for the very small towns which lie on or near the
sea-shore— -^tfr/fM, the county town, Barmouth and
Dolgelly, In fact the shire of Merioneth, with its
234 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
46,600 inhabitants, is one of the most thinly peopled
counties in Wales.
VI. To the south of Merioneth lies the last
county of this group, Cardiganshire ; it is almost
isolated from all the other shires belonging to the
watershed of the Irish Sea, being half encircled by the
counties of the south-western watershed, those of
Montgomery, Radnor, Brecknock, Carnarvon, and
Pembroke. The mountain of Plinlimmon, which rises
just within its northern limits, sends out a long
spur of heights which run to the south-west, and the
shire of Cardigan lies in the form of a great crescent
upon the western slope of this range, from the valley
of the Dovey in the north to that of the Teifi in the
south. The little stream of the Ystwith flows mid-
way between the two. The hill-sides have their
mines of copper, and lead, and zinc, and the river
valleys afford the possibility of agriculture, so that
there is a somewhat larger population than that of
Merioneth. Still with an area of 700 square miles
the county has but 73,441 inhabitants. It contains,
in fact, only two towns of any note, and these lie on
the sea-shore. The county town, Cardigan, at the
mouth of the Teifi, is litde more than a fishing village ;
the town of Aberystwith, at the mouth or " aber " of
the Ystwith, is more populous.
[B.] — The counties which drain their waters
INTO the Bristol Channel cover an area of over
4,300 square miles, and comprise the greater part of the
PHnHmmon range, with the Black Mountains. While
they contain fewer lofty mountain summits than the
II ] THE WELSH COUNTIES. 235
shires of the north and west, they include yet larger
tracts of desolate and unpeopled moorlands broken
by rough hills. At the same time this group of
counties possesses sources of wealth not open to the
northern group in its coal-measures, and in its broad
river valleys where it is possible to plough and till the
land. It is thus the most industrious and populous
part of Wales, containing two-thirds of the people of
the country, or a population of over 758,000 people ;
less than that of the single English county of Kent.
In this group are included the three Welsh shires
which lie wholly inland : these three shires, Mont-
gomery, Radnor, and Brecknock, border on English
soil, and form the upper basins of the three rivers
which unite their waters in the estuary of the Severn.
I. The northernmost county of this group, Mont-
gomeryshire, forms a rough circle almost wholly
surrounded by hills. To the north and north-west
the Berwyn Mountains shut it in from the shires of
Denbigh and Merioneth ; to the south-west and south,
riinlimmon and its outlying moorlands form the
borders of Cardigan and Radnor ; while to the east,
where it adjoins England, a line of heights parts it
from Shropshire. The shire thus enclosed on every
side is of considerable size, having an area of 755
square miles, and consists in fact of the upper basin
of the Sarrrtf that is, the whole of that part of its
basin which lies within Wales. The Severn rises
on the hills to the south of the shire, near Plin-
limmon, while its tributary the Vir/my rises on the
Berwyn Mountains of its northern boundary ; and both
236" GEOGRAPHY. [chap
livers unite their waters as the Severn escapes by
the only opening in the encircling heights, a pass
under the Bi-eidden Htl/s, which leads into English
ground. The bleak moorlands of slate and lime-
stone which compose so great a part of Montgomery
are thus broken by two river valleys which traverse
the shire from the north and from the south, and
in the shelter of these valleys has sprung up the
only industry of this district, the manufacture of
Welsh flannel. In the larger valley of the Severn
especially, a few towns have grown up by the river
side; Lla7udloes and Newtown^ Montgofnery the
county town, and Welshpool near the English border,
somewhat more prosperous than the rest. The
reaches of moorland and heather which extend be-
tween the river valleys and stretch up the hill-sides
of the western border are wholly deserted save for
a hamlet here and there, and for the mountain
cattle feeding on their slopes ; and the shire, with
its extent of country equal to nearly three times
that of Flintshire, contains but 67,623 inhabitants,
and forms one of the most thinly peopled districts
in Wales.
II. We have traced the waters of the Severn as
they traverse the county of Montgomery to the north-
east ; but close to the sources of the Severn lie the
headwaters of the Wye, and this river as it turns to
the south-east forms by its uj^jper basin the shire of
Radnor.
Lying on the eastern slopes of the Plinlimmon
range, as Cardiganshire lies upon the western, the
II.] THE WELSH COUNTIES. 237
county of Radnor extends eastward to the English
border between Montgomery and Brecknock. The
Teme, an affluent of the Severn, passes along its north-
eastern boundary, parting it from Shropshire : but the
great bulk of the running waters of the shire are
poured into the Wye, as this river winds along its
southern border on its way to Herefordshire in the
east The river basin which thus constitutes Radnorshire
has an area of more than 400 square miles, and forms
one continuous tract of high, bleak moorland, broken
by barren mountains, its chief heights lying in the dis-
trict called Radnor Forest. The desolate monotony
of this wild region is everywhere unbroken by the stir
of human life ; for but a few villages lie along the
eastern border, where they find shelter in the river
valleys : these are Neiv Radnor on the Wye, /Vw-
/«f7i on its tributary the Lug, and Knighton on the
Teme. The population, 25,430, is smaller than in
any other Welsh county.
III. From the shire of Radnor we pass southward
to that of Brecknock, which forms the third inland
county of Wales, and practically consists of the upper
basin of the Usk, the third great river of the Severn
estuary. This shire is one of the largest in Wales,
having an area of 719 square miles. Right through
its centre strikes the deep valley formed by the Usk, as
the river rises on the western border of the county
and passes eastward to Monmouthshire, taking up on
its way the mountain streams thrown down to it from
north and south. On its banks lies the little county
town, Brecon^ which marks the central point of the
238 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
shire ; while to north and south the slopes of the river
basin form two districts that differ considerably in
structure, {a) To the northward the rocks of Devonian
limestone of which the valley of the Usk consists
pass into the slate rocks of the Plinlimmon range,
and form a district with the same bleak moorland
character as that of Radnor, which is only parted
from it by the Wye. There are but two towns in
this region ; these are Builth and Hay, situated on the
border of the county by the Wye. ip) 'To the south
of the Usk valley rises the steep range of the Black
Mountains, whose highest point, Brecknock Beacon, is
lifted 2,860 feet above the sea. This range, built up
in great part by the mountain limestone and millstone
grit which form the Pennine chain, extends westward
into the shire of Carmarthen, and falls southward to
that of Glamorgan. It contains no towns ; in fact
the wild and inhospitable region formed by the bleak
moorlands and mountain masses which constitute
Brecknockshire maintains a very scanty population ;
for the whole shire has but 60,000 inhabitants.
IV. In describing the county of Brecknock we
have traced the course of the chief mountain range of
Southern Wales, the Black Mountains, and Brecknock
Beacon. The slopes of this range as they fall to
the Bristol Channel on the south are occupied by the
shire of Glamorgan, which thus forms the south-
ernmost county of Wales, and from the border of
Monmouth on the east to that of Carmarthen on
the west, comprises the basins of all the streams
which are thrown down from the crest of .the Black
i
II.] THE WELSH COUNTIES. 239
Mountains, such as the Tawe, the Neath, and the Taff.
It is the second among Welsh counties in point of
size, having an area of 856 square miles ; and it is in-
dustrially the most important part of Wales, since its
limits almost exactly coincide with those of the vast
coal-measures which cover the hill-sides for a distance
of 900 square miles. Glamorganshire forms, therefore,
one of the chief mining districts in Great Britain.
The abundance of its coal and iron, the complete
system of running waters which it possesses, its geo-
graphical position, and the excellent harbours along
its coast, combine to secure it a foremost place both
in manufacturing industries and in foreign trade.
The great centre of its mining industry lies to the
eastward in the valley of the Taff. High up in this
valley, 6n the northern border of the shire, the coal-
mines have given rise to the most populous town of
Wales, Merthyr Tydvily with 52,000 inhabitants and
extensive iron works ; not far off lies a second mining
town, Aberdare^ containing 36,000 people; and to
eastward the great furnaces of Dowlais^ where 20,000
workmen are sometimes employed. From this point
southward the Taff valley presents a long succession
of manufactories and mining villages, till the river
empties itself into the Bristol Channel, and forms the
great trading port of this district, Cardiff Harbour, on
whose shore lies the town of Cardifmih 40,000 inhabi-
tants. Close by this important modern town lies the very
ancient episcopal city of Llandaff^ now a mere village,
though it still gives its name to a bishopric; it is
situated in the midst of a fertile district of low
240 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
land known as the Vale of Glamorgan, which extends
westward from the lower valley of the Taff as far as
Swansea Bay. The other towns of note lie on the
shores of this Bay ; Neath, on the river of the same
name, is engaged in exporting coal ; Swansea, at the
mouth of the Tawe, is the great centre of the iron
manufacture and of the trade with Europe, America,
and Australia in metals, especially copper, for smelt-
ing : it is the largest Welsh seaport and contains
52,000 inhabitants.
Glamorganshire is by far the most thickly peopled
county in Wales; with its population of 397,859 it
contains little less than one-third of the people of the
country, and has almost as many inhabitants as are to
be found in all the counties of the Irish Sea if we
except Anglesea. There are but four towns in Wales
whose population exceeds 15,000, and these four
towns lie in Glamorganshire.
V. The chain of the Black Mountains passes from
the borders of Glamorgan and Brecknock westward
into the shire of Carmarthen, where it is cut short
by the valley of the river Towy. The basin of this
river constitutes in fact the bulk of Carmarthenshire.
As the stream crosses the county from north to south-
west, it severs between the limestone rocks of the
Black Mountains to the eastward and the slate moor-
lands of the Plinlimmon range on the west, moorlands
which extend across its border on this side from the
shires of Cardigan and Pembroke. From these heights
a number of little streams are thrown down on either
side to the central valley of the Towy, and in this
II.] THE WELSH COUNTIES. 241
valley lie almost all the towns of the shire, most of
them very small. Llandovery is situated high up in
the valley ; LlandeilOy lower down, marks the site of
a castle of the old princes of South Wales; Car-
marthen^ the county town, is a port of considerable
size lying at the mouth of the river. The only town
situated outside the Towy valley is the port of TJanelly
on the Bury estuary, which lies just within the limits
of the coal-measures, and has a considerable trade.
The county of Carmarthen is the largest in Wales,
having an area of 950 square miles : its population
is 115,710.
VI. The moorlands of the Plinlimmon range which
occupy the north and west of Carmarthen pass out of
that county into Pembrokeshire on the south-west,
where they form the peninsula in which Wales ter-
minates in this direction. This shire has therefore
but one land boundary, that on the north-east towards
Cardigan and Carmarthen; on all other sides it is
surrounded by sea, and has its shores worn into deep
bays and creeks such as St. Brides Bay^ and Milford
Haven, a harbour large enough to contain the whole
of the British fleet. The scenery of Pembrokeshire
is not very nigged; its slate rocks are broken by
masses of trap and porphyry, as in the penin-
sula of Carnarvon ; but throughout the whole shire,
as the hills near the sea, they sink so low that large
tracts of land can be cultivated. The chief towns,
however, all lie round the inlet of Milford Haven,
to which population is drawn by its shipping trade
and its yards for ship-building. The county town.
242
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
Haverfordwest^ is situated at the head of the haven ;
Pe?nbroke, on its southern shore, is the largest town
in South Wales outside the manufacturing districts ;
Milford, on the opposite side, is bat a small town.
The episcopal city of St. David's at the extremity of
the peninsula by St. Bride's Bay is little more than a
village ; Te?iby is a picturesque watering-place which
rests on the shore of Carmarthen Bay.
With an area of over 600 square miles, Pembroke-
shire maintains a population of about 92,000 people.
Counties of the Irish Sea Basin.
Counties.
County Towns.
Area in
sq. miles.
P<-pula£ on.
Anglesea.
Carnarvonshire.
Denbighshire.
Flintshire.
Merionethshire.
Cardiganshire.
Counties of
Montgomeryshire.
Radnorshire.
Brecknockshire.
Glamorganshire.
Carmarthenshire.
Pembrokeshire.
i
Beaumaris.
Carnarvon.
Denbigh.
Mold.
Harlech.
Cardigan.
the Bristol Cha?i
Montgomery.
Presteign.
Brecon.
Cardiff
Carmarthen,
Haverfordwest.
Total ...
302
579
603
289
602
693
51,040
106,121
105,102
76,312
46,598
73,441
3,068
7iel Ba.
755
425
719
856
947
628
458,614
un.
67,623
25,430
59,901
397,859
115,710
91,998
4,330
758,521
7,398
1,217,135
THE WELSH COUNTIES. 243
The ISLE OF MAN, though forming part of
the Enghsh dominions, retains its own government
and judges. Its inhabitants, the Manx people, belong
to the Keltic race.
This island is situated in the Irish Sea, midway be-
tween England, Scotland, and Ireland. In point of
size it is smaller than Anglesea, having an area of but
220 square miles; it is about thirty miles long, and
has an average breadth of ten miles. Its scenery is
of a mountainous character ; in fact the island prac-
tically consists of a short range of high hills which
strikes from north-east to south-west, and rises in its
chief summit, that of Snaefell^ more than 2,000 feet
above the sea-level. A fringe of low lands borders
this range of hills, and contains the little towns of the
island, which are all very small save the capital,
Douglas^ a town of 14,000 inhabitants.
The Isle of Man is very rich in minerals, containing
veins of lead, copper, silver, and iron ; besides these
it has valuable quarries for slate and building-stone.
With these mining industries it is enabled to maintain
54,042 inhabitants, a population which slightly exceeds
thiit of Anglesea.
R 2
i^iifJura
^
reland
^p^
SCOTLAND
PHYSICAL
English Miles
SCOTLAND.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Boundaries. — In the northern part of the Island
of Great Britain lies Scotland, a country which is
distinguished from England both by position and by
striking differences of physical structure.
To the north and west it is washed by the Atlantic
Oceattf and to the east by the North Sea ; while to
the south it is cut off from England by an arm of the
western sea called the Solway Fhihy which penetrates
far into the land, and by a chain of mountains, the
Cheviot HUiSy which are thrown across the island from
the head of the Firth to the river Tkueed. This wall of
heights, preventing all entrance into Scotland from the
south save along the low ground by the coast on either
side, forms a natural barrier that divides Great Britain
into two parts, and which long constituted the bound-
ary of two distinct kingdoms.
246 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Area. — The country which lies within these limits-
has an area of 26,000 square miles, — and is there-
fore only half the size of England. But the great
number of islands which cluster round its shores have,
taken together, an extent of 4,000 square miles, and
by the addition of these islands the whole area of the
Scotch kingdom is increased to 30,000 square miles,
or nearly the size of Ireland. Its most remarkable
feature is the disproportion between its length and
breadth, which is nearly twice as great as that of
England; for while Scotland is 270 miles long it has
nowhere a breadth of more than 160 miles, and
measures little more than 30 miles across its narrowest
part. It thus presents the appearance of a long and
narrow barrier of rock thrown up between the oceans
which dash against it from east and west — a barrier
which has in places been almost cut in two by the
advance of the contending waters, and whose rugged
and broken outline forms a marked contrast to the
more regular features of southern Britain.
The Physical Structure too of Scotland con-
trasts strongly with that of England. Built up of
materials far older than the mass of the English rocks,
the country presents an aspect of rudeness and wild-
ness wholly unlike that of the bulk of the southern
kingdom. In England the general level of the land
is less than 500 feet above the sea, and the mountains
that attain to 2,000 feet are few in number. In Scot-
land, on the contrary, no less than three-fourths of the
entire surface of the land are covered by masses of
gneiss, quartz, granite, and Silurian rocks, which as
I.] INTRODUCTORY. 247
they towei into lofty peaks and ridges, and break into
crags and precipices, form mountains that in some
cases reach to nearly double the height of most of the
chief English summits, or widen into moorlands that
lie 1,000 feet or 1,500 feet above the sea.
Scotland consists in fact of two masses of mountains,
each of which stretches across the country from sea to
sea, and of a narrow plain that lies between them.
The mountain masses strike across the land from
west to east, having thus a direction almost at riglit
angles to the main hill-range of England, the Pennine
chain ; but they differ widely in extent from one anotlier
and from the valley which they enclose. The High-
lands^ which cover the northern part of Scotland^
have an extreme breadth from sea to sea of 160
miles, and rise in their highest summits to 4,400
feet. The Lowland Hills^ which occupy the south-
ernmost part of the country, measure 125 miles
across their broadest part, and rise in their loftiest
mountain to 2,500 feet.
The Lmvland Plain^ on the other hand, which fills
the isthmus by which the hill-masses of northern
and southern Scotland are linked together, has only
a breadth of from 30 to 60 miles, and a large
part of it does not lie 100 feet above the sea.
Though comparatively small in extent, however,
the structure of its rocks has made of it the
most important of the three divisions of Scotland.
Belonging as it does to a somewhat later geological
age than the mountains which shut it in on either
side, it is mainly formed of the same carboniferous
24S GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
rocks as those which constitute the Pennine chain in
England ; and Uke the Pennine moors it is rich in coal
measures with abundant stores of iron.
Industries. — The physical structure of Scotland
thus presents great obstacles to agricultural in-
dustry. It is only possible to till the soil within
the narrow limits set by barren mountain ranges,
which in fact leave but a fourth of the whole land
open to cultivation ; while of this small proportion
as much as one-half is most profitably given up to
grass. In spite however of this scarcity of land for
tillage, a careful and scientific mode of cultivation
has made of the Scotch Lowlands some of the most
productive districts in Britain. The mountainous
tracts of Scotland too, though wholly devoid of
mineral wealth, afford vast pastures, where a hardy
race of sheep and cattle find grazing ground ; and the
trade in these cattle forms an important branch of
Scotch industry.
To this may be added the great fisheries of the
coast for cod, herring, haddock, and ling, and that of
the mountain streams for salmon.
But the bulk of the wealth of Scodand comes from
its manufactures and commerce, both of which are
dependant on the abundant supply of coal and iron
that lies in the centre of the country — in that part
of it where they can be most easily and profitably
utilised, where the climate is most temperate, and
where river-estuaries running up into the heart of
the coal-measures form water-ways which connect
them with the sea. A variety of industries have
1.] INTRODUCTORY. 249
therefore sprung up on the coal-fields of this central
plain — the manufacture of linen, jute, cotton, wool,
silk, and carpets; soap-making, distilling of spirits
from grain, iron-works, ship-building, and the making
of machinery. A large and varied commerce ne-
cessarily follows this manufacturing industry — the
bringing in of cotton, silk, flax, jute, and other raw
materials, and the sending out of all these in their
manufactured state, with machines, worked-iron, and
coal.
Population. — In spite of these industries how-
ever the population of Scotland remains small, owing
to the wild and rugged character of the country. The
number of its inhabitants is but 3,360,018 — that is,
little more than one-seventh the population of Eng-
land, or only equal to 100,000 more people than
the inhabitants of London. Of this scanty popu-
lation, too, but a very small portion is found in the
mountainous districts. These form for the most part
vast solitudes, with scarcely an inhabitant : they have
no towns, no villages, only a few scattered hamlets
lying in little river valleys, and a thin fringe of small
fishing-ports which border the sea-shore. The bulk
of the people is massed together in the central
plain, where they have been drawn by a more shel-
tered climate and the possibilities of trade and agri>
culture. As we have seen (p. 10) these dwellers in
the plain and southern hills of Scotland represent the
later English race which peopled Britain, while the
mountains of the north give shelter to the earlier Celtic
or Gaelic inhabitants of the land.
250 GEOGRAPHY. [ch. i.
From this general survey of tlie country we may
pass on to examine in detail the physical structure
of Scotland, to study the disposition of its mountains
and its lower grounds, the lie of its greater rivers, and
the conformation of its coast. From thence we shall
proceed to examine the political divisions into which its
people have been grouped.
i
CHAPTER II.
THE HIGHLANDS.
The whole geography of Scotland hangs upon the
structure of its mountain masses, for covering as they
do three-fourths of its surface, they form the leading
physical features of the country. It is, in fact, by the
strike of its chief mountain ranges, and by tlie group-
ing of their dependant hills and ridges, that the
character of the land is determined, whether we con-
sider its internal order, or the outer form of its coast
line. We shall therefore first consider the disposition of
the mountains of Scotland under the two great divisions
into which they naturally group themselves — those of
(I.) the Highlands, and (II.) the Lowland
Hills. Lying outside these two groups there are
indeed isolated ranges of hills of igneous or volcanic
origin, but these are distinguished from the rest by
extent, by position, and by the different chararcter of
their rocks, and thus lie apart from the mountain
groups with which we have now to do.
252 ■ GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
The Highlands. — The most extensive and im-
portant of these mountain masses is that formed by the
Highlands, which occupy the whole of northern Scot-
land from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of the
Lowland Plain. A line drawn across the island from
Stonehaven to the Mull of Cantyre will indicate the
southernmost boundary of this mountain region ; and
along this line, from Stonehaven to the Firth of Clyde,
the meeting-point of plain and mountain is marked
by a barrier of heights so disposed as to form a con-
tinuous wall which separates the wild and mountain-
ous region to the north-west of it from the low-lying
and fertile lands to the south-east. This wall of
heights is interrupted indeed by a number of openings
formed where the mountain streams break from the
hills into the plain; but these openings constitute
only passes which lead into the interior of the High-
land district, where behind the rocky barrier through
which they pierce a vast tract of mountainous country
extends across the island from east to west, and
stretches northwards to the extreme limits of Scotland
in broken and crumpled masses of gneiss, schist,
quartz, granite, and other crystalline rocks.
General Features. — The mass of mountains thus
formed covers an extent of country three times as
large as Wales, and like the Welsh and Cumbrian
Hills represents the remains of an ancient land which
rose above the ocean long before the formation of the
England we now see. The bulk of the Highlands,
that is, the whole of its central district, is built up
of clays, slates, and limestones of the Silurian age.
II.] THE HIGHLANDS. 253
To westward this central mass is flanked by a belt of
fundamental gneiss which is nowhere else to be found
in the British Isles, but which is in fact the most
ancient rock which they contain, and that on which
all the rest are built up. To east^vard, on the other
hand, it is bordered by a strip of Old Red sandstone,
which extends along the shores of the Moray Firth
and forms a fringe of fertile land by the sea-coast :
thiB belt of sandstone, the latest formation of the
Highland district, is as old as a great part of the hills
of Devon and Cornwall.
But though the Silurian rocks of the Highlands be-
long to the same age as those of Wales, they differ
from these in having 'undergone changes in structure
which have given to them a crystalline character, so
that their schists, mica-slates, flagstone, quartzose, and
gneissose rocks are altogether unlike the materials
which make up the Welsh and Cumbrian mountains.
The great variety of the rocks which thus constitute the
Highlands produces a corresponding variety in their
scenery. The harder stones are built up into moun-
tains with rude and craggy outlines, and the landscape
thus formed is of a wild and savage character, as
where quartz rocks tower up into lofty conical peaks
of white and grey stone, or where masses of gneiss
break into serrated ridges with little cones and spires
and abrupt angular faces of cliff. The softer rocks,
such as clay-slate, are worn by weather into rounded
hills with smooth slopes covered with bog and
heather, and present a tame, monotonous landscape in
spite of the great height to which they often attain.
254 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
On the other hand, granite will assume many different
forms : sometimes it stretches for miles in lofty undu
lating moorlands which never rise into a hill, while at
other times it breaks into craggy precipices and per-
pendicular walls of rock, or is massed into great dome-
shaped mountains. Everywhere, in short, the scenery
is determined by an endless variety of rock-structure,
with its varying susceptibility to the influences of
weather and to the changes brought about by the
constant action of water.
Glenmore. — The long succession of moorland
and mountain thus formed is broken by a remarkable
fissure which strikes midway across the Highland
district from sea to sea in a line parallel to its south-
eastern boundary, and which is called Glenmore, or the
Great Glen. The length of this gorge from the Inver-
ness Firth to Loch Linnhe is loo miles, while between
these openings to the sea its broadest part scarcely
exceeds a mile. Steep mountains shut in the fissure
on either side, and in its depths lie a series of lakes
separated by tongues of land raised less than 50 feet
above the sea-level, through which the Caledonian
Canal has been cut, joining lake to lake and thus
opening a waterway from the North Sea to the Atlantic
Ocean.
Grouping of the Highland Mountains. —
One of the most important features in the geography
of the Highlands is the irregular disposition of their
mountain masses. The whole of the Highland district
is made up of lofty reaches of moorlands broken by
confused masses of hills which never unite in such
II.] THE HIGHLANDS. 255
regular order as to constitute a distinct central range,
and never link themselves together into a definite
mountain chain. It is true indeed that they form a
multitude of short ridges and walls of rock, but in
comparison with the great mass of the mountains
these are of trifling extent and do not afford land-
marks of real consequence.
It is important to grasp clearly this leading fact in
the structure of the Highlands, so as to avoid falling
into a confusion of geographical terms and names. In
the attempt to reduce to order so vast and irregular a
mass of heights it has been the usual practice to de-
scribe a part of it under the name of the Grampian
Mountains — ^a name which is inaccurate and misleading
for two reasons; first, because it implies continuous
ranges of hills which do not in fact exist ; and secondly,
because it has been loosely applied to so many parts of
the mountain mass as to have no longer a clear geo-
graphical meaning ; for while it is considered by some
to refer to a belt of high ground which extends across
the centre of the Highland district fron Ben Nevis to
Stonehaven, by others it is limited to the south-eastern
heights which border the Lowland Plain. Under
these circumstances it is safer to dismiss the name
altogether from our minds. But though we can only
realise the true character of the Highland hill-masses
by recognising their confusion and irregularity, we may
still discern in their disposition an underlying order
if we follow carefully the natural lie of the ground.
The Watcrparting of the Highlands — For
in spite of tlie absence of mountain ranges, there is one
256 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
very important landmark in the Highlands which must
form the starting-point for any study of their geo-
graphy.
This is a belt of persistent high ground which tra-
verses the whole of the Highland district from Cape
Wrath to Loch Lomond, and which at once indicates
the general strike of the mountain masses, and forms
the great wind and water-parting of the country, since
it severs between the districts that lie to east and west
of it, and parts the rivers which fall into the Atlantic
from those which fall into the North Sea. From either
side of this central high ground proceed a number of
dependant ridges and groups of hills, which strike
to east and west in parallel lines, and are parted by
deep lateral glens or by wider straths or river valleys.
This peculiar formation, with its rough resemblance to
the skeleton of the back and ribs of an animal, gave to
the central ridge in old days the name of Drumalban^
or the backbone of Alban or Scotland. This name,
however, is no longer used; and to us the long
irregular succession of moor and mountain which
strikes down the centre of the Highlands is better
known as the Waterparting range of the country,
since it is in these central heights that the sources
of the chief Highland rivers are found, and it is the
lie of these river sources that gives us the best means
of tracing the general direction of the heights.
The belt of high ground thus indicated is of varied
character. Sometimes isolated mountain masses lie
directly in the course of the waterparting line ; but
these again give place to lofty moorlands that stretch
11] THE HIGHLANDS. 257
for leagues in monotonous wastes of heather and peat
broken only by knolls and crags of rock, and flanked
by mountains whose rugged peaks and serrated ridges
rise to east and west out of the desert mountain plain
on which they stand. Still it is possible by observing
the succession of the more important among these
jieights to trace clearly the general direction of the
backbone of the Highlands.
Beginning in the extreme north with the summit
of Ben Hope, over 3,000 feet in height, we pass
southward to the yet greater masses of Ben More and
Ben Dearig. These three chief mountains are linked
together by a long succession of moorlands which
form some of the wildest and most savage scenery
in Scotland. With their bleak stretches of heather
broken by dark masses of bare stone, by high hills
with craggy outlines, by deep clefts and defiles, and
by precipitous ridges of rock whose crests are notched
like the edge of a saw, they constitute a vast moun-
tain wilderness almost without inhabitants. As they
stretch southward beyond Ben Dearig they pass into
a monotonous waste of heather known as the Dirie
More, beyond which rises a mountain yet loftier than
all the rest, Ben Attow^ whose height of 4,000 feet is
the greatest in all the Northern Highlands. A little
further to the south the fissure of Glenmore strikes
across the mountain mass, but on the southern side
of this depression the line of high ground is again
taken up, and is carried between the districts of
Lochaber and Badenoch in reaches of bare rock and
bog till it widens into the Moor of Rannoch, This
S
258 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
moor forms an open level plain which stretches for
leagues at a height of 1,000 feet, unbroken by a hill,
without tree or shrub of any kind, and varied only by
immense tracts of bog. P>om its southern border
are thrown out long reaches of undulating tableland
interrupted by rugged hills, which stretch as far as
I>och Lomond, and terminate on the border of the
Lowland Plain.
These central high grounds extending from Glen-
more to Loch Lomond, are flanked to right and left
by steep hill ranges and isolated mountain masses.
To the westward towers the loftiest mountain of the
British Islands, Ben Nevis, a solitary upthrow of trap
or volcanic rock, 4,400 feet in height. A little to the
south of it rises Beji Crtiachan, a mass of granite 20
miles in circumference and 3,670 feet high. Just
opposite to Ben Cruachan to the eastward lies a mag-
nificent group of lofty summits and ridges, the moun-
tains of Breadalba/ie, which extend from the Moor of
Rannoch on the north to the Lowland Plain on the
south, and thus form the termination of the entire
series of heights that constitute the backbone of the
Highlands. This Breadalbane group consists mainly
of short, sharply-defined ridges thrown out to the
eastward, and marked by important mountains, such
as Schiehallion, Ben Lawers, and Ben More. Like
the neighbouring hill-m.asses, Ben Voirlick, Ben
Ledi, and Ben Lomond, these ridges are severed
from one another by deep lateral valleys enclosing
lakes or mountain streams, and end abruptly as they
reach the Plain so as to present the appearance of a
II.] THE HIGHLANDS. 259
barrier stretching obliquely across it. They fonn, in
fact, a part of that wall which we have described as
separating the Lowlands from the Highlands (see
p. 252), a wall which we now see to be formed, not
by a continuous mountain range, but by the sudden
termination of a number of branches, which are one
after another cut short as they abut on the low
country, while from between them break the moun-
tain streams whose valleys form the only passes into
the Highland country.
We have thus roughly traced the course of that
belt of high ground which forms the backbone of the
Highlands, with the chief mountain masses that are
immediately connected with it This central ridge,
running as it does from Cape Wrath to Loch Lomond,
and throughout the whole of this distance lying near
the western sea, breaks up the Highland district into
two wholly distinct parts, one of which extends along
the western, the other along the eastern coast. Both
of these districts are traversed by dependent ridges
and outlying hills which proceed from the high ground
of the water-parting. Deep lateral glens and straths
part these dependent ridges and enable us to deter-
mine the general lie of the hill-masses, and by fol-
lowing them we find that the main direction of these
irregular groups of heights is from east to west, or
at right angles to the central high grounds. But
with this general resemblance in structure, the
eastern and western districts of the Highlands
differ from one another not only in size, but also in
character.
8 t
26o GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
The Western Watershed. — That part of the
Highlands which forms the watershed of 'the At-
lantic is a mere strip of land composed in great part
of those rude rocks of ancient gneiss which lie along
the north-western coast, building up a succession of
bare rough hills and low headlands, utterly barren
and treeless, without even a patch of green vegetation
to relieve their cold grey heights and gloomy reaches
of bog. Behind these rise irregular but majestic
pyramids of sandstone in huge isolated masses 2,000
or 3,000 feet high, with sides as steep as a wall,
scored with deep rifts and fissures, far grander in
colour and form than the older gneiss rocks, but quite
as naked and barren. There is no part of the massive
mountain line from Cape Wrath to the Firth of Clyde,
whether it consists of these craggy rocks, or of tame
rounded hills of softer clay-slates, which is not pene-
trated by inlets of the sea, scored by glens and guUies,
and cleft by the channels of mountain torrents, or
by lakes long and narrow like rivers. The torrents
make their way into the sea by deep cuttings between
walls of rock; and sometimes it happens that the
slight barrier which severs a lake from the ocean is
overflowed by the waves, and then a sea-loch is
formed, like a narrow arm of the sea penetrating into
the land. By these sea-lochs the western coast of
the Highlands is broken into a long succession of
irregular peninsulas, such as Glene/g, Morven, Appin^
Lorn, Knapdale and Canty re, and CoiuaL To the
north of Glenmore, the general lie of the glens
and their openings to the sea, as well as of the
ir.] THE HIGHLANDS. 261
peninsulas and islands of the coast, tiends in a north-
westerly direction; while to the south of Glenmore
on the other hand the whole direction of the coast
and of its islands is to the south-west.
The Eastern Watershed. — The district which
lies to eastward of the waterparting, and forms the
watershed of the North Sea, is of far greater extent
than that which lies to the west, and differs as greatly
from it in character. Instead of short rocky ridges
it is occupied by extensive moorlands, by irregular
heights falling slowly to the shore, and by lines of
hills occasionally linked together so as to approach
the character of mountain ranges. The streams, in-
stead of running in short parallel glens, follow long
winding courses in broad straths or valleys between
the masses of out-lying hills, and gradually gather
together so as to form by the union of their waters
important river-basins. As they approach the sea
they enter on the belt of low sandstone that lines
the shore, and being watered by their streams makes
a rich agricultural district ; and in this softer soil they
cut broad estuaries by which they empty themselves
into the ocean and thus form important harbours.
Rude and wild therefore as the whole of the High-
land region is, the eastern watershed is the more
fitted for habitation by its extent, the character of its
soil, its river-basins, and its sea-ports.
A great inlet of the sea, called the Moray Firths
has cut its way deep into the centre of this eastern
district, in the midst of the low land where most of
its river estuaries meet, and in which lies the north-
262 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
eastern opening of the valley of Glenmore. By this
great bay, and by Glenmore itself, the eastern High-
lands are broken into two large peninsulas which are
thrown out in a north-easterly direction from the
water-parting range. In both these peninsulas alike
the greatest heights lie to westward near the backbone
of the country, and the ground gradually falls to the
eastward till it sinks at last into the plains that
border the coast.
(i.) The district which lies to the north of the
Moray Firth consists mainly of the peninsula of
Caithness, a tract of moorland country wholly
formed of Old Red Sandstone. Its general character
is that of an open treeless plain of no great height,
where reaches of bog and moss alternate with stretches
of pasture land well stocked with cattle, or with level
cultivated plains near the sea-shore. To the westward,
however, the sandstone and other rocks of Caithness
give place to higher and more rugged tablelands of
slate and granite, such as those which form the mass of
the northern Highlands. Reaching to an elevation of
1,000 or 1,500 feet, these constitute a barren mountain
wilderness, extending westward as far as Ben Hope
and Ben More, and broken by isolated summits such
as that of Ben Klibreck, over 3,000 feet in height.
The peninsula of Caithness is bounded on the
south by the Morven Hills, and by the Ord of Caithness,
which falls in a sharp descent of 700 feet to the
sea-shore ; from this point along the western border
of the Moray Firth the country is traversed by ir-
regular mountain ridojes which extend almost to the
II.] THE HIGHLANDS. 263
coast, leaving but a narrow fringe of land, from one
to ten miles wide, fit for tillage. A larger tract of
arable ground is formed by a low spit of soil that
projects into the sea between the Dornoch and Moray
Firths, and forms the fertile plain of Cromarty^ a
plain which extends some little way inland along the
shore of the Cromarty Firth, but is bounded to the
westward by the hilly country of Ardross, and by the
massive mountain of Ben IVyvis^ which rises at the
inner end of the Firth to a height of 3,700 feet. From
Ben Wyvis southwards to Mealfourvounie^ on the bor-
der of Glenmore, the country is occupied by outlying
hills of the water-parting range, which for the most
part form parallel ridges enclosing glens like those of
the western coast.
(2.) The district which lies to the south of the
Moray Firth is more important in size and character.
Its geography is marked by larger features, its moun-
tains are higher and more massive, its valleys larger
and more fertile, its river-basins more extensive. The
heiglns in this district too present somewhat less
of the appearance of confused masses of hills; for
here a system of alternate river valleys and lines of
high ground all trending in the same direction have
more a look of mountain ranges than is found else-
where in the Highlands.
It is, however, by the valleys which limit the hill-
ranges that their outline is really define I, and it is
therefore necessary in the first place that these valleys
should be distinctly marked. They are four in
number. GUtimore^ with its long narrow line of lakes
264 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
forms the north-western boundary of the district ;
Strathmore, which is really a part of the Lowland
plain, limits it to the south-east ; while between
these outer boundaries lie long straths or valleys
marked by mountain streams, such as the valley of
the Spey, and the valley of the Dee, which form well-
marked boundaries to the irregular hill-masses that lie
between them. In this manner the whole district is
broken up into three main belts of high ground.
{a.) Glenmore and Strathspey lie in parallel lines,
both having a north-easterly direction. Between them,
and running in the same direction, is the range of the
Moiiadh-Leadh Mountains, a chain of hills, heavy,
rounded, and barren, but without grandeur of form.
{b.) The mountains enclosed between Strathspey
and the valley of the Dee are loftier and more ir-
regular. They begin in the south-west, where these
two valleys almost meet, in the massive group of the
Cairngorm Mountains, scarcely lower than Ben Nevis,
and higher than any other mountain in Britain. Three
summits of this group, Cairjitotd, Cairngorm, and Ben
Macdhui, rise over 4,000 feet in height, and Ben
Avon, a little to the eastward, is but slightly lower.
From this point, however, the mountains rapidly fall,
sending out long lines of irregular hills which branch
out so as to cover the broad tract of country that
is included between the valleys of the Spey and
the Dee on either hand, and terminate in the low
tumbled ground which forms the peninsula oiBuchan,
one of the richest grazing countries in Scotland.
{c,) To the south of the valley of the Dee lies a
II.] THE HIGHLANDS. 265
much more marked and important belt of heights,
composed of a continuous chain of lofty summits
that run east and west from Loch Ericht almost to
the North Sea, and which nowhere sink below 2,000
feet in height. The western summits of this chain,
such as Ben Dearg, look northward over the upper
valley of the Dee to the Cairngorm heights, and
thrust out to the south past Beny-Gloe long spurs
called the Athoi Mountains that run down to a gorge
which severs them from the Breadalbane hills. To
the east of Ben Dearg the range is prolonged by the
heights of Glas-Mhiel^ Loch-na-gar, and Mount But-
tock. Here the long southern slopes of the hills are
known as the Braes of Angus, and as they sink to
the plain of Strath more where they touch the Low-
land valley, they form the north-eastern part of the
great Highland wall which we have before described
as overlooking the Central Plain (see p. 252). The
continuous wall of heights formed by this mountain
chain cuts off all communication between the districts
that lie to north and south of it, save by passes formed
at its two extremities which constitute the only routes
that connect northern and central Scotland. One of
these routes leads by the sea-coast from Buchan to
Strathmore : the second lies to westward, opening out
of Strathspey into the valley of the Tay, and is formed
by the Pass of Dalwhinnie^ the deep glen or gorge of
the river Garry, and the Pass of Killiecrankie. This
long valley marks in fact the division between the
chain of heights that we have been following and the
group of the Breadalbane Mountains, as it is closely
266 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
shut in to east and west by the outliers of these
two hill-masses.
Highland Lakes. — We have now gained a general
view of the disposition of the Highland Mountains ;
but one great feature of this district yet remains to be
spoken of. This is the system of lakes that penetrate
the glens by which the mass of the mountains is inter-
sected, or that are gathered in hollows sunk in their
broad moorlands. The lakes of Scotland taken to-
gether would form a small sea of 500 square miles in
extent, and almost all that are of any size lie within
the Highland district. For the most part they are
gathered into its western half, where narrow glens are
shut in between steep mountain ridges, and where the
lakes take almost the form of rivers, being generally
many miles in length and scarcely one in breadth. In
the Highlands to the north-west of Glenmore there
is scarcely a gorge without its lake, large or small ; and
these lie ranged in nearly parallel lines along the
eastern and western slopes of the ridge of high ground
which runs from Ben Hope to Morven. Loch Shhi,
the second greatest lake of the north, is 17 miles long,
and but one mile wide : it lies between low moory
banks, and forms one of a long chain of waters which
rival those of Glenmore, and almost cut a channel
across northern Scotland between Ben Klibreck and
Ben More. Lake Ma?'ee drains its waters into the
Atlantic to the south-west of Ben Dearig ; it is greater
in extent than Loch Shin, and of greater beauty, with
its group of wooded islands and its surrounding walls
of wild and massive mountains. To the south of Ben
n ] THE HIGHLANDS. 267
Attow the lakes become yet more numerous, though
smaller. Those on the eastern slopes of the central
ridge of high ground drain their waters into Glen-
more, as Loch Quoich, Loch Garryy and Loch Arkaig^
while those on the west are connected with the
Atlantic and are almost sea-lochs, such as Loch
^forar2ind Loch Shiel. Glenmore itself is, as we have
seen, occupied by a continuous chain of lakes. The
greatest of these, Loch Ness^ is twenty-two miles in
length : the lesser ones, Loch Oich and Loch Lochiey
are but five and nine miles long. Loch Eil and the
Firth of Inverness^ which form the extremities of
the glen, open out into the ocean and are therefore
sea-lochs.
But the district which is especially marked by the
number, the extent, and the magnificent scenery of
its lakes, lies in the southern part of the Highlands,
in that mass of mountains which includes Ben Nevis,
IJen Cruachan, and the Breadalbane Mountains, and
which forms the extremity of the backbone of the
Highlands. Within this group of mountains the lakes
re ranged round a central table-land, whence they
radiate outwards like the spokes of a wheel, filling
the deep gorges which sever the lateral ridges that are
ilirown off from the central heights, or lying in the
moorlands that stretch between isolated mountain
iimmits. Their arrangement thus resembles that of
lie lakes of the Cumbrian mountiins^ though on a
iiuch vaster and more splendid scale. Beginning in
he north with the smallest of them. Loch Laggan, we
1 ass by Loch Eriehi, Loch Rannoch^ Loch Toy, Loch
la
268 GEOGRAPHY. [ch, ii.
Earn, Loch Katrine and its chain of small dependent
lakes, to Loch Lomond. To the westward, Loch Awe
stretches from the foot of Ben Cruachan through
a distance of twenty-three miles, forming the last of
the group of inland waters ; while to north and south
of it a number of sea-lochs, Loch Long, Loch Fyne,
Loch Etive, and Loch Leven, complete the circle.
Of all the Scotch lakes. Loch Lomond is the largest
and the finest in scenery : it is twenty-four miles in
length, and has the form of a thin wedge driven up
into the heart of the mountain masses, while its
broader southern extremity, dotted with wooded
islands, opens to the Lowland plain. Loch Katrine is
smaller, being only eight miles long, but is famous for
the romantic beauty of its scenery, and the grandeur
of the approach to it through the deep gorge of the
Trossachs.
CHAPTER III.
THE LOWLAND HILLS.
If we now pass from the Highlands to a similar
survey of the Lowland hills, we shall trace the
points of resemblance and of difference which exist
between the mountains of northern and southern
Scotland.
The Lowland Hills occupy the southernmost
part of Scotland, filling the whole of that broad tract
of land which is narrowed to the north by two arms
of the sea, the Firths of Forth and Clyde, and to
the south by the Solway Firth. From the cliffs of
Portpatrick in the south-west to the rocky shore
by St. Abb's Hfad in the north-east they stretch in
a continuous belt of high ground that traverses
the whole breadth of Scotland from sea to sea, and
which formed of old its great defence against England
to the south.
The north-western face of this range overlooks the
Lowland plain, from which it rises in a wall of heights
as sharply marked as that of the Highlands which
270 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
front it from the other side of the great valley. From
Girvan on the North Channel to the upper valley of
the Nith this north-western boundary of the Lowland
hills is shown by a line of comparatively well-
marked heights. The border line is less clearly defined
between the valleys of the Nith and the Clyde, owing
to the broken and hilly character of the ground in
front; but it is once more taken up by the chain
of the Lammermuir Hills as they stand out from
the plain with steep bare front like a wall of sea-
cliffs. The south-eastern boundary of the Lowland
hills is less distinctly marked than that of the north-
west. Long lines of hill and moorland alternating
with river valleys thrown out to the southward link
their central heights with the Cheviot Hills on the
English border, or sink in quiet pasture-covered
slopes to the shore of the Solway Firth.
Contrast between the Lowland Hills
and the Highlands. — (i.) Within these narrow
limits lies a tract of mountains of small extent,
if we compare them with the mass of the High-
lands.
(2.) Besides their difference in size there is a dif-
ference too in the character of their rocks. While
both mountain groups belong to the same far-distant
Silurian age, the Lowland hills are more simple
in structure; the masses of shale, grey-wacke, and
limestone, which have been changed or metamor-
phosed in the Highlands, have remained unaltered
in the Lowland Hills, where they preserve the
character of the Welsh and Cumbrian rocks, and
III.] THE LOWLAND HILLS. 271
are mucli less broken by blocks of granite, trap, and
other igneous rocks.
(3.) The comparatively simple formation of the Low-
land hills has i>roduced in them a scenery of a much
quieter and more monotonous character than that of the
northern mountains. Their greatest heights fall short
by nearly 2,000 feet of the chief summits of the High-
lands, and never present the same rugged and savage
appearance. With their broad flattened hill- tops, their
grassy slopes, smooth, green, and shrubless, and their
deep narrow valleys, they have no likeness to the
serrated ridges, the crags and precipices, the masses
of forests, and the broad straths of the Highlands.
Consisting as they mainly do of a lofty and extensive
table-land, the Lowland hills form in fact an un-
dulating pastoral country traversed by a multitude
of streams which hollow out deep river valleys, and
so cut the table- land into a series of ridges or into
irregular hill masses. In some parts indeed the
heights are wild and rugged, deeply trenched
with glens and gullies, and scarred with precipices
and faces of bare grey crag. But for the most part
the summits of the hills join on to one another and
form a level plain, it may be 1,500 or even 2,700
feet in height, without a shrub or tree, but uniformly
covered with coarse grass or heather. From this
upper ground the hill-sides fall in quiet monotonous
curves, and present a continuous succession of pasture-
covered slopes dipping to thj narrow valleys that
form their river channels.
(4.) The Lowland Hills diflfer also from the High-
272 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
lands by the fact that they more nearly approach the
character of a cotitimwus range of heights. This range
strikes across the island from Portpatrick to St. Abb's
Head, and its central ridge is marked by the sources
of the rivers which are thrown down its northern and
southern slopes.
Grouping of the Lowland Hills. — While
however the whole mass of the Lowland hills thus
shares in the same general features of structure and
scenery, yet by the natural lie of the ground it is
broken into two nearly equal parts, each marked by
special peculiarities. The division between them is
formed by the valley of the Nith, as it strikes from
north to south across the centre of the hill-country,
and parts between the districts which lie to west and
east of it, districts which are distinguished from one
another somewhat in the same way as the Highland
districts which lie to west and east of the valley of
the Garry. The south-zvesiern half, from Portpatrick
to Nithsdale, is very much broken by irregular masses
of mountains, among which are to be found some
of the highest summits of the Lowland hills : nume-
rous lakes and tarns are scattered among the heights,
but there is scarcely a river of any size. The north-
eastern half, on the contrary, from Nithsdale to St.
Abb's Head, consists of long lines of hills bound
together in continuous ranges; it contains hardly
any lakes, but is traversed by a complete system
of streams which unite their waters to form extensive
river basins thus, and fall into the sea as large rivers.
We must brit'fly survey both these districts.
in.] THE LOWLAND HILLS. 273
(i.) The uplands of tJie south-west take their rise
on the shores of the North Channel in long reaches
of rough moorland varied by a succession of little
rounded hills and by mountain tarns. This moorland
rises on its eastern side into a group of mountains
whose chief summit, Merrick^ 2,764 feet above the
sea-level, forms the highest ground in southern
Scotland, while in the grandeur and desolation of
its scenery, in its crags and precipices and deeply-
scored gullies, it almost approaches the moun-
tains of the north. The Rhinns of Kelts, only a few
hundred feet lower, carry on this series of heights
in a north-easterly direction to the point where
Black Larg rises above the valley of the Nith.
These masses of hills form the crest, as it were, of
the uplands along their north-eastern side, and
from them a tract of country slopes southwards,
which breaks into peninsulas thrown out into the
Solway Firth. This tract consists of long stretches
of lower hill and moorland cut into ridges by little
valleys, and everywhere presenting the same green
treeless slopes. To the south and south-west of
Merrick stretch the Galloivay Hills in long succes-
sion on either side of Wigton Riy. To eastward of
these the country is more open, with broader river
valleys, broken however at the mouth of the Nith
by a solitary upthrow of granite, Crijjfef, which rises
to a height of 1,867 feet.
(2.) The uplands of the north-cast, from Nithsdale
to St. Abb's Head, begin in the Lowther HiJlSy which
front Black Larg on the opposite side of Nithsdale,
274 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
and which resemble the south-western mountains in
their rocky precipices shutting in narrow defiles,
and in the wildness of their scenery. To east-
ward of them, beyond the vale of Annandale, lies a
second group of mountains which forms the most
important centre of this district, answering to that
of Merrick in the south-west. Scarcely lower than
Merrick, these mountains of Broad Law, Dollar
Law, White Coonib and Hart Fell, are ranged in a
series of heights which determine the river-system of
the surrounding country, heights from which all its
great valleys diverge to north and south and east, and
which form the connecting link between two separate
belts of uplands that branch out from this point, one
north-east to St. Abb's Head, the other south-east to
the Cheviots. In these mountains the character of a
high table-land is strikingly shown. Their smooth flat
summits are so joined together as to become an up-
land plain that mounts from 2,600 feet to a height of
2,754 feet in its loftiest reach of Broad Law, whose
summit, covered with heather and peaty moss, forms
a solitary moorland that stretches far and wide and is
as level as a racecourse.
The high table-land that thus runs north and south
from Dollar Law to Hart Fell is prolonged at either
end into two distinct ranges of hills severed from one
another by the broad valley of the Tweed.
{a.) To the north-east its line is taken up by the
Miiirfoot Hills, and by the long chain of the
Lammermuir Hills, which stretch away to the shores
of tlie North Sea. These last rise steeply from the
III.] THE LOWLAND HILLS. 275
Lowland plain in cliffs of 1,500 or 1,600 feet in
height, cliflfs which form the edge of a high table-
land like that of Broad Law, where the hill tops
are linked together into a continuous moorland,
smooth, green and treeless, whose southern slopes
ilescend in long reaches of pasture land to the valley
of the Tweed.
{b.) The line of hill and moor which bounds the
opposite side of this valley extends to the south-
east from the neighbourhood of Hart Fell, from
whence by the heights of Ettrick Fen, Wisp Hill, and
Feel Fell, it leads to the chain of the Chrviot Hills.
This range of heights, itself an upthrow of vol-
canic rock, is wholly distinct in character from the
mass of the Lowland Hills. It stretches along the
English border eastward to the North Sea, reaching in
its chief summit, Cheviot Feak, to a hci^^ht of 2,700
feet.
The Lakes of southern Scotland are of litde im-
portance as compared with those of the Highlands.
The great bulk of them lie, as in the Highlands, to
the westward, and have the same long and narrow
form ; but of the numerous sheets of water which vary
the south-western moorlands, there are but two that
are more than mountain tarns, Loch Doon and Loch
Ken, and these have a length of only five or six milcs»
and a breadth which in Loch Doon alone reaches a
mile. In the north-eastern half of the Lowland Hills
there is but one small lake, St. Mary's Loch, which
lies under the heights of Dollar I^w, and pours its
waters through the river Yarrow into the Tweed.
T 2
276
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
We have now gained a general idea of the structure
and arrangement of the two mountain masses of Scot-
land, and have seen the character of wildness and
desolation which they give to the country of which
they form so large a part. But between these
mountain groups, and shut in by steep walls of rock,
lies a tract of land distinguished by very different
features, the Lowland plain ; and it is this plain, with
the outlying hill ranges that intersect it, to which we
now pass on.
Highland Mountains.
Feet.
Feet.
Ben Nevis .
. . 4,406
Ben Dearig. . .
3,551
Ben Macdhui
. . 4,295
Ben Dearg . . .
3,550
Cairntoul
. . 4,285
Glas-Mhiel . .
3,500
Cairngorm . .
. . 4,090
Ben More . . .
3,281
Ben Attow .
. . 4,000
Ben Lomond . .
3,192
Ben Wyvis .
. . 3,720
Ben Voirlich . .
. 3,180
Ben Lawers
. . 3,984
Ben Klibreck . .
3,157
Ben More .
. . . 3,818
Ben Hope , . ,
3,060
Ben Cruachan
. • 3,670
Lowland Hills.
Merrick , . ,
. . 2,764.
Hart Fell . . .
2,651
2,454
Broad Law . .
• . 2,754
CulterFell . . .
White Coomb .
. . 2.695
Lowther Hills . . .
2,377
Dollar Law
. . 2,680
Ettrick Pen . . .
2,269
Rhinns of Kell
s . . 2,668
Black Larg . . .
2,231
III.]
THE LOWLAND HILLS.
The Highland Lakes.
277
Lakes.
Length in Miles.
Breadth.
Loch Lomond ....
24
7
Loch Awe .
23
li
Loch Ness .
22
\
Loch Shin
17
I
Loch Tay. . .
H
li
Loch Ericht .
14
Loch Maree .
I2i
3
Loch Morrer
II
I
Loch Lydoch
ID
i
Loch Lochie
9
\\
Loch Rannojh
8
i\
Loch Earn .
8
\
The Lowland Lxikes.
Loch Levcn
4
3
Loch Doon
6
Loch Ken
5
\
St. Mary's Loch . . .
3
\
CHAPTER IV.
THE LOWLAND PLAIN.
Between the mountain masses of northern and
southern Scotland lies a belt of low ground that
stretches across the country from sea to sea, and which
forms by the comparative mildness of its climate, by
the fertility of its soil, by its mineral wealth, and by
the advantages which it possesses both for internal
traffic and for foreign commerce, the natural centre
of its political and industrial life. The differences of
structure that mark the many varied plains of England
and give them those special advantages that dis-
tinguish them from one another are all united in the
Lowland plain of Scotland; a tract which has at
the same time coal-measures and manufactures like
the basin of the Trent, level agricultural lands like
the basin of the Ouse, facilities for commerce like
the basin of the Mersey, and political importance
like the basin of the Thames. The natural grouping
of population in a district so favoured_by nature has
made this valley the most important part of the
northern kingdom so far as the industrial and political
history of its people is concerned.
en. IV.] THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 279
In one important point however the Lowland
plain of Scotland differs from most of the plains of
England ; «V rfofs not coincide iviih any river basin.
It consists of a great trough sunk low between the
mountain masses which border it on either hand,
licing shut in to the north-west by the Highland
mountain-wall and to the south-east by the rise of
the Lowland hills. On two opposite sides it lies open
to the sea, which penetrates far into the land in the
wide bays known as the Firth of Forth and the Firth
of Clyde, leaving but a narrow belt of land between
their inner extremities.
The undulating country which lies within these
limits, though for the most part not 200 feet above the
sea-level, does not in the strictest sense of the word
form a plain, for its quiet curves are in very many
places broken by masses of igneous rock rising abruptly
from the low ground, and even by long chains of hills
of old volcanic materials. As these hills, interrupt-
ing the natural lie of the ground, break the plain
into separate divisions, and as they form striking
features in its scenery, we must first trace their general
arrangement.
Its Hills. — The main belt of these igneous rocks
and hills stretches across the entire breadth of the plain
from the Firth of Tay to the Firth of Clyde in a direc-
tion exactly parallel to the well-marked boundary line
of the Highland mountains. Its north-eastern extremity
consists of two lines of hills which border the shores of
the Firth of Tay. To the north of this bay lie the
Sidlaw HiUs^ a chain of heights rising in parts to
2So GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
1,400 feet, while to the south are ranged the Hills of
Fife and the Lomond Hills. These are prolonged to
the south-west in the chain of the Ochill Hills, whose
chief summit, Beji Cleugh, is 2,359 feet in height and
forms the loftiest mountain of central Scotland. Yet
further to the south-west lie the range of the Campsie
Fells, 1,500 feet high; while beyond these the Kil-
patrick Hills, the hills of Refifrew, and those of North
Ayrshire, border the shores of the Firth of Clyde.
Even across the Firth the same line of volcanic rocks
can be traced in the islands of Cumbrae, Bute, and
Arran, and the extremity of the peninsula of Cantyre.
A second range of these volcanic rocks makes a
belt of high ground that runs from the hills of
Renfrew to the south-east beside the valley of the
river Clyde, and parts this stream from the coal-
fields of Ayrshire on the west.
A third line of hills marks the south-eastern limits
of the plain. These heights are very irregular, some-
times formed of sandstone, sometimes of igneous rock,
and lie in scattered groups in front of the Lowland
Hills. The chief among these are Cairn Table, Tinto
Hill, a solitary mass of igneous rock 1,335 f^^^ high,
the Pentland Hills, which reach to 1,800 feet, and
the crags and sharply-marked heights that break
the coast of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh Rock;
near it Arthur's Seat ; and at the opening of the bay,
North Berwick Law.
We see therefore that the Lowland valley is far from
being strictly a plain — that is, a flat expanse of land —
for it is always undulating, and generally much rougher
IV.] THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 2S1
than the low grounds of England. There is, in fact,
only one true bit of plain in all Scotland, that which
extends along the Forth below Stirling. Indeed, since
the igneous hills which cut up the Lowland valley are
never out of sight in middle Scotland, they go far to
give it a mountainous character. The long lines of
heights formed by the Kilpatrick Hills, the high table-
land of the Campsie Fells, and the Ochill Hills, are,
it is true, less bold in outline than the ridges of the
Highlands, yet they cut off the central levels from the
Highland country far more effectually than the moun-
tain-wall of the Highlands themselves, and form one
of the most striking features of the Lowland Plain.
There is no point in which this valley is so unlike the
plains of England as in this constant presence of hills.
In these heights of the Lowland plain, occupying
as they do three sides of an irregular square, we
have a rough framework which breaks the plain
itself into clearly-marked divisions of fertile and
well-watered land. The separate districts so formed,
however, are not in any case made by a river-valley :
it is true that they are traversed by a multitude of
rivers large and small, but these streams flow across
them in various directions, not running parallel to
the line of the hill-ranges, but breaking through the
heights at right angles as they pass from one belt of
low country to another.
(i.) The first tract of low land consists of a belt of
Old Red sandstone which lies in a long valley shut
in between the line of the Highland mountains and
the range of hills that extends from the Ochills to the
282 - GEOGRArHY. [ctiap.
Sidlaws. The larger part of this valley, from the shores
of the North Sea to the west end of the Ochills, is
known as Strathmore or the Great Valley^ for nowhere
in Scotland is there so extensive a reach of perfectly
level fertile soil as in this plain, 90 miles in length,
and broadening from its north-eastern end, only one
mile wide, to a width of sixteen miles in the south-
west. It is traversed by a number of rivers, such as
the Esk, the Isla, the Tay, the Earn, and the Forth^
which all alike break from the Highland mountains,
cross the plain at riglit angles, and cut their way through
the hill ranges which bound it on the south-east.
(2.) A second tract of low land occupies the western
sea-coast by the shore of the Firth of Clyde, and is
known as Ayrshh-e. On the north-east it is parted
by a low line of hills from the basin of the Clyde,
and on the south-east it is bounded by the Lowland
hills stretching from Nithsdale to the sea. The
crescent-shaped tract of country shut in within these
limits is watered by a number of little streams thrown
down from its eastern heights to the sea, the chief of
which, the Ayr, divides it into two parts. To the
southward lies Carrick, a district which really belongs
to the Lowland hills, thinly-peopled and chiefly de-
voted to pasture-land. To the northward, in the district
known as Ciinnynghavie, a belt of rich coal-measures
extends to the estuary of the Clyde, and forms one of
the centres of Scotch manufacturing industry. It is
thickly crowded with towns and villages whose external
trade is carried on through the ports of the Clyde.
(3.) The third and most important division of the
IV.] THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 283
lowland plain is that which is comprised between the
Firths of Forth and Clyde, and which thus occupies
the narrow peninsula that links together northern and
southern Scotland. To the north-west it is shut in by
the Fife and Lomond Hills, the Ochill Hills, and the
("ampsie Fells; to the west by the low range that
] arts it from Ayrshire ; and to the south-east by the
l)elt of irregular country marked by Cairn Table,
Tinto Hill, and the Pentlands. The low land within
these limits is traversed by two important rivers, which
flow in contrary directions, and empty themselves into
opposite seas ; for the Forth passes into it through a
gap in the hills to the north-west, while the Clyde enters
it from the heights of the south-east. Both rivers, how-
ever, alike form deep estuaries, which penetrate so far
into the heart of the land as to leave a distance of but
thirty miles between them, and are connected by a
canal which opens a passage for traffic right across the
isthmus from sea to sea. The lower basins of the
Forth and the Clyde form some of the best land for
tillage in Scotland, and agricultural industry is here
carried to great perfection ; but the main importance
of this part of the Lowland plain lies in the fact that
it is composed through nearly its whole extent of the
same carboniferous rocks as those which constitute in
England the Pennine range, and is thus enriched by
beds of coal and iron ore that are only second in
importance to those of Yorkshire. These coal-
measures, which can be worked throughout an extent
of over 1,500 square miles, have become, by the
advantages of their geographical position in the centre
284 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
of Scotland, and by the fact of their opening to the
sea on either side in magnificent river-estuaries, the
centre of a vast group of manufactures, while the
Firth of the Clyde forms one of the greatest seats of
ship-building in Britain.
With such a variety of industrial resources this
central portion of the Lowland Plain has become
the most prosperous district in Scotland. Though in
extent it is equal to only one-twelfth part of the whole
country, yet with its sea-ports, coal-pits, blast-furnaces,
woollen and linen manufactories, and fields of corn and
wheat, where every foot of ground teems with a wealth
unknown to the poverty-stricken mountains, it is able
to support, roughly speaking, one-third of the Scotch:
people. Its importance as the centre not only of the
industrial activity but also of the political life of the
land is marked by the two cities that guard the isthmus
on either hand. To the eastward, among the agricul-
tural plains that border the estuary of the Forth, lies
Edinburgh, whose geographical position, commanding
at once the estuary which faces towards Europe and
the high road from London and York to the north,
early made it the chief city in Scotland and the seat
of its government. To westward, on the other hand*
lies the city of Glasgow, whose outlook is towards
the New World. Situated among the coal-measures
of the Clyde, it owes its importance to the industrial
impulse given by the development of manufactures
and the opening of trade with America, and by popu-
lation and wealth it has become the third greatest city
in the British Islands.
CHAPTER V.
THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND.
General Characteristics. — Scotland, like the
southern part of Britain, is traversed by an exten-
sive system of running waters through which the excess
of rain that falls on its mountains is thrown down to
the sea ; but from the structure of the country its river
system offers many points of contrast to that of England
both in its physical characteristics and in the political
and commercial results which follow from them.
(I.) As the mountain masses which form the reser-
voirs whence the Scotch streams are drawn are of much
greater elevation and extent than those of England,
the river springs lie as a general rule far higher than
those of the English streams. For example, the
headwaters of the Thames are but 300 feet above
the sea, while the highest river source in Scotland, that
of the Dee, lies at a height of 4,060 feet, or 1,000 feet
higher than the loftiest mountain-top in England.
(a.) One result of this height of their sources is
that the rapid fall of many of the Scotch streams
286 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
gives them the character of mountain torrents rather
than that of rivers, and renders them wholly useless
for navigation during the greater part of their length.
The rivers of Southern Britain, on the contrary, are
often navigable to within a short distance of their
sources.
(3.) Again, these mountain torrents are in most cases
thrown down the hill-sides by the most direct way to
the sea, and shut in as they are between ridges of rock
and short chains of hills, they flow in parallel channels
without taking up big affluents or uniting to form river-
basins. Most of the Scotch river-valleys thus consist
of comparatively narrow troughs whose boundaries
run straight to the sea ; and the glens and straths so
formed are wholly unlike the wide plains traversed by
the streams of England, where the open and undulating
character of the ground often throws a whole group of
running waters into one system, and gives rise to river-
basins of great extent.
(4.) The rivers which travel through the upper glens
and defiles of the Scotch mountains are closely con-
nected with the system of lochs by which these are
penetrated, sometimes having their origin in some
lake or tarn among the heights, and at other times
passing through one or more lakes, and so linking
them together. As we have seen, this is never the
case in England save with the streams of the Cumbrian
hills.
(5.) While the general character of the Scotch rivers
hinders internal navigation, and prevents them from
being of the same political and commercial importance
v.] THE RIVLR SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 287
as those of England, yet, on the other hand, they
have one great element of commercial value in the
Firths or broad estuaries by which they pour them-
selves into the sea, and which form so marked a
feature in the coast line. The magnificent harbours
thus formed are among the most important in Britain ;
while by their geographical position in the heart of
Scotland, opening eastward to Europe and westward
to the New World, they have proved of the first con-
sequence in the development of the national life of
the country and the growth of its material prosperity.
From these general remarks as to the characteristics
of the rivers of Scotland we must now pass on to a
general view of its whole river-system, and of the
more important among its streams.
The W^aterparting of Scotland, or that belt of
rising ground which parts between the rivers that
flow into the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea,
traverses the country from Cape Wrath in* the north
to the Cheviot Hills in the south-east, from whence it
is continued in the same southerly direction through
England. In its course it traverses the three great
divisions of the country. For two-thirds of its length,
from the moorlands of the north to the shores of Loch
Lomond, it lies among the Highland mountains ; it
then strikes across the heart of the Lowland plain,
passing over low hills and undulating ground whose
rise is at times so slight as to be scarcely perceptible ;
and it finally enters on the Lowland hills, and is
carried to the English border.
Like the English waterparting, it is mainly formed
288 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
by a belt of high ground that lies nearer to the western
than the eastern sea, and it therefore breaks the
country into two unequal parts, the larger watershed
lying to the eastward, and the lesser to the westward.
These watersheds are also marked by general cha-
racteristics which correspond to those of southern
Britain, save that in Scotland their differences are
brought out with greater sharpness of contrast, (i.)
The greatest nufnber of large rivers fiow to the east-
ward: the streams of the west are generally mere moun-
tain torrents, and there is but one river of note, the
Clyde, along the whole of the western coast. (2.) The
rivers of the west have a very short course to the sea ;
in fact, there are but two of them which have a length
of over fifty miles. The eastern streams, on the other
hand, have often a considerable distance to travel.
(3.) The ivestern streams do not unite so as to for?n river-
basi?is ; save the Clyde, there is no river whose basin
attains arr area of 500 square miles. Some of the
eastern rivers, on the contrary, drain very great tracts
of country, amounting in one case, that of the Tay, to
2,400 square miles.
The Grouping of Rivers. — And not only is
the character of the rivers affected by the difference
of the districts on either side of the waterparting,
but different portions of the waterparting itself have a
different relation to the general river-system. The
bulk of the Scotch rivers have their sources in the
mass of the Highland mountains, which by extent and
by the amount of their rainfall necessarily constitute
the great reservoir from which the running waters
v.] THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 2S9
of the country are supplied In the Lowland Plain,
on the other hand, not a single stream of any note
takes its rise; while the Lowland Hills, of greater
extent and elevation, give rise to a system of rivers,
less indeed in mere size than that of the Highlands,
but of nearly equal importance.
There are therefore but two main river groups — the
rivers of the Highlands^ and the rivers of the Lowland
hills. These, with the special features that distinguish
them, must be considered in order.
[a.] The Highland Rivers. — We have already seen
that the great bulk of the rivers which take their rise
between Cape Wrath and Loch Lomond are poured
into the eastern sea. On the western side of the
waterparting, where the mountain slopes are carved
into lateral ridges of rock, the streams fonn short
mountain torrents, which flow straight to the ocean
through deep and narrow glens dnd terminate in sea
lochs. But while on this side there is not a single
large river, the case is very different if we look
eastward. For here in straths and valleys rivulets
gather into streams and streams into large rivers, so
that the waters of the eastern slopes are poured through
great river basins into the North Sea, and form the
most important river group in Scotland. It is with
this eastern group therefore that we have alone to do.
The rivers of the eastern Highlands are divided into
two distinct groups by that belt of high ground which
is thrown out in a north-easterly direction to the sea,
past the Cairngorm mountains, and along the centre of
the Buchan peninsula (see p. 264). To the northward
u
290 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
of it lie the rivers which open into the Moray Firth ;
to the southward those which pour directly into the
North Sea. These basins are about equal in extent,
though the groups of rivers which drain them are by
no means equal in importance.
I. The Rivers of the Moray Firth.— The
streams which drain the northern district of Scotland,
the mountain wildernesses of Sutherland and Ross, are
too small to need separate notice. Their course to
the sea is short, and lies across wild, uninhabited
moorlands ; so that they never grow to any consider-
able size save where they unite as they approach the
sea, and form estuaries which represent the drainage
of large tracts of country. Such estuaries we find in the
Doi'noch Firth, the Cromarty Firth, and the Inverness
Fii'th. This last, which opens into the central part
of the Moray Firth, receives two distinct systems of
waters. The Beauley Firth carries to it the streams
sent down from the mountain-ridge to the north of
Ben Attow ; while the river Ness pours into it the
drainage of Loch Ness, or the north-eastern half of
Glenmore.
There is indeed but one large river which falls
into the Moray Firth. This is the Spey, which lies
between the Monadh-Leadh Mountains and the moun-
tain chain reaching from Cairngorm to the hills of
Buchan, and whose broad valley of Strathspey forms
one of the most striking natural divisions of this
district The river flows from a little pool. Loch Spey,
which is situated at a height of 1,200 feet on the
waterparting range in the district of Lochaber. Its
v.] THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 291
upper moorland course lies through a series of dark
stagnant lakes, but it breaks into a more rapid and
impetuous stream as it enters on its valley below the
Monadh-Leadh Mountains, with tiie hilly spurs of
the Badenoch district, the Cairngorm Mountains, the
Braes of Abernethy and the great summit of Corry-
habbie shutting it in to the south-east. Its rapid fall
of 1,200 feet in a length of 96 miles makes the Spey
unnavigable ; and though the area it drains is large,
nearly 1,200 square miles, the river varies constantly
in the amount of its water, owing to the changeable
character of the mountain streams by which it is
supplied. In spite therefore of its size the Spey is of
no commercial value ; but in its basin, as affording the
only ground fit for tillage in this rugged region, are
gathered a number of agricultural villages.
We need only mention some unimportant streams
which lie on either side of the Spey, and whose
channels have a parallel direction with it. These are
the Nairn and the Findfwrn to westward, and the
Doveran to eastward.
II. The Rivers of the North Sea, as we
may term those which lie to the south of the Buchan
peninsula, have a general direction to east and south-
east, differing in this from the rivers of the Moray
Firth, whose openings commonly lie to the north-cast.
Six rivers belong to this group : the two northernmost
of these, the Don and the Dety lie close together, and
have parallel courses eastward, while the four remain-
ing rivers, the A^i^rM and South Esk^ the Tay^ and the
Forthf run in a more southeriy direction.
u a
2<)2 GEOGRAPHY. [CHAP.
The Dee and the Don have then* headwaters at
no very great distance apart in the chain of the Cairn-
gorm Mountains, and empty themselves into the sea
within two or three miles of one another. Their
valleys, separated by lines of broken hills, lie in a due
easterly direction, and form the trough or basin which
we have marked as parting the succession of heights
from Cairngorm to Buchan, and the mountain range
between Ben Dearg and Mount Battock. The Don
is the more northerly of the two streams : its head-
waters lie at a height of 1,640 feet, and though the
river falls from this elevation to the sea in a short
course of fifty miles, its stream is even and little
broken by rapids. The basin of the Don is small,
being but 530 square miles in extent.
The Dee is larger than the Don, having a length of
eighty-seven miles, and a basin of 700 square miles ,.
in area. Its springs are at a greater height than I
those of any other stream in Britain, lying far up
among the mountains 4,060 feet above the sea,
and the upper valley of the river penetrates into the j
very heart of the wildest hill-masses of Scotland.
Along its left bank tower the summits of Ben Mac-
dhui and Ben Avon, while to the right it is closely
shut in by a continuous wall of heights which
from Ben Dearg eastward to Mount Battock never
sink below 2,000 feet. As the Dee dashes down
the centre of this wild valley, broken by its rocky
bed into a constant series of rapid falls, it passes
through some of the noblest scenery in Scotland,
in the midst of which are situated, by the banks
v.l THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 293
of the torrent, Braemar, the visiting place of tourists,
and Balmoral, the Highland home of the Queen.
The scenerj- of the Mar district, or the lower valley
of the river is less striking. Here the Dee becomes
more regular and tame, and finally empties itself
into the sea at Aberdeen^ the third greatest city
of Scotland, and one of the chief trading ports of the
eastern coast.
The four remaining rivers of the Highlands drain
tlie great tract of country which extends from the Braes
of Angus to the Firth of Forth, and from the North
Sea to the Breadalbane Mountains. Two of these
rivers, however, the North and South Esk, are but
sliort streams thrown down from the Braes of Angus,
and are of little note save for the harbour of Mont-
rose, which is formed at the mouth of the South Esk.
The drainage of this district is therefore carried to
tlie sea mainly by the two remaining streams, the Tay
and the Forth.
The Tay is a very different river from any of those
we have yet considered. Though it rises in the
Highlands, the greater part of its course lies in the
lowland country. Its length of 130 miles makes it the
largest river in the whole of Scotland ; the extent of
the area which it drains, 2,400 square miles, is far
greater than that of any other river basin in the country ;
and the volume of water which it pours into the sea
exceeds that of any stream in Great Britain.
In its upper course the Tay forms a rapid moun-
tain torrent which rises to the northward of Loch
Lomond and flows in a deep glen of the Breadalbane
294 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Mountains below the heights of Ben Lawers and Ben
More ; it then enters the waters of Loch Tay, from
which it finally emerges after a distance of fourteen
miles, and passes from the mountain defiles into the
valley of the Tummel. Taking up this river, it bends
with it to the south-east and strikes across the plain
of Strathmore, where it is changed from a mountain
stream to a tame and regular river of the Lowland
Plain, winding among rich fields of corn and quiet
pasture lands till it reaches the channel between the
Sidlaw and the Ochill Hills, where it turns eastward
to enter on the Firth or estuaiy by which it passes to
the sea. The gap by which the river winds round |
the extremity of the Sidlaw hills is marked by a
considerable city, Perth, a city which has become
the capital of this district through the importance
of its position as commanding at once the pass
into the rich plain to the north of it, and the com-
merce of the Tay, which here becomes navigable as
it widens to its estuary. The river now flows through
a district of considerable activity, both agricultural
and manufacturing ; its northern bank is bordered by
a tract of richly cultivated land, the Carse of Gowrie ;
while along both its shores lies the seat of one of the
chief Scotch manufactures, that of linen and jute, of
which the port of Dundee is the centre.
The Tay, as we have seen, lies in the midst of a
semicircular basin of 2,400 square miles in extent,
shut in to northward by the mountains of the Athol
district and to westward by the Breadalbane Moun-
tains. From both these mountain groups affluents are
v.] THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 295
thrown down to swell the size of the central stream.
The Iskij which joins it from the north, carries to it
the waters of the northern range about Ben-y-Gloe.
By its other tributaries it drains the Breadalbane Moun-
tains. The Tummel is itself joined by the Garry^
and these two streams pour into the Tay on its left
bank the drainage of a system of lakes lying near the
Moor of Rannoch. On its right bank, just as it enters
the Firth, it takes up the Earn^ which passes through
Loch Earn in one of the southernmost glens of the
Breadalbane district, and thence opens into the valley
of Strathearn. Most of these tributaries, with many
lesser ones, come to the Tay from the west in a
direction parallel to its own upper valley, and the
whole group of streams thus forms a series of parallel
rivers which break from the lateral ridges of the High-
land mountains as these ridges terminate abruptly on
the Plain. By their lower valleys the streams form
the boundaries of the mountain ranges to the south-
east By their upper valleys they form passes leading
up into the heart of the Highlands (see p. 252).
The history of the Forth is almost the same as
that of the Tay, save that it is on a much smaller scale.
From its source to the beginning of its estuary this river
is but sixty miles long, or little more than half the
length of the Tay, and its basin of 645 square miles
is but one quarter the size of the Tay basin ; its Firth,
however, fifty miles long, forms an estuary of great
consequence. Like the Tay, the Forth rises in the
mountains near Loch Lomond, and breaking quickly
from the high ground strikes across a belt of red
296 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
sandstone towards the igneous hills which bound it
to the south-east. Here it takes up at the mouth of
Menteith its chief affluent the Teith, which carries
to it the waters of a system of lakes lying round
Loch Katrine. Its passage to its estuary lies between
the extremity of the Ochill Hills and the Campsie
Fells. The gap formed between these heights con-
stitutes the one great pass that leads from southern
to northern Scotland, and is marked by the fortress
of Stirling, which from its rocky height at once
commands the entrance to the plain outstretched at
its feet and guards the head of the Firth. To east-
ward of Stirling the Forth enters on the eastern limits
of the coal-measures in the central plain, and from
this point its banks are lined for a short distance with
mining and manufacturing towns. To north lie the
coal-fields of Alloa, to south the ironworks of Falkirk.
Further eastward this imining district ceases ; and the
towns along the northern bank of the estuary, like all
those of the peninsula of Fife, which parts the Firths of
Forth and of Tay, are busied in the linen manufacture ;
while along its southern bank extends the agricultural
district of the Lothians, where the best tillage in Scot-
land is carried on, and in the midst of whose fertile
plains lies the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. The
situation of Edinburgh, near the banks of the Firth,
with its outlook towards the European mainland, early
marked out the city as a political and commercial centre
of the country.
[b.] Though THE RIVERS OF THE LoWLAND HiLLS
drain a small extent of country in comparison with
v.] THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 297
those of the Highlands, they yet form a group of
streams of considerable size and importance. The
more undulating character of the ground facilitates
the formation of river basins larger than any in the
Highlands save that of the Tay; while the position of
the waterparting gives to the streams a greater variety
of direction than they can have in the nortli, and
thus furnishes southern Scotland with good river
estuaries and harbours on its western as well as on its
eastern side.
From Culter Fell to Carter Fell, where the Low-
land Hills touch the Cheviots, the line of waterparting
no longer lies near the western coast, but is drawn
almost across the centre of the Lowland Hills over
Hart Fell and Ettrick Pen, dividing them into equal
parts, which lie to north-east and to south-west The
rivers of this district therefore group themselves very
differently from those of the Highlands, for as many
important rivers are thrown down to the western sea
as to the eastern, and it is in this quarter that the only
western streams of any note in the whole of Scotland
take their rise.
I. The Rivers of the Eastern Lowlands are
all gathered up into one main stream, that of the
Tweed, and by it poured into the North Sea. Rising
in Hart Fell at a height of 1,500 feet, the Tweed
flows northward, till through a gap between Dollar
Law and the Muirfoot Hills it escapes to the east
into a broad valley shut in between the Lammer-
muir and Cheviot Hills, where it winds through a
plain of the richest soil in Scotl^d, watered by streams
298 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
traversing it from the hills to north and south, and
broken only by craggy knolls of rocks, the sites of
ancient keeps of the Border warriors. The course of
the Tweed through this rich valley was marked in old
days by some of the most famous Scotch abbeys, Mel-
rose, Dryburgh, and Kelso, which lay in well-chosen
positions on loops and bends of the river, or at points
where it takes up tributary streams ; now, however,
the only important places to note are Galashiels and
other centres of the woollen manufacture which is
carried on in Tweeddale. After a course of ninety-
six miles the Tweed finally falls into the sea at Berwick,
where it forms the boundary between England and
Scotland. With its tributaries it drains an area of
1,870 square miles. From the Lammermuir and
Muirfoot Hills it takes up on its northern banks the
Whifeadder, the Lauder, and the Gala. From the south
it gathers in a number of small streams that come to it
through little mountain dales hollowed in the smooth
sides of the hills — dales famous in poetry and the wild
stories of Border life, and still notable for their quiet
scenery of green slopes and pasture-covered hills. The
Ettrlck is thrown down from Ettrick Pen through the
wild country known as Ettrick Forest; before joining
the Tweed it takes up the Yarrow, a lesser stream
which drains the waters of S. Mary's Loch. A larger
stream, the Tevtot, lies more to the south-west, and
flows in a line parallel to the Cheviot Mountains to
its junction witli the Tweed at Kelso.
II. The Rivers of the Western Lowlands
are broken into two divisions by the chain of hills
v.] THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 299
that extends from the Lowther Hills to Merrick,
and throws down streams (a) northward to the Firth
of Clyde, and (d) southward to the Sol way Firth.
(a.) There is but one large river which enters the
Firth of Clyde; and this river, the Clyde, forms the
only stream of any consequence in western Scotland.
It rises a little to the westward of the Tweed at almost
the same height, 1,400 feet; it has the same length of
rourse, ninety-eight miles, and a basin of nearly the
ime area, 1,580 square miles. For a time its course
lies parallel to that of the Tweed, in one of the bare
^'reen valleys peculiar to the Lowland Hills, and there
is a point where the ground between the two streams
] ccomes so low that it is needful to guard the banks
1 the Clyde lest it should flow into the valley of
the Tweed. Finally, however, the Clyde is turned to
tlie north-west, and leaving the Lowland Hills breaks
into the central plain near the town of Lanark by a
scries of rapid falls. In its lower valley the character
()( the river changes ; after a short course among
cll-lilled fields and orchards, it passes into the most
( rowded district of the coal-measures, where they form
the centre of the iron manufacture of Scotland.
The importance of the river lies in this lower
valley, and in the wide estuary by which it opens
to the sea. On the river banks lies Glasgow, the
first port in Scotland and the industrial capital of
the country, surrounded for many miles by a district
\hich forms in fact but one vast town of mining
works and factories for iron, silk, wool, and cotton.
Kven beyond Glasgow as far as its opening into the
300 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
sea, the Firth of Clyde presents a ceaseless aspect of
activity, for the whole of the ship-building trade of
Scotland is carried on along its banks, and the ports
and docks which line its shores are busied in the
foreign trade with America, to which the towns of the
Clyde owe their commercial prosperity. The com-
merce of Glasgow is double that of any other port in
Scotland, and is only second to that of Liverpool.
Besides the Clyde there are a few small streams,
such as the Levefi, which drains Loch Lomond, and the
Ayr, which empties itself into the bay formed by the
Plrth of Clyde ; but these are of little consequence.
{b.) The rivers of the Solway Firth consist of four
streams thrown down the southern side of the
Lowland Hills, the Dee, the Nit/i, the An7ian, and
the Esk. These rivers flow due south in parallel
valleys, and are noted for the beauty of their dales,
which are wild and narrow in the upper mountainous
districts, but wooded and well cultivated as they
broaden in the lower land which borders the coast.
The Dee traverses in its course the long narrow lake
of Loch Ken, and marks the eastern boundary of the
Galloway Hills. The Mth is remarkable for having
its head-waters on the northern slope of the Lowland
Hills, so that it travels across the whole breadth of
the range in the valley which lies between Black Larg
and the Lowther Hills before it opens on its southerly
valley of Nithsdale. The Ajman rises not far from
the Tweed, but is thrown down the opposite slope of
the mountain range, where it takes up the stream of
the Moffat as it passes out of the wild dark glen of
■:.] THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SCOTLAND. 301
Moffat dale. The £sk, like the Ettrick, has its source
in Ettrick Pen, but flowing southward finally falls
into the head of the Solway Firth. Its affluent, the
Liddelf marks for some distance the boundary between
England and Scotland.
Rivfrs of the Highlands.
Rivcry.
Tay
Forth
Spey
Dee
Don
Clyde
Tweed
Nith
Length in Miles.
no
100
96
87
50
Area of Basin
in Sq. Miles.
Rivers of the Lowland Hills.
98
96
60
2,400
645
1,190
700
530
1,580
1,870
460
CHAPTER VI.
COAST-LINE AND ISLANDS.
We have now gone rapidly over the inland fea
tures of Scotland : we have seen how its mountai
masses are disposed, where they sink into plains, an
the direction in which they throw down rivers to the
sea. We are therefore better able to understand the
formation of the Scottish coast. For the character
of the shores of any country is determined, not only
by the action of the sea from without, but by the
internal structure of the country itself. Masses of
mountainous rock that present a strong front to the
waves will form a bold coast line with headlands and
peninsulas, just as a low soft shore over which the
sea washes at every tide must gradually be worn away
into deep bays. And broad rivers that flow through
such a low soil to the sea will hollow out great estuaries
and so assist in the slow formation of bays ; while
rapid mountain streams as they carve out their channels
among ridges of rock cut the coast into fiords and
sea-lochs, making it jagged and serrated like a saw,
with its teeth of rock projecting into the water.
j
cii. VI.] COAST-LINE AND ISLANDS. 303
Form of Coast. — The form of Scotland, with its
wild, rugged, and deeply-cut shores, and its outlying
fringe of rocky islands, tells the history of the inces-
sant war waged upon the land by the oceans which
dash themselves against either coast. At two points,
to the nrorth and south, these contending seas have so
far advanced into the land as almost to cut the
country into two parts, and throughout its whole
extent the shore is so deeply indented by arms of the
sea that its length is made up to 2,500 miles, or 700
miles more than the coast of England, a country of
twice the size of Scotland. By these creeks and bays
every part of the land is brought within forty miles of
the ocean.
Contrast between the Coasts. — The character,
however, of the coast varies greatly on the two sides
of the country. Scotland lies, roughly speaking, in the
form of a crescent, whose western side curves outward
to the Atlantic. On this western side the coast is
bent and rounded, girded with steep mountain ranges
jutting out in long lines of rocky peninsulas between
which the sea unceasingly dashes and surges, and de-
fended by a double barricade of mountain islands,
which lying close to the shore have the appearance
of peninsulas, and add greatly to the wild and nigged
"character of the scenery. For the most part this coast
opposes to the ocean a massive wall of rock too hard
to be worn into bays, but broken by a series of creeks
and sea-lochs, up some of which the waves rush
for a distance of thirty miles. These creeks how-
ever are not made by the action of the sea ; they are
304 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
merely the termination of those level valleys and defiles
which mark the western watershed of the Highlands,
and whose floors, once lifted high above the ocean,
have now through the sinking of the whole coast fallen
below the level of the water. The only bays of
the coast lie on either side of the mountain masses
in the south, where the shore is low and yields to the
advancing waves.
On the eastern side of Scotland, on the other hand,
where the general curve is inwards, so that the coast-
line is a good deal shorter than on the west, the shore
is mainly formed of soft sandstones and clays, more
easily worn away by the action of water ; and though
here and there mountainous cliffs have been reared
against the sea, yet between these defensive barriers
the waves have slowly won their way step by step
on the low ground round the river mouths, and bit
into the land in wide and deep bays. The peninsulas
which bound these bays are large and regular in
form ; and the entire absence of islands along the
shore forms another point of contrast with the west.
In Scotland, then, there is the same unlikeness
between the coasts as in southern Britain, but one
far more sternly marked by the fiercer character of i
seas and climate. As in England, so in Scotland, wi
find (i) the wild, deeply-indented mountain wall of th
west, and the generally low sandy coast of the east
(2) There is here, too, an island shelter thrown up o:
the west coast to break the full fury of the Atlanti
storms ; the difference being that, while England i
shielded by one large island, Scotland has a doubl
VI.] COAST-LINE AND ISLANDS. 30$
row of lesser ones. (3) There is the same general
direction of the rivers, by far the greater part
being thrown down from the western mountains and
emptying themselves into the sea on the east, so as
to form at their mouths a number of harbours whose
outlook is towards the continent of Europe.
We must now survey these coasts more in detail.
The East Coast, which extends along the
North Sea from Duncansby Head to the river Tweed,
is divided into two wide curves, whose limits are
determined by the mountain-masses of the country.
(a.) The northernmost of these curves is enclosed
between the main branches of the Highland moun-
tains, which end in the peninsulas of Caithness and
Buchan. It receives on its inner side the waters of two
river estuaries, the Dornoch Firth and the Moray Firth,
severed by the little peninsula of Ross. The Moray
Firth is again divided into two lesser estuaries, the
Cromarty Firth and the Firth 0/ Inverness ^ which are
parted by the Plain of Cromarty. By these Firths
the drainage of the northern Highlands is carried to
the eastern sea. (b.) A second opening in the east-
em coast is formed by the inward curve of the land
between the mountain masses of the Highlands and
those of the lx)wland Hills. This curve also narrows
to two important estuaries, the Firths of the Tay and
of the Forth, which pour into it the drainage of the
southern Highlands, and are parted from one another
by the peninsula of Fife.
While the eastern shores are for the most part low
and monotonous, they are yet marked by several bold
X
3o6 . GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
headlands formed by outlying mountain spurs which
project into the sea. The chief promontories of
the peninsula of Caithness are Dtmcanshy Head, Noss
Head, and the Ord of Caithness ; Tarbet Ness Hes
between the Dornoch and Moray Firths ; the penin-
sula of Buchan ends in the headlands of Kinnaird's
Head and Buchan Ness ; Fife Ness severs between
the Firths of Tay and Forth ; while St. Abb's Head
marks the extremity of the line of cliffs by which the
Lammermuir Hills abut on the North Sea.
The North Coast from Duncansby Head to
Cape Wrath fronts the Atlantic Ocean, and is of the
same character as the western shore, wild, rugged,
cleft with deep fissures, and marked by rocky head-
lands. The chief among its fiords and promontories
are Diinnet Head at the mouth of Dimnet Bay,
Whiten Head, which parts the creeks of the Kyle oj
Tongue and Loch Eribol, and Cape Wrath by the
Kyle of Durness.
The West Coast of Scotland, from Cape Wrath
to the Solway Firth, is washed by the Atlantic Ocean,
and by the North Channel which connects this ocean
with the Irish Sea, and which parts Scotland from Ire-
land at its narrowest point by a distance of but thirteen
miles. By the general lie of the land the coast is
divided into two nearly equal parts. (^.) Its north-
western half, from Cape Wrath to Ardnamurchan Point,
is marked by the general direction of its sea-lochs,
its peninsulas, and its islands, which all trend to the
north-west. The inlets of the sea are for the most
part narrow openings between the cliffs with steep
VI.] COAST-LINE AND ISLANDS. 307
promontories niarking thei-r entrances, and lie ranged
closely in parallel lines throughout the whole length
of the coast, {b.) Very distinct from this is the
character of the south-western half of the shore from
Ardnamurchan Point to the Solway Firth. Here the
promontories, seu-lochs, and bays are all ranged in
parallel lines bearing to the south-west. There is
a change too in the character of the coast : the open-
ings take the form of bays, and are larger and wider,
with lesser branches which run far inland among the
mountains as sea-lochs. Being larger, these bays are
also fewer in number, and are bounded by more
imi)ortant and well-marked peninsulas.
The principal bays of the western coast are Loch
Edderachillis^ famous for its herring fisheries; Loch
Enard; the double inlet of Loch Broom^ with a
good anchorage for boats ; Loch Torridon^ one of the
finest of Highland bays ; Ij>ch Carrotty with its care-
fully cultivated shores ; the safe harbour of Loch Alsh ;
the fissure cleft by Loch Hourn through steep wootled
rocks; and Loch Sunart^ opening to the Sound of Mull.
To the south of tliese the coast is cleft by three great
inlets of the sea with openings to the southward, the
Firth of Lorn ^ the Firth of Clyde^ and the Soitvay Firth.
(i.) The Firth of Lorn, which is sheltered to westward
by the island of Mull, lies at the south-western open-
ing of Glcnmore, and thus corresponds to the Moray
Firth of the eastern coast ; it narrows into a secontl
inlet, Loch Linnhe^ which again sends out seveial
lesser branches, Loch Etivc^ Loch LczYftf and Loch EU,
(2.) The Firth of Clyde is formed by an arm of the sea
3o8 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
which encroaches on the Lowland Plain between the
Highlands and the Lowland Hills, and thus answers
to the Firth of Forth on the opposite coast. This bay,
which is almost landlocked by the long peninsula of
Can tyre, narrows to the estuary of the river Clyde,
and further on forms two sea-lochs, Loch Long and
Loch Fyne, which stretch into the Highland country in
a northerly direction. (3.) The Sol way Firth cuts off
the Hills of Galloway from the Cumbrian mountains
of England. It lies at the mouths of several streams
thrown down from the surrounding heights, and is of
little commercial importance. The northern shore
of the Firth is broken by Luce Bay and Wigton Bay.
The chief headlands of this coast lie in the Highland
district ; among them are Cape Wrath, Ardnamurchan
Point, and the Mull of Cantyre. This last promontory
forms the extremity of a very striking peninsula, that
of Knapdale and Cantyre, which extends southwards
in a tongue of land forty miles long, and varies from
half a mile to eight miles in breadth till it reaches to
within thirteen miles of the Irish coast. The chief
headland formed by the Lowland Hills is the Mull
of Galloway, which lies at the extremity of the penin-
sula called the Rhinns of Galloway, once an island,
but now connected with the shore by a narrow neck
of land.
The Islands. — The Scotch islands lie wholly to
the north and west, where they form a huge double
breakwater against the violence of the Atlantic storms,
the northern groups consisting of the Orkneys and the
Shetlands ; the western groups of the Inner and the
VI.] COAST-LINE AND ISLANDS. 309-
Outer Hebrides. Besides these groups of islands there
is another cluster lying within the Firth of Clyde.
The whole number of islands amounts to 788, of which
however the greater part are bare rocks and crags ; in
fact, only 186 of them are inhabited, while some of
these contain but two or three people.
I. The Orkney Islands^ lying in the north-east, are
separated from Scotknd by the wild tempest-driven
strait of the Pentland Firth, only six miles in width.
They contain sixty-seven islands, many not inhabited :
the islands are generally low and flat, broken by
rounded hills, and having steep rugged cliffs on the
west, those of Hoy being the finest sea-cliffs in all
Scotland.
II. The Shetland Islands, more than 100 in number,
lie far away in the northern seas, fifty-six miles be-
yond the Orkneys. For the most part they are mere
heathy wastes broken by rocks, and fenced on both
sides by gigantic cliffs worn into wild forms by the
violence of the Atlantic tempests. More than half of
them have no inhabitants. The climate is very wet,
but the cold is not severe, and good com and grass
can be grown in their sheltered plains.
III. The Inner Hebrides lie close to the western
coast ; they are mainly composed of masses of vol-
canic rock. To the northward rises the large irregiilar
Isle of Skye with the splendid group of the Coilin
Mountains towering over its red dome-shaped hills,
parted from the shore by the narrow Sound of SleaL
From thence a line of scattered islets leads to the island
of Mull, which is cut off from the mainland by the
310 GEOGRAPHY. [cttaf.
narrow Sound of Midi ; here the mountains are green
and terraced, with wide stretches of heathy uplands
between, while above all towers the great mass of Ben
More. Some way to the south of Mull is J^ura, with
its group of lofty cones of glistening quartz, pale
gray and white, the Pa^s of yura ; and parted from
it by the narrow Sound of Jslay, the island of Jslay,
broken by low hills, with cultivated fields between
them, the most fertile spot of the Hebrides. Colofisay
and Oronsay are of very small extent, and form at low
water but one island.
IV. To westward of this inner group of isles lies a
second breakwater formed by the Outer Hebrides^ a
long chain of islands ranged in close order, but torn
and broken by the incessant beating of the waves.
They are parted from the inner Hebrides by the straits
of the Minch and the Little Minch. Their chief islands
are Lewis and ILa?'ris, united by a narrow neck of land,
North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and the Barra
islands. Lewis is, for the most part, moss and moor-
land ; Harris and most of the other islands are rocky
and broken by steep mountains.
V. The last group of the Scotch islands are enclosed
in the Firth of Clyde, land-locked and sheltered to
westward by the rocks of Cantyre. Close to this
peninsula lies Arran, the largest among them, whose
southern half is formed of basalt and other rocks such as
those which break the Lowland Plain, and whose chief
summit, Goat Fell ^ is the highest mountain of southern
Scotland. To the north of it lies Bute^ with its low
wooded hills, only severed from the mainland by a
VI.]
COA.ST-LINE AND ISLANDS.
3»i
narrow strait, the Kyles of Bute. In contrast to these
larger isles, the two little islands called the Cumbrays
are green, level and bare, forming the links of a natural
bar drawn along the mouth of the Firth.
Bays.
North (Xait.
East Coast.
West Coast.
Dunnet Bay.
■
Moray Firth.
Edderachylis Bay.
Kyle of Tongue.
Dornoch Firth.
Enard Bay.
Loch Eribol.
Cromarty Firth.
Loch Broom.
Kyle of Dunicss.
Inverness Firth.
Loch Torridon.
Firth of Tay.
Loch Carron.
Firth of Forth.
Loch Alsh.
Loch Sunart.
Filth of Lorn.
Lo.h Linnhe.
Firtn of Clyde.
Loch Fyne.
Loch Ryan.
Solway Firth.
Luce Bay.
Wigton Bay.
Headlands.
Duncansby Head.
Ord of Caithness.
Ardnamurchan Pt.
Dunnet Head.
Tarbet Ness.
Mull of Cantire.
Whiten Head.
Kinnaird Head.
Mull of Galloway.
Cape Wrath.
Buchan Ness.
Fife Ness.
L
St. Abb's Head.
312 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. vi.
Islands of the West Coast.
OuteT Hebrides — Area In square miles.
Lewis and Harris 74^
South Uist 127
North Uist iiB
Benbecula 43
Inner Hebrides —
Skye 535
'Mull -330
Jura 130
Islay 240
Islands of the Firth of Clyde —
Arran 220
Bute 65
I
d
CHAPTER VII.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS.
Scotland, like England, is divided into a number of
shires or counties. But here this division is of compara-
tively modem times, and it so happens that some of
the early territorial names of different parts of the
country which existed long before any shires had been
formed have been preserved, and are still largely
used to describe districts which do not in most cases
coincide with any county boundaries. We shall briefly
notice the more important among these ancient
divisions, before passing on to the counties themselves.
Local Divisions of the Highlands. — In our
study of the Highland mountains we have already been
brought across most of their local divisions. Along
the western coast we have noted the jutting peninsulas
of GUnelg^ AforveHy Appin^ Lorn^ KnapdaU and Can-
tyrey and Coeval, On the borders of the North Sea too
we have described the hilly country of Ardross and
tlic low fertile plains of Moray bordering the Moray
3?4 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Firth, with the valley of Strathspey, that parts them
from the hills of Buchan, These in their turn have
to southward of them the district of Mar, which occu-
pies the middle part of the valley of the Dee ; from
whence we pass into the Lowland Plain across Mearns,
or the low ground between Mount Battock and the
sea-coast, and by Angus, where the eastern Highlands
abut on the valley of Strathmore in the long spurs
known as the Braes of Angus.
The more important districts which occupy the
central part of the Highlands are Lochaher and Bade-
7ioch, situated on either side of the waterparting as it
crosses Glenmore. Lochaber is marked by the mass
of Ben Nevis in its centre, while Badenoch comprises
the wild country that lies from Glenmore to the
Cairngorm Mountains, and is traversed by the upper
valley of the Spey. Immediately to the south of
Badenoch Forest lies the equally wild and mountainous
district of Athol, stretching down to the gorge of the
(jarry ; and beyond this valley rise the lofty summits
and ridges of the Breadalbane territory which terminate
on the Lowland Plain, and from the midst of which
open valleys such as those of Strathearn and Menteith.
Local Divisions of the Highland Plain. —
We are thus brought directly into the Lowland Plain.
In this we have already traced the limits of Strath-
more ; a part of this valley, which extends across the
river Isla, is known as Stonnont, and the narrow
belt of land shut in between the Sidlaw Hills and the
Firth of Tay as the Carse of Gowrie. A broad tract
of ftriile soil wliicli forms the southern border of
VI 1.1 rOT.ITICAL DIVISIONS. 315
llie Firth of Forth constitutes the district of the
Lofhians, divided into East, Middle^ and West Lothian,
The western side of the Lowland Plain has also its
territorial divisions. Lennox lies to the south and
south-east of Loch Lomond. Cunninghame and Kyle
occupy the larger part of the plain of Ayrshire.
Local Divisions of the Lowland Hills. —
The most familiar among the names of all these
ancient districts of Scotland are those which we find
in the Lowland Hills, and which are in as common
use as the names of the shires themselves. The south-
western peninsula formed by these hills is divided into
two well-maiked portions — Carricky which occupies
the north-western watershed towards the North Chan-
nel ; and Gallo^vay^ or the south-western watershed
from Luce Bay almost to the valley of the Nith.
The central part of the Lowland Hills is traversed
l)y a number of river dales, each of which has given its
name to a separate district of well-marked geogra-
pliical character : Clydesdale lies to the northward ; to
i!ie southward, on the other hand, are Nithsdale^
Annandaky Eskdaky and Liddesdale,
Other river-dales, as we have seen, penetrate into
iiie heart of the Lowland Hills in the north-east,
rhe upper valley of the Tweed forms TweeddaU^
while into its lower valley opens the dependent dis-
tricts of Ettrick Forest^ TeviotdaUy and Lauderdale ;
tlic place where the river pours itself into the sea, and
where Berwick now stands, was in old times known
as the Merse.
The Scotch Counties.— The ancient divisions
3i6 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
of which we have just spoken have however no rela-
tion to the civil government of Scotland, and for all
pohtical purposes the country is divided into thirty-
three shires or counties.
In geographical character these counties differ
from those of England just as the two countries
differ in physical structure. We have seen that in
England the river-system of the land has so impressed
itself on the political divisions of the country as to
form a most important element in determining the
position and grouping of the shires. The boundaries
of these shires and groups of shires are not mere
artificial lines, but landmarks clearly defined by the
natural forces which have set limits to the river-
valleys and river basins in which they lie. But in
Scotland, where the river-system is of a wholly
different character, this is not always the case. It
is true that in the Lowland Hills and in the Lowland
Plain, where we find the running waters drawing to-
gether into river-basins, the shires do in fact group
themselves, as in England, into knots of counties
whose areas coincide with that of the river-basin in
which they lie, and whose limits are determined
with exactness by the local waterpartings that
divide river from river. But in the district of the
Highlands, with its multitude of independent moun-
tain torrents, such an arrangement of counties is
impossible. At the same time the river-system
even here plays a great and important part in their
formation.
In the southern Highland districts, where the
VII. J POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 317
country consists half of mountain and half of plain,
the limits of the counties still mainly coincide with
those of the river-basins. As these basins, however,
shrink farther northward into mere straths or glens,
the counties spread over the land between them and
the rivers themselves thus become the shire boundaries.
And when still more to the north the streams become
mere mountain torrents of insignificant size, the shires
spread over the waterparting ridge itself, and extend
down its watershed to east and west.
In our study of the Scotch counties, therefore, we
must never lose sight of the determining influence
exercised by the river-system of the land, and as
in England so in Scotland, we shall take the line of
the waterparting and the lie of the greater river-
basins to guide us in grouping the shires together.
Owing however to the character of the country
and the strongly-marked features which distin-
guish its three main divisions from one another,
it will be convenient to divide the Scotch counties
into three groups which answer to these parts, and
which at the same time follow the course of the
waterparting line. These groups are (i) the counties
of the Highlands ; (2) the counties of the Lowland
i'lain; (3) the counties of the Lowland Hills.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES.
This important cluster of shires covers nearly two-
thirds of Scotland, stretching as it does from the Shet-
land Isles to the Firths of the Tay and of the Clyde, and
occupying a district of 18,600 square miles in extent.
It consists of fourteen distinct counties, which are
naturally divided into two groups both by geographical
position and by a certain dit^erence in their physical
characteristics. These are (r) The Counties of the
Northern and Western coasts ; and (2) The Counties
of the Eastern coast. Each group contains seven
shires.
[a] The Counties of the North and West
Highlands, which are all washed by the Atlantic,
comprise (i) The Orkney and Shetland Islands, (2)
Caithness, (3) Sutherland, (4) Ross and Cromarty, (5)
Inverness, (6) Argyle, (7) Bute. All these shires,
save those that are wholly insular, are linked together
in a very marked way by the main waterparting of the
Highlands, which passes through each of them in turn.;„
il
cii. VIII.] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 319
They are distinguished too by the same general
features, extending as they do over a district which,
as we have seen, is wholly built up of a succes-
sion of high mountains, barren moors and mosses,
forest-land, and deep valleys or straths, with lakes
embedded in them. Till of late the country has been
thought unfit for agriculture from the harshness of its
climate and poverty of its soil, and formed avast stretch
of pasture-land for a hardy race of sheep and cattle
Owing to its scanty resources, save that of sheep-
grazing, the people inhabiting it are exceedingly few :
there is not a single town throughout the whole central
part of the district, and very few hamlets ; only along
the sea-coast runs a thin fringe of little sea-ports
supported by fisheries of herring, cod, and salmon, and
by the trade of exporting these fish to the Continent
and to England.
I. The Orkney and Shetland Islands form
together one county, whose chief town, Kirkwally lijs
in Pomona^ or Mainland^ the largest island in the
Orkneys. The majority of the Orkney islands are low
and fertile, and broken only by rounded hills whose
sides are covered with grass : twenty-seven of them
are inhabited, while about forty more serve as pasture-
lands for cattle. Of the 100 islands which make up the
group of the Shetlands, but thirty- four are inhabited.
The rest form mere stacks and skerries of rock, the
first rising sharply like chimneys from the sea, the
second consisting of low broken reefs. The chiel
land of the Shetlands is also known as Mainland^
M\d has in it the little town of Lenvick.
320 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
II. The shire of Caithness forms the north-eastern
extremity of Britain, and has but one land boundary,
that on its western side, where a ridge of hills running
north from Morven and the Ord of Caithness parts it
from Sutherland. Through its centre passes the north-
eastern extremity of the waterparting that divides be-
tween the watersheds of the Atlantic and the North
Sea ; but the shire, consisting as it does throughout
its whole extent of Old Red Sandstone, is as sharply
marked off from the mass of the Highland mountains
by the structure of its rocks as by its peninsular form ;
and this difference is strikingly represented in the
comparatively low and level character of the ground
and the fertility of the soil. The bulk of the county is
made up of monotonous moorland surrounded by
rugged and sea-worn clilfs, from whose heights the
ancient keeps of the northern vikings looked out over
the Atlantic. The bleak moors and marshes of the
interior are gradually being cultivated by the in-
dustry of the people, and now form one of the
most fruitful districts of northern Scotland. The
chief town, Wick, and a second village, Thurso, are
built on the sea-coast, and are chiefly supported by
herring fishery. The population amounts to 40,000
people.
III. The red sandstone hills of Caithness give
place westward to the mountain masses of Silurian
rock which compose Sutherland. This shire
stretches across Scotland from sea to sea : to north-
ward it is washed by the Atlantic, and to south-
ward it is parted from Ross by a line drawn from the
viii.] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 321
Dornoch Firth to Enard Bay. The rough square thus
formed has an area of 1,886 square miles, and con-
sists of a continuous stretch of naked and barren moor-
land broken by masses of mountains, such as those
which mark the water-parting, Ben Hope, Ben Klibrek,
and Ben More ; while beyond these again to westward
a fringe of ancient gneiss borders the Atlantic with a
line of cliffs deeply cut and indented by creeks and
inlets of the sea. Since the high ground thus lies in
the western half of the shire, the bulk of its running
waters are poured eastward through long valleys into
the Dornoch Firth, the chief of these glens being
marked by lakes such as Loch Shin, which with its
series of dependent lochs nearly cuts the county in
two parts. From the character of the soil Sutherland
remains the bleakest, wildest, least cultivated, and
least populated county in the whole of Britain : it
contains, throughout its entire extent, about 24,000
inhabitants, and its county town, Dornoch^ is a mere
Ashing village on the Dornoch Firth.
IV. Ross and Cromarty form practically but
one county, Cromarty being made up of a number of
small parts scattered throughout Ross-shire. The united
shires form a triangular tract of country of nearly
4,000 square miles in extent, which stretches across
Scotland from sea to sea, with its apex pointing eest-
ward, and with its broad end resting on the Atlantic
Its northern boundary from Loch Enard to the
Dornoch Firth touches Sutherland, while on the
south, from I^ch Beauley to Ben Attow, it marches
with Inverness. „
322 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
{a.) The broad western part of the shire is tra-
versed by the vvaterparting range as it runs from
Ben More to Ben Attow, and throws out to the
westward those lateral ridges of rock which border
the Minch and the Inner Sound in a series of rugged
peninsulas parted by deep bays. The chief among
these bays are Loch Ewe, which almost forms a
continuation of the inland lake, Loch Maree, and
further south, Loch Torridon and Loch Carron.
{b.) The eastern half of the united shire consists
mainly of the mass of Ben Wyvis, the lower hills of
Ardross, and the flat plain of Cromarty, a spit of
fertile soil composed of Old Red Sandstone which pro-
jects between the Dornoch and Moray Firths, and so
forms the apex of the triangle. Into these two firths
is poured nearly the whole drainage of the county by
the gathering together of the mountain torrents thrown
down to the eastward from the waterparting range.
The river valleys, however, are mere glens, and the bulk
of the shire remains a continuous mass of barren moor-
lands and mosses, containing but a small population,
about 80,000 in all. The strip of fertile soil which
borders the eastern shore and encloses the estuaries
of the Dornoch Firth and Loch Beauley is alone
fitted for habitation ; and here lies a group of little
towns scarcely larger than villages, such as Dingwall^
the county town of Ross and Cromarty ; Tain, in Ross ;
and Cromarty, at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth.
The island of Lewis also belongs to the county of
Ross; it is 557 square miles in extent, mountainous
in parts, but with large tracts of bog and moorland.
VIII ] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 323
Its chief town, Stornoway^ lies on a little harbour on
its eastern coast
V. To the south of Ross stretches the largest shire
in Scotland, that of Inverness, which comprises an
area of 4,255 square miles. It may be best described
as consisting of the country which lies on either side
of the cleft of Glenmore, and which opens to the
eastern sea by the Moray Firth, and to the western
sea by the shore of Sleat Sound. With the adjoining
island of Skye^ and the bulk of the Outer Hebrides^
which form part of its territory, the whole shire has
somewhat of the form of a vast crescent ; to the north
it half encircles Ross, while its southern boundary,
passing by Loch Shiel, Loch Eil, and Loch Ericht, is
continued along the Badenoch and Cairngorm Moun-
tains, and then turns northward across Strathspey to
the Firth of Inverness. The shire thus borders with
Argyle and Perth to the southward, and to eastward
with Aberdeen, Elgin, and Nairn.
Like the northern counties Inverness consists of
two well-marked divisions, {a.) To westward lies the
high ground of the waterparting from Ben Attow to
the Moor of Rannoch. Its dependent ridges of rock
thrown out to the coast are defined by their enclosed
lateral glens and lakes, such as Loch Morar and Loch
Shiel dipping to the Atlantic, and Loch Arkaig falling
toward Glenmore ; while to the south of the Great
Glen the mass of Ben Nevis rises from the moorlands of
the Lochaber district, {b.) The eastern half of the
county, on the other hand, is made up of alternate
chains of hills and river valleys, through which the
Y 3
324 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
drainage of the mountains is poured into the Moray
Firth. To the north He Strathglass and Glengarry;
these are parted from Glenmore and Loch Ness by a
belt of hills of which Mealfourvounie is the most im-
portant ; Glenmore in its turn is severed from Strathv
spey by the Monadh Leadh Mountains ; while Strath-!
spey is bounded to the south by the Badenoch and
Cairngorm heights.
Inverness thus consists of a vast mountain tract
only broken by wild glens and straths wholly unfitted
for habitation or agriculture. It contains indeed one
town, Inverness, which lies on the Firth of the same
name, in the midst of the narrow fringe of fertile
sandstone that borders the eastern shore, and which
with its 14,000 inhabitants forms the capital of the
Highland district. The opposite extremity of Glern
more is guarded by a military post, Fort William:
But the broad reaches of moor and mountain which
constitute the interior of Inverness do not contaii
a single town ; ' and among the hamlets scatterec
throughout them the village of Ki7igussie on the
upper Spey alone derives some consequence froni
the importance of its position at the opening of the
Pass of Dalwhinnie, which leads from Strathspey t(
the valley of the Tay. With its scanty population o
87,480 persons scattered over this broad expanse o
territory, Inverness forms next to Sutherland the mos
thinly-peopled of Scotch shires.
I The Island of Skye, which is included in the shiri
of Inverness, is the largest of the Inner Hebrides
having an area of 535 square miles. Its chief towi
VIII.] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 325
is the little fishing village of PortreCy sheltered under
the rugged rocks of which the island consists, and
which in the south tower up into the heights of the
Cuchullin Hills, 3,000 feet above the sea. Besides
Skye, Inverness also includes within its shire-limits
most of the islands of the Outer Hebrides — Harris,
North and South Uist, Benbecula, and the Barra
Islands.
VI. The line of water-parting as it passes south-
ward from Inverness strikes along the border of
Argyleshire, where it forms a boundary that divides
this county from Perthshire to the east. Argyleshire
thus occupies that part of the western watershed of the
Highlands which stretches from Ardnamurchan Point
to the Firth of Clyde, and with its area of 3,255
square miles forms a county of very great extent.
Lying as it does along the wildest and most fantastic
part of the western coast, where innumerable inlets
of the sea cut deep into the land, the county is broken
into a series of peninsulas all ragged and torn, such
as those of Morven, Appin, Lorn, Cowal, and the long
tongue of land formed by Knapdale and Can tyre as it
stretches southwards towards the Irish coast. The
shire includes too a number of islands which border
the coast and which, though they once formed part of
the land, have been severed from it by the gradual
sinking of the shore, and have been left standing in
mid-sea. The largest of these islands, Mull, Jura,
and Islay, and the lesser ones of lona and Staffa,
almost belong to the mainland: CoU, Tirec, aod
Colonsay lie somewhat more apart.
326 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
The interior of Argyleshire consists of the south-
western offshoots of the waterparting range as they
are thrown westward to the sea between the deep
fiords of Loch Lynnhe with its several branches, I.och
Fyne, and Loch Long, and an inland lake, which in
form resembles these fiords. Loch Awe. The mountains
rise to their greatest height at the centre of the county
in Ben Cruachan, whence they gradually sink down-
wards towards the ocean. But in the islands the
mountain peaks again rise in grandeur and wildness,
as in the great mass of Ben More in Mull, and the
precipitous Paps of Jura, and form, as it were, massive
bulwarks to protect the inner coast-line. Herring-j
fishery and sheep-grazing support a small popula-^
tion of 75,680 people, who are gathered along the;
sea-coast in a thin fringe of insignificant towns. The|
little county town of Inverary lies on the shores of j
Loch Fyne; Ca?npbelltown, on the Cantyre penin-:
sula, is a place of more importance; Oban, on the'
southern shore of Loch Lynnhe, above the mouth of
the Caledonian Canal, is famous for its picturesque
scenery ; Dunoon is a watering-place which lies on the
Firth of Clyde.
VIL The shire of Bute is made up of the islands
of the Firth of Clyde, shut in between the peninsula of
Cantyre and the mainland. These are Arran, Bute,
Great and Little Cumbray, and Ailsa Crag. The
largest of these, Arran, measures twenty miles in length
and eleven in breadth, while Bute is only fifteen miles
long and five broad. Both islands belong by their struc-
ture half to the Highlands and half to the Lowlands.
viii.] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 327
I'heir northern part is formed of the granite, mica,
and clay slate of the Highland mountains, which
rise into lofty hills such as Goat Fell, 2,874 feet, in
Arran ; while in the southern part of the islands
appear the red sandstone, carboniferous limestone,
and igneous rocks of the Lowland Plain. The
county town is Rothesay in Bute. In an area of
371 square miles, this sliire maintains nearly 17,000
inhabitants.
[b.] The Counties of the Eastern Highlands,
which adjoin the North Sea, are also seven in number ;
but these cover a much smaller tract of land than those
that lie along the course of the waterparting. They
are (i) Nairn, (2) Elgin, (3) Banff, (4) Aberdeen, (5)
Kincardine, (6) Forfar, and (7) Perth. Their position
within the Highland district gives them a wild and
mountainous character which resembles that of the
western counties. But lying as they do along the
eastern shore and extending southward over the fer-
tile plain of Strathmore, they embrace all the larger
straths and river-basins of the Highlands and the flats
by which the sea-coast is bordered. They thus possess
in parts a considerable agricultural importance, espe-
cially in Buchan and the valley of the Dee, districts
famous for their cattle; and they have besides an
important manufacturing and trading industry which
is carried on in the district along the shores of the
Firth of Tay. These various means of wealth place
the eastern counties in a very difTcrcnt position
with regard to population from the shires of the
north and west, for though they do not cover one
328 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
half the extent of land, they contain more than
double the number of inhabitants.
The range of mountains which extends from Dalna-.
spidal to Stonehaven runs like a wall across the country-
occupied by this group of shires, and from its un-
broken length and great height has since the earliest
times of Scotch history formed a most important
boundary between the tribes and peoples of this dis-
trict. It marks, roughly speaking, a broad difference
in geographical character between the shires which lie
to northward of it and those which are situated to the
south, a difference that results from the character of
the river-systems of these two districts. The moun-
tain torrents to the northward form narrow straths
running in parallel lines, and the shires lie extended
for the most part across the tracts of hilly country
that sever between these straths. The southern
shires, on the other hand, occupy the basins of
larger rivers, rivers which flow through the midst
of the counties, and in so doing gather in lesser
streams and unite into river- systems.
I. The low land that borders the Moray Firth, and
part of which was formerly known by the name of
Moray, has been broken up into a number of very
small shires, which occupy the tracts of land enclosed
between the river-valleys. The first of these little
counties, Nairn, is made up of a belt of hilly country,
215 square miles in extent, which lies between the
streams of the Nairn and the Findhorn, and is traversed
by the last spurs of the Inverness mountains as they
fall to the strip of Old Red Sandstone which borders -
VIII.] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 329
the sea-shore. This fringe of low land is capable of
tillage, and by means of a little agriculture and by
the fisheries of the coast the shire is able to sup-
port about 10,000 people. Its county town, Naim^
lies on the harbour formed by the river of the same
name.
II. To eastward of Nairn lies a second small shire,
Elgin, which is still sometimes known under the old
name of this district, Moray. The last spurs of the
Monadh Leadh Mountains, which strike through its
centre from Inverness, fall westward to the valley of
the Findhorn, and eastward to that of the Spey, while
towards the sea-coast they give place to a broad tract
of Old Red Sandstone, where the soil is fruitful and
well cultivated. With an area of 530 square miles,
Elgin is twice as large as Nairn, and contains a popu-
lation more than four times as great, having over
43,000 inhabitants. It possesses two small towns —
the capital, Elgiriy which lies on the little stream of
the Lossie, and the more ancient town of Forres^ at
the mouth of the Findhorn.
III. The Old Red Sandstone rocks which play so
large a part in Nairn and Elgin stop short at the
valley of the Spey, and do not cross into the shire
of Banff, which lies to westward of it. This county
consists of a long and narrow wedge of hills of Silu-
rian rock driven in between the valleys of the Spey
and the Dovcran. Beginning on the south-western
border of the shire in the huge mass of Ben Macdhui,
the chain of heights is prolonged by Ben Rinncs and
Corryhabbie, and only dies down into low hills as it
330 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
nears the coast. The whole extent of Banffshire is
686 square miles ; its fisheries and agricultural indus-
tries maintain a population of about 62,000 persons,
chiefly gathered round the little harbours of the sea-
coast. The county town, Banff, lies at the mouth of
the Doveran.
IV. A far more important county than these last,
both for size and population, is the shire of Aber-
deen. Extending from the mouth of the Doveran
to that of the Dee, it forms in the peninsula of
Buchan, which projects into the North Sea, the
easternmost part of Scotland, while to the westward
it stretches along the valleys of the Don and of the
Dee into the heart of the Highlands, to the points
where the mountains break into two distinct lines of
high ground at the source of the Dee. On one side
of this valley Ben Avon, Ben Macdhui, and Cairntoul;
part it from the shires of Banff and Inverness; while,
on the other side, Mount Keen, Ben-y-Gloe, Loch-na-
gar, and Mount Battock, sever it from the counties of^
Perth, Forfar, and Kincardine.
The shire of Aberdeen, with its area of 1,970 square
miles, thus consists of two parts. The peninsula of
Buchan is occupied by that belt of high ground which
parts between the rivers of the Moray Firth and thosft
of the North Sea, and which here dies down into
tract of low hilly country that forms the best grazing
land in Scotland. From it come the finest cattle with
which the London market is supplied. This agricultural
district contains no towns save a few small seaports,
such as Peterhead and Fraserburgh, which are engaged
vni ] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 33»
in the fisheries of the coast, and in the whale and seal
fishery of the northern seas.
On the other hand, the bulk of the county to the
southward consists of the valleys of the Dee and the
Don, with the masses of hills which part them from
each other. These valleys form, in fact, wild mountain
straths famous for the grandeur of their scenery, but
containing merely a few litde hamlets : Braemar on
the Dee is much visited by tourists, and below it lies
the palace of Balmoral. But as the Dee pours itself
into the sea, it forms a harbour on whose shores has
grown up the town of Abtrdeen, one of the chief trading
I i ties of eastern Scotland. Situated on the sea-coast, at
I lie opening of two important valleys, and commanding
the road to northern Scotland, Aberdeen became very
early a city of much importance, carrying on a large
trade with northern Europe. It now adds to its manu-
factures of cotton, silk, and wool, the construction of
iron steam-vessels, and the working of vast quarries of
slate and granite in the neighbouring country ; while
besides these industries, it forms the chief centre of
export for the great cattle trade of the north. Aberdeen
has thus grown into the fourth greatest city of Scotland,
and with its 88,000 inhabitants has gathered into
itself more than a third part of the population of the
shire in which it lies, whose total number amounts
to over 244,000.
V. The three remaining shires of this group,
i . incardine, Forfar, and Perthshire, belong only in part
!o the Highlands, for occupying the southern limits of
this great mountain mass, they extend into the valley
332 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
of Strathmore, and thus emorace apart of the Lowland
Plain.
The smallest of these shires, that of Kincardine,
formerly known as the Mearns, consists of a little tract
of land which lies along the shore between the valleys
of the Dee and the Esk, and extends westward to
Mount Battock ; it thus forms the great route which
leads into northern Scotland between the mountains
and the sea. The slate rocks which occupy the shire
on the Aberdeen border give way in the south to a
belt of Old Red Sandstone which constitutes in fact a
part of the valley of Strathmore as it extends into the
shire from Forfar. The north-eastern opening of this
valley is marked by the little county town, Sto?iehave7i^
which lies on the sea-coast and carries on a small
fishing trade.
The shire, only 383 square miles in extent, contains
about 34,000 inhabitants.
VI. Both the slate mountains and the red sand-
stone plain of which the shire of Kincardine is made
up are continued to the south-west into the county of
Forfar, which coincides with the older district of
Aiigus. Its northern border adjoining Aberdeen is
formed by a chain of heights that runs from Mount
Battock to Glas-Mhiel, and the southern slopes of
this range as they pass into Forfar are known as the
Braes of Angus. Along their base on the south-east
stretches the level plain of Strathmore, beyond which,
by the shore of the Firth of Tay, rises the lower chain
of the Sidlaw Hills. The three parallel belts of
country thus formed are all alike prolonged across the
vnr.] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 333
south-western border of the shire and are carried
thence into the adjoining county of Perth.
In Forfar we have almost passed out of the High-
land district, for the great bulk of the shire is occupied
by the Lowland valley of Strathmore, a plain watered
by streams thrown down from the northern heights, as
the North and South Esk, and rich in com and grass-
lands. In its centre lies the county town, Forfar^
with 11,000 inhabitants, a town little smaller than
Inverness, though that is the capital of a shire 1,100
square miles greater in mere extent than Forfar. But
the main wealth of the shire does not lie in its agri-
cultural industries, but in an important trade which has
been developed in a group of sea-port towns whose
position on the coast, near the coal-fields of the central
plain, and with easy access to them by water, gives them
the double advantage of manufacturing towns and ports
for foreign trade. The greatest of these towns, Dundee^
lies on the Firth of Tay ; to its immense manufactories
of jute, coarse linen, sail-cloth, and sacking, it adds a
very large shipping trade, and with its population of
120,000 people, ranks third among the great towns
of Scotland. To north of it lie the ports oi Arbroath
and of Montrose on the South Esk, both of which
have large linen manufactures. At a little distance
from Montrose is the lesser town of Brechin on the
Esk.
The manufacturing and commercial industries of
Forfar have made it one of the most populous
shires in Scotland. In its area of 875 square miles il
contains 237,528 inhabitants.
334 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
VII. If we now pass westward out of Forfar we
enter on a third county which occupies the border-land
between Highlands and Lowlands, the county of Perth.
This shire is about equally divided between the moun-
tains and the plain. To the north the chain of heights
which runs from Glas-Mhiel to Loch Ericht and parts
it from Aberdeen, throws out southward a mass of
mountains and hill-ridges which forms the district of
Athol. To the west lies the water-parting range
from the Moor of Rannoch to Loch Lomond, which
divides Perthshire from Argyle, and which, by the
lateral ridges of rock that it sends out to the eastward,
constitutes the group of the Breadalbane Mountains.
By these hill-masses Perthshire forms a part of the
Llighland district. But along their base to the south-
east strikes the red sandstone valley of Strathmore,
which connects it with the Lowland Plain. This
valley, as we have seen, is continued from Forfar in
the north-east across the Isla into Perth, and is
thence prolonged across the Forth into Stirling ; while
it is shut in to the south-west by the igneous rocks
of the Ochill and Sidlaw Hills, which part Perthshire
from Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan.
Perthshire, made up of these two divisions, forms
a vast irregular circle with an area of 2,834 square
miles, which almost exactly coincides with the basin
of the Tay. This river, rising in the Breadal-
bane Mountains, gathers in the drainage of the
western heights brought to it by such streams as the
Earn and the Tummel, while from the northern
mountains are poured down the Garry and the Isla.
Mil ] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 335
All these rivers as they traverse the plain unite their
waters into one system and empty themselves into
the sea through the Firth of Tay. Part of a second
river-basin lies along the southern border of the
county, where the Forth and its affluent, the Teith,
break in like manner from the mountains and flow
across the sandstone plain at their base.
Perthshire therefore occupies a geographical posi-
tion of the first importance. The only one of the
Highland counties which lies wholly inland, it is
l^aced in the very heart of Scotland, and includes
within its limits not only the bulk of the rich fields of
Strathmore, but also every one of the main passes
that lead from the Lowland Plain into the centre
of the Highlands.
The mountainous districts of Perthshire really con-
sist, as we have seen, of a series of abnipt lateral ridges
by which the Highlands suddenly terminate on the
Lowland Plain. But these ridges are marked by
great summits and mountain masses ranging from
3,000 feet to 4,000 feet in height, such as Ben-y-Gloe
and Ben Dearg among the Athol Mountains, and in
the more extensive group of the Breadalbane Moun-
tains, the peaks of Schiehallion, Ben lowers, and
Ben More. The lesser heights of Ben An and Ben
Venue are well known for the famous gorge of the
Trossachsj which is formed by their spurs at the
ajiproach to Loch Katrine from the Lowland Plain.
Among these mountain ridges too are enclosed the
freater number of the vast circle of Highland lakes,
Loch Ericht, Loch Rannoch, Loch Tay, Loch Earn,
336 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
and Loch Katrine. The whole of this district in fact,
with its massive mountains, its lakes, its torrents, and
its rocky glens, forms a scenery whose picturesqueness
is unrivalled in Britain. But its wild and rugged
character leaves it barren and uninhabited, without a
single town of any note. A few hamlets and villages,
indeed, lie here and there in the river valleys, and
are well known for the grandeur of the surrounding
scenery. Such are Blair Athol and Pitlochrie, which
at either extremity of the Pass of Killiecrankie com^
mand the road to northern Scotland through the
mountains up the valley of the Garry.
The villages however increase in size as the
valleys widen to the Plain. Dunkeld exactly markj
the spot where the Tay emerges from the moun«
tains on the low sandstone fiats : to the eastwarc
Alyth, Blairgowrie, and Cupar Angus in the basic
of the Isla, are all situated amid the fertile field!
of Strathmore ; while to westward the little tow:
of Crieff is placed in Strathearn. The only reallj
large town, however, in the whole basin of the Ta)
is Perth, the capital of the shire. Lying on tli
banks of the Tay, in the break between the Sidlai
and the Ochill Hills, it commands the only means c
access to northern Scotland, whether by the plain
of Strathmore to the sea coast, or by the valleys of
the Tay and the Garry ; while by its position at the
head of the Firth it holds the key of the estuary. The
great importance of its site made Perth in early times
the frequent residence of the Scotch kings, who were
crowned and held their court in the adjoining palace
VIII.] THE HIGHLAND COUNTIES. 337
of Scone. But in later days its militar>' ^nd political
importance declined, and it is now but a moderate
sized town with 25,000 inhabitants.
The remaining villages of Perthshire lie within the
basin of the Forth, and are of very little note ; they
are Dunblane on the Allan, at the foot of the Ochill
Hills, and Doune and Callander in the valley known
as Menteith.
The whole population of Perthshire is com-
paratively small, amounting to 127,741 persons.
CHAPTER IX.
COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND PLAIN.
As we have already seen, the Lowland Plain consists
of three parts, Strathmore, the basins of the Forth
and Clyde, and Ayrshire. But Strathmore lies within
the counties belonging to the Highland group, and
Ayrshire within the counties of the Lowland Hills.
We have therefore here only to do with that group
of shires which falls within the basins of the Forth
and the Clyde.
This group consists of ten shires, which altogether
occupy an area of a little over 3,000 square miles, a
space equal to about a sixth part of that occupied
by the Highland group, and about 1,000 miles less in
extent than the single shire of Inverness. The shires
themselves are generally very small, only two of them
being over 500 square miles in extent, while one covers
but 36 square miles. But the geographical position
of these midland counties gives them an importance
which cannot be measured by mere size; for com-
prising as they do nearly the whole of the manu-
IX.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 339
facturing and mining districts of Scotland, its chief
towns, its great sea-ports, nearly all its more important
shipping trade, and its best agriculture, they gather up
the great mass of the population and wealth of the
land. With their 1,738,000 inhabitants they have a
density of population which is nearly ten times as
great as that of the Highland district, and a wealth
in proportion to their population and their industrial
resources.
The shires of the central plain differ greatly from
those of the Highlands in the mode of their forma-
tion. Many of them are composed simply of districts
surrounding some town of note which had jurisdiction
over a part of the neighbouring land to which it gave
its name. A glance at the map shows also the enormous
importance of the part played in their formation by
the two great rivers of the plain, for every large town
in this district lies upon the banks of one or the other
of these streams, and every county of the group com-
municates with the sea by the great estuaries which
they form. The various counties thus naturally
group themselves according to the river basin in
which they lie, seven of them being included in the
basin of the Forth, and three in the basin of the
Clyde.
[A] Counties of the Forth. — As the Forth
flows out of Perthshire, the lower valley and estuary
of the river divide between the counties which lie
ranged along its northern and southern banks. To
northward of the Firth' lie Fife^ Kinross, and Clack*
mannan ; while to the south the river is bordered by
z a
340 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
Stirling^ Linlithgow^ Edinburgh, and Haddington,
these last being also known as the East, West, and
Middle Lothians.
I. Fifeshire is composed of the peninsula which
runs out to the North Sea between the Firths of the
Forth and the Tay, being bounded on its land side by
the Lomond and Ochill Hills, which part it from Perth-
shire, Kinross, and Clackmannan. The county has an
area of 492 square miles, and is broken into two parts
by the Lomond and the Fife Hills, a belt of igneous
rocks which strike across it from west to east. In the
northern part of the shire lies the fertile valley of the
Eden, known also as the Howe of Fife, in the midst of
which is situated the county town Cupar ; while at the
mouth of the valley on the coast is the sea-port town
of St. Andrew's, the seat of an ancient archbishopric
and the oldest University town in Scotland.
The southern part of Fifeshire, on the other hand, is
made up of carboniferous rocks where coal is found ;
and to a manufacturing industry that has sprung up
on these coal-measures, it adds a large shipping trade
which it owes to its position on the Forth. The centre
of the linen manufacture of the shire is at Dunferm-
line, a town with 15,000 inhabitants: to eastward
of it lie Kirkcaldy and Dysart, two sea-ports on the
Forth. The whole population of Fifeshire amounts
to 160,735.
II. Westward of Fife is Kinross, a small tract of
land only 73 square miles in extent, shut in between
the Lomond and the Ochill Hills, and lying imme-
diately around the little town of Kinross on the shore
IX.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 341
of Loch Leven. It is hemmed in on every side by
Fife, Clackmannan, and Perth, and thus wholly shut
off from the Forth, while it merely touches the coal-
measures on its eastern border. Having thus no trade
nor especial industries its population is small, being
little over 7,000.
III. Yet further to the westward along the banks of
the Forth lies the little shire of Clackmannan, only
36 square miles in extent, formed by the district which
lies immediately round the town of Clackmannan ^ be-
tween- the counties of Perth and Fife. From its position
within the limits of the coal-measures it has a large
manufacturing industry, and contains a population of
23,747 persons, chiefly employed in the coal and iron
mines, and in the making of woollen shawls and
tartans. Alloa on the Forth is the centre of its
mining industry.
IV. From Clackmannan we cross the Forth to enter
on the shires which border its southern bank, begin-
ning with that of Stirling. This county stretches
along the whole upper course of the river from its
source to its estuary, and thus extends very nearly
across the peninsula of central Scotland. Its area is
equal to 447 square miles. In form it is somewhat
pear-shaped ; the thinner end runs up into the High-
land district, stretching along the shores of Loch
Lomond between the shires of Dumbarton and
Perth, while the broader portion of the county lies
in the Lowland Plain, where it adjoins the shires of
l^nark and Linlithgow. This lower part of Stiriing
is however vcrv uneven in character, being broken by
342 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
a line of igneous rocks, the Campsie Fells, which
strike across its centre. To westward of them lies
a strip of Old Red Sandstone which in reality forms
a continuation of the valley of Strathmore ; and to
eastward stretch the coal-measures of the central
plain.
In fearly times this easternmost portion of the shire
was from its geographical position one of the most
important districts in Scotland, forming as it did the
great pass into northern Scotland, and commanding
the head of the Forth, which was then the most im-
portant estuary of the country. Hence its chief town
Stirling, with its castle built on a steep rock rising
from the river-banks, held the passage of the Forth
as it flows between the Campsie Fells and the Ochill
Hills, and was practically the key of central Scotland,
and a military post of the first consequence. It was
thus that Stirling became in early times one of the
capitals of the kingdom. This ancient fortress how-
ever is now the centre of a great manufacturing dis-
trict, and the town is largely employed in iron works
and woollen manufacture along with the neighbouring
towns of St. Ninian's and Bannockburn and many
lesser ones. Falkirk is an agricultural town on the
eastern border of the shire with large cattle markets ;
lying at the head of the canal which unites the Firth
and the Clyde, it has a considerable trade with
Glasgow.
The population of the county, chiefly massed as
we have seen in its coal district, amounts to 98,218.
V. To the eastward of Stirling, and still bordering
IX.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 343
the Firth of Forth, lie the three shires which occupy the'
district of the Lothians, known as the West, Middle
and East Lothians. In these shires we almost leave
behind us the mining districts of the central coal-
measures with their large industrial towns, and enter
on a region of a very different character, where there
is not a single manufacturing town, but where the only
industry, that of tillage, is carried to its highest
perfection.
The first of these shires, that of Linlithgow or
West Lothian^ is composed of a small tract of land
of 120 square miles in extent which lies round the
old town and royal palace of Linlithgmv^ so called
from the little "lin" or lake on which it is built.
Lying in a district which forms the best land for tillage
in Scotland, while it is partially included within the
limits of the coal-measures, the shire combines both
agricultural and some little mining industries, and so
maintains a large population of 41,000 inhabitants.
Besides the chief town it contains the mining town of
Borroivstoneness or Bo'ness on the Firth of Forth ;
and the agricultural town of Bathgate^ lying on its
eastern border.
VI. The county of Edinburgh which borders
Linlithgow on the east, and forms the district of Mid-
Lothian^ is in the same manner made up of the
territory surrounding the city of Edinburgh. From
the shores of the Forth it extends southwards in the
form of a rough crescent bent round the extremity of
the Pentland Hills : one horn stretches to the south-
West between Linlithgow and Lanark; the other
344 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
reaches to the south-east between Peebles and
Berwick, and includes the Muirfoot Hills. From the
Pentland Hills on the southern border of the shire
outlying spurs are thrown out to the northward which
reach as far as the Forth, where they terminate in the
abrupt heights of Arthur's Seat and Castle Rock
rising out of the valley of the little river Leith shortly
before it pours itself into the Forth. On Castle Rock
and in the valley below it lie the fortress and city of
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The geogra-
phical position of this city was always one of great
political importance, lying as it did where the main
road from England, after skirting the Lowland Hills,
opened into the centre of the Plain, and where the
estuary of the Forth formed the highway of commu-
nication with Europe. Situated among rich agricul-
tural plains, it is mainly important as a centre of
government and the seat of a University, and is in a
very slight degree an industrial city; and hence its
population is less than half that of Glasgow, amount-
ing to only 200,000 persons. Its seaport, Leith on
the Forth, lies so close to Edinburgh as to form prac-
tically a suburb of the city, and contains 44,000 in-
habitants. Other ports of less consequence line the
shore of the estuary, such as Musselburgh and Porto-
hello. The only inland town with as many as 5,000
inhabitants is Dalkeith on the eastern limits of the
shire.
The whole area of the county is only 362 square
miles, while it contains 328,379 inhabitants, a larger
number for its size than any other shire in Scotland.
IX.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 345
The bulk of its people, as we have seen, are gathered
in the capital and by the borders of the Forth, where
they find employment in the shipping trade. But the
inland districts have also varied sources of wealth
both in the rich agriculture which characterises the
Lothians, and in the mines and manufactures of silk
and wool due to the coal-measures that overlap the
limits of the shire.
VII. The last county comprised within the basin
of the Forth is Haddington, ox East Lothian, yrhich
extends from the shire of Edinburgh eastward as far
as the mouth of the estuary. Its southern boundary
is formed by the Lammermuir Hills, which shut it
off from Berwick, and form a steep wall of cliffs over-
looking the plain that stretches from their base to
the shore of the Forth, a plain broken by isolated
hills such as North Berwick Law on the northern
coast. Across the centre of this plain flows the river
Tyne, having on its banks the little county town Ifad-
dingtorty which gives its name to the shire ; and near
its mouth the castle and village of Dunbar, situated
on a rocky promontory jutting out into the North
Sea.
The area of Haddingtonshire is 271 square miles ;
its rich agricultural plain, which is cultivated with
great skill, supports a comparatively large population
for a rural district, 37,770 persons.
[B.] The Counties of the Clyde are three in
number, but these three shires, I^nark, Dumbarton,
and Renfrew occupy a tract of land only 400 square
miles less in extent than that covered by all the
346 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
counties of the Forth basin. The Clyde does not, like
the Forth, form a dividing line which parts between the
shires on either side of it, for the greater part of its
valley lies right through the centre of Lanarkshire,
and it is mainly its estuary that separates between the
counties of Renfrew and Dumbarton. The basin of
the Clyde, with the counties which it includes, is also
distinguished from that of the Forth by containing
the more important part of the coal-measures of the
central plain, and represents therefore the manufac-
turing and commercial activity of Scotland to a far
greater degree than the basin of the Forth, whose
industry is mainly agricultural.
I. Lanarkshire, the largest county of the Low-j
land Plain, occupies the centre of this plain, lyin^
wholly inland midway between the eastern am
western seas. It coincides exactly with the basin ojj
the Clyde from its source to near the head of it^
estuary. To the north and east the boundaries ol
the shore lie along the line of waterparting that run^
between the rivers of the Atlantic and the North Sea
for where it touches Dumbarton, Linlithgow, and Had-^
dington, Lanarkshire is parted from the basin of th(
Forth ; and where it marches with Peebles from the*
basin of the Tweed. On the south the waterparting of
the Lowland Hills divides it from Dumfries and the
watershed of the Solway Firth ; while to the west a
ridge of igneous rocks cuts it off from the basins of
the Ayrshire rivers.
The shire thus clearly defined for us by the river-
basin in which it lies, has an area of 889 square miles,
IX.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 347
an area equal to nearly half the extent of the
counties of the Forth. It is composed of parts of
very different character. The upper valley of the
Clyde, or Clydesdale, has the form of a wedge driven
into the midst of the Lowland Hills, and shares in
their characteristic scenery — a waste uncultivated tract
of country with smooth rounded hills and wide bleak
pasture lands. From this pastoral district the river
enters by a series of rapid Falls on its lower agricul-
tural valley, where just below the Falls the little
county town Lanark lies amid cultivated hollows of
orchards and cornfields, dotted with thriving villages.
These, however, give place as the river passes on to
the busy life of a manufacturing district, where the
\ alley is marked by coal-pits, chimneys, blast furnaces,
a dense population, and great towns darkened under
their perpetual pall of smoke.
On the left bank of the river lies Hamilton^ at the
junction of the Avon with the Clyde ; to the eastward
of the stream are the towns of Wishaw and Mother-
well, with Airdrie and Coatbridge on a little affluent
of the Clyde. Close to the estuary, however, there
lies a far greater town than these, Glasgow, the centre
of a host of lesser ones of which Rutherglen, Govan,
and Partick lie within the limits of the shire, while
many more gather along the borders of neighbouring
counties where they form a group of dependant
manufacturing towns. The centre of this group,
Glasi^'ow, is the third greatest city of the British
Islands, with a population of 480,000 persons, and
far exceeds any other town in Scotland in size and
348 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
wealth. Its factories, between 3,000 and 4,000 in
number and employing about 100,000 workmen, are
engaged in a remarkable variety of manufactures, for
Glasgow has its cottonspinning like Manchester, its
silk-weaving like Macclesfield, its clothmaking like
Leeds, its manufacture of jute like Dundee, its
potteries like Worcester, its metal-works like Bir-
mingham, and its shipbuilding and fitting out of
steam vessels like Newcastle. To these and other
lesser industries it adds another advantage in which it
resembles Liverpool, that of being the natural centre
of trade and commerce for the whole surrounding
district, and in fact for the whole of the Lowland
Plain even as far as Falkirk eastward. Into Glas-
gow, as we have seen, all the wealth of the plain is
poured, and through its port nearly all the foreign
commerce of Scotland passes — a commerce which is
fed by the inexhaustible resources of the New World
towards which the estuary of the Clyde opens. With
this wealth of industrial resources, Lanarkshire con-
tains 765,340 inhabitants, that is, in its area of less
than 900 square miles it has a population equal to
two-thirds of the population of the vast district which
constitutes the group of the Highland counties.
II. The Clyde, which traverses the centre of Lan-
arkshire, widens to its estuary soon after passing out
of the limits of that county, and its course then forms
the line of division between two lesser shires. Along
the northern banks of the estuary stretches the county
of Dumbarton, formerly known as the Lennox, a
county of only 241 square miles in extent, and of very
rx.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND PLAIN. 349
irregular form. The bulk of it consists of the district
that immediately surrounds the town of Dutnbarton^
whose famous castle on a steep rock of 500 feet in
height stands where the Leven imites its waters with
the Clyde, and thence overlooks and guards the Firth.
This commanding position made of Dumbarton the
capital of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde.
From the bank of the Firth a long thin wedge of
country extends northwards into the Highland district
between the waters of Loch Long and Loch Lomond,
lakes which sever this part of the shire from the
counties of Argyle and Stirling to west and east The
town of Helensburgh^ situated on a sea loch opening
from the Firth of Clyde, here marks the meeting point
of the plain and the southernmost spurs of the High-
land rocks. The shire of Dumbarton also possesses
an outlying tract of land imbedded between Stirling
and Lanark, and included within the mining district ;
this detached fragment is marked by the manufacturing
town of Kirkintilloch.
The position of Dumbarton on the estuary of the
Clyde, and its neighbourhood to the manufacturing
centre of Glasgow, give it a comparatively large
population of 58,857 persons.
HI. The southern bank of the estuary of the
Clyde, opposite to Dumbarton, is bordered by a tract
of low-lying land which forms the shire of Renfrew.
"With an area of 247 square miles, it extends from the
river side southward to the crest of a low ridge of
igneous rocks which part it from Ayrshire, and stretches
westward to the borders of Lanarkshire.
350 GEOGRAPHY. [chap. ix.
The county of Renfrew is the most thickly peopled
district in all Scotland, containing within its narrow
limits of 245 square miles, nearly 217,000 inhabitants.
This it owes to the advantages of its geographical posi-
tion. Its eastern portion, lying within the coal-mea-
sures, and bordering so closely as it does on Glasgow,
the centre of industrial activity in Scotland, is the seat
of extensive manufactures, such as those of Pollock-
shaws, Barrhead, yohnstone, and Paisley, the most
important of all, with its factories for wool, silk,
cotton, musUn, and shawls, which are famous in all
parts of the world.
On the other hand, the western half of Renfrew,
which lies along the estuary, includes the great ship-
building docks for which the Clyde is noted, and
some seaport towns which lie near the mouth of the
river, such as Port Glasgow, Greenock, and Gourock.
The two largest towns of Renfrew — Greenock and
Paisley — are among the greatest towns in Scotland,
for their population of 57,000 and 47,000 give them
a place among the first six towns of the country. In
importance they rank far before the little county town
Renfrew, with its 4,000 inhabitants, which lies midway
between them.
CHAPTER X.
THE COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND HILLS.
The eight counties which occupy the slopes of the
Lowland Hills, and thence overlap in parts the borders
of the plain, cover an extent of country equal to over
5,000 square miles. In general character they are
ail alike, consisting mainly of the tracts of pastoral
upland which constitute the hill country, broken by
narrow river-valleys and glens where, sheltered by the
bare smooth slopes on either side, a little tillage is
carried on. So solitary and thinly-peopled is the
whole district that throughout the length and breadth
of the Lowland Hills there are but four towns with
over 5,000 inhabitants. The contrast which they
present to the Lowland Plain is strikingly shown in
the shire of Ayrshire, which extends northwards into
the low country, and there within a very narrow
compass contains as many as three important towns,
of which two are larger than any in the Lowland
Hills.
352 GEOGRAPPIY. [chap.
The main waterparting of Scotland, as it strikes
across the Lowland Hills from north to south, so
divides between the shires which lie to right and left
of it as to break them into two groups corresponding
to the two watersheds, {a) The four south-western
counties, those of Ayr, Wigton, Kirkcudbright, and
Dumfries, drain their waters into the western sea.
{b) The four north-eastern shires, on the other hand,]
Peebles, Selkirk, Roxburgh, and Berwick, drain their
waters into the eastern sea. These two groups we
shall therefore consider separately.
[A] The South-Western Counties occupy a
district twice as great in extent as those of the north-
east, and are all maritime shires.
I. The first of these counties, Ayrshire, is a semi-
circular tract of country bordering the Firth of Clyde,
and shut in by hills on the land side where its
boundaries run along the crest of the heights that
enclose it. To the north-east a low belt of igneous
rocks parts it from the counties of the Plain, Renfrew
and Lanark ; while to the south-east the mountains of
Black Larg, Merrick, and the Carrick Hills, divide it
from the Hill counties of Kirkcudbright, Dumfries, and
Wigton. From these heights are thrown down a num-
ber of small streams, such as the Ayr, the Doon, and
the Irvine, which traverse the shire and pour themselves
into the western sea.
Ayrshire itself, with its area of 1,128 square miles,
is the largest shire of southern Scotland. It is broken
into three districts with clearly-defined differences of
character. To the northward, Cunninghame stretches
X.J COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND HILLS. 353
beyond the Lowland Plain with its coal-measures into
the hilly tract of the igneous coast ranges; Kyki in
the centre of the shire, occupies the border land where
the Plain and the Hills meet; while Carrick^ in the
south, stretches up into the Hill district, and is marked
by all the features of its wild upland scenery.
The chief centres of population naturally lie in the
low ground on the coal-measures, where the seaport
of Ayr^ the county town, with nearly 1 8,000 inhabit-
ants, and the lesser port of Irvine^ form the outlets of
the manufacturing district that lies behind them, and
of which the capital is Kilmarnock^ with a population
of 23,700. In fact, so thickly are the people massed
together round the mines and factories of the coal
strict that Ayrshire with 200,000 inhabitants contains
-iitle less than half the whole population gathered
in the shires of the Lowland Hills.
II. The three remaining counties of the south
western group lie on the southern watershed of the
Lowland Hills, and drain their waters into the Solway
Firth.
Wigton, the smallest of these shires, with an area
of 485 square miles, is made up of two irregular
peninsulas. One of these, the Rhinns of Galloway,
projects into the North Channel between Loch Ryan
and Luce Bay, and its westernmost point, marked
by Portpatnck^ is but twenty-two miles distant from
the opposite coast of Ireland. The second penin-
sula, which includes a great part of the Galloway
Hills, extends southward into the Solway Firth.
The surface of the county, with its low hills and
A A
354 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
reaches of rough moorland, is throughout of a
barren and mountainous character ; and hence its
population is comparatively small, amounting only to
38,830. All its towns lie along the coast on little
harbours. Wigton, the county town is hardly more
than a village ; Stran7'aer on Loch Ryan is a port of
somewhat more consequence.
III. To eastward of Wigton, and parted from it by
the little river Cree, lies the much greater county of.
Kirkcudbright. This shire, with an area of
square miles, lies in the form of a rough square on the
southern slopes of the Lowland Hills. Its north-
western boundary, which adjoins Ayrshire, runs along
the crest of the heights that form the waterpartin^
from Merrick to Black Larg; while a belt of higl
ground thrown down from Black Larg to the Solwa)
Firth near Crififel, severs it from Dumfries on the east
as well as from the valley of the Nith.
The shire so inclosed is traversed right throngh it
centre by the river Dee and its affluent the Ken, while
to right and left of the valleys formed by these rivers
rise long reaches of hill and upland. To westward
lie the undulating lines of the Hills of Galloway;
and to eastward the ground rises to the crest of the
uplands which mark the western limits of the valley
of the Nith. The broad moorland solitudes which
thus constitute the bulk of the shire form one of the
most thinly-peopled districts in the Lowlands : even^
in the valley of the Dee there are but two villages'
that contain a little over 2,000 inhabitants, Kirkcud-
bright^ the county town on the river estuary; and
X.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND HILLS. 355
Castle Douglas. The population of the whole shire
is less than 42,000.
IV. The county of Dumfries, which lies to the
east of Kirkcudbright, occupies that great tract of the
southern watershed, over 1,000 square miles in extent,
which comprises the valleys of Nithsdale, Annandale,
and Eskdale. Its northern and eastern limits are
accurately marked by the high belt of ground that
forms the central ridge and waterparting of the Low-
land Hills, for the sinuous line which passes over the
crest of the Lowther Hills and Queensberry Hill to
the north of the shire and severs it from Lanark-
shire, severs it too from the basin of the Clyde ; while
to the north-east and east, where Hart Fell, Ettrick
n, and Wisp Hill mark the boundaries of Peebles,
Selkirk, and Roxburgh, they also mark the limits of
the basin of the Tweed.
Shut off in this manner alike from the river basins of
the north and east, Dumfries is itself traversed, as we
have seen, by all the principal streams which empty
their waters into the inner part of the Solway Firth.
The western half of the county forms the basin of the
Nith, at whose mouth lies the county town, Dumfries^
which with its 15,450 inhabitants is one of the most
populous places of the Lowland Hills. Though situated
nine miles above the mouth of the river, it yet forms a
seaport of some consequence owing to the daily tides
which carry vessels into its harbour.
The valley of the Annan, in the eastern half of the
shire, corresponds to that of the Nith in the western,
and is parted from it by the Lowther and Queens*
A A a
356 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
berry hills. The picturesque little vale of Moffatdale,
which opens into it under Hart Fell, is noted both for
its wild scenery with deep dark glens and defiles, and
for its mineral springs. At the mouth of the Annan lies
a small port, AnTiany not a fifth the size of Dumfries.
The Esk as it takes up the waters of the Liddel marks
the point where Dumfries touches English soil. Near
its mouth lies the low reach of marsh known as Solway
Moss, which by laborious cultivation and drainage has
now been rendered fertile soil.
The population of Dumfries, over 74,800, is com-
paratively large for a shire in the Lowland hills.
[B] The North-Eastern Counties form also a
group of four shires, which however are only equal
in extent to about one-half of the south-western
group, and differ from those counties in the fact that
they lie for the most part inland.
These four shires are closely linked together by one
great river, the Tweed, whose entire course lies among
them, and into whose channel almost all their waters
are poured. From its source on the western border of
Peebles, the Tweed passes eastward across Selkirk, and
thence winds along the borders of Roxburgh and jBer-
wick to its estuary, taking up through Roxburgh the
drainage of the Cheviot Mountains, and through Ber-
wick that of the Lammermuir Hills. Thus the group-
ing of these shires lying on the borders of England
closely resembles the arrangement of the English
county groups.
I. Peebles, part of which coincides with the older
district of Tweeddale, forms the upper basin of the
X.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND HILLS. 357
Tweed. By Hart Fell to the south it is severed from
the watershed of the Solway Firth and from Dumfries :
by the Pentland hills to the north it is cut off from the
basin of the Forth and Edinburghshire ; to westward
Culter Fell and the main waterparting line divide it
from Lanarkshire and the basin of the Clyde; and
to eastward the heights stretching from Hart Fell by
Broad Law to Dollar Law mark the border of Selkirk,
into which county the river finally breaks as it passes
out of Peebles.
The upper valley of the Tweed, thus closely hemmed
in between the heights which bound it to east and
west, is of a wild and barren character, a solitude
(jf moorland and narrow mountain glens fitted only
r sheep-pasture. Within its area of 354 square miles
ii contains but a scanty population of little over 12,000
people, and its 'county town, Peebles^ lying on the
Tweed as it bends eastwards between Dollar Law and
the Muirfoot hills, is a mere village.
H. As the Tweed passes out of Peebles it enters
on the shire of Selkirk, whose northern portion it
traverses on its way eastward to Roxburgh. Selkirk,
which coincides with the wild district of Ettrick Forest,
consists mainly of the basin of the Ettrick, an af-
tluent of the Tweed thrown down from Ettrick Pen
on the southern borders of the shire where it adjoins
Dumfries. Parallel to Ettrickdale runs a second glen,
that of Yarrowdale, in which lie St Mary's Loch and
the stream of the Yarrow, which empties itself into
the Ettrick close to the little county town, Selkirk. A
narrow belt of land that lies along the northern banks
of the Tweed and adjoins Edinburghshire contains
358 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
the manufacturing town of Galashiels^ where woollen
goods and tweeds are largely made, and whose popu-
lation of nearly 10,000 makes it one of the most
considerable towns of the Lowland Hills.
The whole population of the shire is about 14,000.
If from this number we take away the 12,000 com-
prised in the two towns above mentioned, we shall
realise the solitude of the wide moorland reaches,
257 square miles in extent, which form the county of
Selkirk.
III. The Tweed as it flows eastward from Selkirk
divides between the counties of Roxburgh and Ber-
wick. From the river valley Roxburgh extends south-
ward to the English border, with which it marches for
the whole length of the Cheviot Mountains, from the
Liddel to near the mouth of the Tweed.
The shire is broken into two unequal parts by a
belt of uplands marked by Wisp Hill, Peel Fell, and
Carter Fell, which connect the Lowland hills with
the Cheviot mountains, and form the southern ex-
tremity of the Scotch waterparting. On the western
watershed of these hills lies Liddisdale, through which
the Liddel passes into Dumfries and so to the Sol way
Firth. The eastern watershed is much more extensive,
and comprises the greater valley of Teviotdale, tra-
versed by the Teviot as it carries the drainage of the
surrounding hill country to the Tweed.
Teviotdale naturally forms the centre of population
of the shire, since it adds to the pastoral industry of
the hill-slopes on either hand a considerable manu-
facture of wool and hosiery. Its chief manufacturing
town, Hawick, has 11,000 inhabitants; the county town,
X.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND HILLS. 359
yedburgh^ however, lower down the river, is littie better
than a village, and is even smaller than Kelso with its
4,000 inhabitants, which lies at the junction of the
Teviot with the Tweed. Melrose^, to the westward of
it, is a village with some famous abbey ruins, situated
where the Tweed winds round the solitary group of
the Eildon Hills.
The entire population of Roxburgh, in an area of
665 square miles, amounts to nearly 54,000 persons.
IV. On the northern banks of the Tweed, opposite
to Roxburgh, lies the shire of Berwick, the only mari-
time county of this group. To westward it touches the
sliirc of Edinburgh, and to northward is parted from
that of Haddington by the Laramermuir hills, whose
)uthern slopes extend into Berwick, where they are fur-
rowed by the streams that constitute the chief northern
affluents of the Tweed. Of these the more important
are the Whitcaddcr and the Lauder, the latter of which
gives to western Berwick its name of Lauderdale. The
county is famous for its great fertility and excellent
farming, but it contains no large town. Berwick-on-
Tweed, lying on the English border, was once a port of
great consequence, and formed the ancient capital of
the shire, but having been taken from Scotland by the
English, it was constituted into a separate district inde-
pendent of the Scotch kingdom. The present county
town of the shire, Greenlaw^ is a mere village, with 800
inhabitants ; not far from it lies a second larger village,
Dunse.
Nearly 36,500 people are comprised within the limitf
of Berwick, with its area of 460 square miles.
36o
GEOGRAPHY.
[chap.
County.
Chief Towns.
Area in
Si. Miles.
Population.
Coimties of the HigJilands.
Orkney & Shetland
Kirkwall . .
935
62,877
Caithness . . .
Wick . . .
712
39,989
Sutherland . .
Dornoch . .
1,886
23,686
Ross & Cromarty
Dingwall . .
3,151
80,909
Inverness . . .
Inverness
4,255
.87,480
Argyle ....
Inverary . .
3,255
75,679
Bute
Rothesay . .
217
16,977
Nairn ....
Nairn . . .
215
10,213
Elgin ....
Elgin . . .
531
43,598
Banff ....
Banff . . .
686
62,010
Aberdeen . . .
Aberdeen . .
1,970
244,607
Kincardine . .
Stonehaven .
394
34,651
Forfar ....
Forfar . .
889
237,528
Perth ....
Coimti
Perth . . .
?s of the Low Ian
2,834
127,741
21,930
<i Plain.
1,148,145
Fife
Cupar . . .
513
160,310
Kinross ....
Kinross . .
78
7,208
Clackmannan . .
Clackmannan
36
23,742
Stirling ....
Stirling . .
462
98,179
Linlithgow . . .
Linlithgow .
127
41,191
Edinburgh . . .
Edinburgh .
367
328,335
Haddington . .
Haddington .
280
37,770
Lanark ....
Lanark . .
889
765,279
Dumbarton . .
Dumbarton .
320
58,837
Renfrew
Renfrew . .
247
216,919
3,319
T,737,77o
1
X.] COUNTIES OF THE LOWLAND HILLS. 361
Country.
Chief Towns.
Area in
Sq. Miles.
Population.
Counties of the Lowland Hills.
Ayrshire . . .
Ayr . . .
1,128
200,809
Wigton ....
Wigton . .
485
38,830
Kirkcudbright
Kircudbright
898
41,859
Dumfries . . .
Dumfries . .
1,063
74,808
Peebles ....
Peebles . .
354
12,300
Selkirk ....
Selkirk . .
257
14,005
Roxburgh . . .
Jedburgh . .
665
53,974
Berwick . . .
Greenlaw
460
36,486
5,310
473.071
. IRELAND.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND.
Ireland, the second of the two islands which make
up the British group, lies off the western shores of
Great Britain, and is bounded to north, south, and
west by the Atlantic Ocean, which stretches away
from it to the westward in an unbroken expanse of
sea for nine thousand miles to the continent of Ame-
rica. It thus forms the extremity of Europe, and the
last fragment of that great tract of land which
stretches eastward across Asia to Behring's Straits.
From its neighbour island, however, it is parted only
by narrow straits. The Irish Sea, which divides it
from England, opens out to north and south by two
channels into the Atlantic Ocean : these are the North
Channel, which runs between Ireland and Scotland,
and is at its narrowest part only thirteen miles wide ;
and St. George's Channel, which flows between Ireland
I
cii. I.] GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND. 363
and Wales, and is four times as broad as the first. Of
the general characteristics of Ireland, in size and physi-
cal structure, we have already spoken (see pp. 8, 9),
and we have noted how great an influence is exerted
by its position on the character of its population,
as well as on its climate (see p. 5), and through its
climate on the nature of its agriculture. Here, there-
fore, we may pass at once to survey in detail its inner
characteristics, the nature of its mountains and
plains, the extent of its river valleys, and the general
type of its coast.
Mountain Masses. — In form Ireland is broader,
shorter, and more compact than its fellow island of
Britain. Roughly speaking, it is something like a
lozenge set comer-wise in the ocean, having its four
sides marked by,lines drawn between the headlands
of Fair Head in the north-east, Erris Head in the
north-west, Mizen Head in the south-west, and Corn-
sare Point in the south-east. Within the space which
these lines inclose lies a country wholly different in
structure and internal character from England or Scot-
Iland. It is in effect a great plain, a plain broken here
and there by low hills, and only rising towards the
sea-coast into mountain ranges of a date geologically
far more ancient than the plain itself. We can best
realise the character of this mountain ring by sup-
posing the land to sink down a little into the sea, as
has happened already in past ages. In such a case
Ireland would form a vast lake dotted with islands,
surrounded by a ring of land fonned by the moun-
tains which now border the coast, and with but
364 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
two openings to the sea, where breaks occur in this
mountain-ring, one at Galway Bay, and a much wider
one at DubHn Bay. The different parts, however, of
the encircling hill-ranges vary much in character. On
the north and on the south they widen into a broad
belt of highlands, along the west they run in a narrower
border-line, while on the eastern side of the county
two clusters of mountains stand like massive portals
on either side of the level reach of shore about Dublin
Bay, an opening which forms a huge gateway to the
central plain from the side of Europe.
The Northern Highlands of Ireland are made
up of the mountains of Antrim on the north-east and of
Donegal on the north-west. The Mountains of Antrim
constitute a broad high tableland, ending abruptly
on the sea-coast in precipitous cliffs, and broken by
steep hills, such as Mount Trosta7i (1,800 feet) near
the sea. The Mountains of Donegal form a much
higher and bolder mass of mountains cut by steep
valleys running from north-east to south-west. Many
of them have an elevation of 2,000 feet ; their greatest
height is reached in Mount Errigal (2,462 feet), while
to the south-west Slieve League rises sharply almost out
of the sea to nearly as great a height as Errigal.
The Antrim and Donegal Mountains are connected
by the lower ranges of the Carntogher and Sperrin
Mountains^ from which outlying lines of hills run
southwards, so that the whole of northern Ireland
above a line drawn from Dundalk Bay to Sligo Bay
has a more or less mountainous character.
I.] GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND. 365
The Western Highlands.— The northernmost of
these, the mountains of Connaught, form two peninsulas
projecting into the Atlantic between Sligo and Galway
Bays, and parted from each other by Clew Bay.
The northern peninsula consists of the Mountains of
Mayo, the chief of which are the Nephin Beg Moun-
tains, yet higher and wilder than those of Donegal;
these run westward from their chief summit, Nephin,
2,646 feet high, and terminate in the bold cliffs of
Achill Island, which reach a height of from 900 to
1,800 feet. A range of lesser elevation runs north-
eastward to Downpatrick Head. The southern penin-
sula consists of the Connemara Mountains, which reach
their greatest height near the coast, and lie sometimes
in isolated masses of granite, like Croagh Patrick,
and Mulrea, and sometimes cluster in groups like
the Twelve Pins of Bunnabeola.
Passing southwards by the scattered heights of
Clare, we reach a south-western group formed by
the Mountains of Kerry. These consist of three
peninsulas, parted from each other by Tralee, Dingle,
Kenmare, and Bantry Bays. In the northernmost of
these peninsulas, Brandon Hill, the second in height
among Irish mountains, rises to over 3,000 feet ; the
central peninsula is occupied by a range in which we
find the highest peaks in Ireland, the Macgillicuddy
Reeks, whose loftiest summits reach 3,400 feet ; while
the southernmost is composed of the mountains of
Glengariff.
The Southern Highlands.— In the south, as in
the north, the mountain-ring widens into a broad belt
366 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
of hilly country, made up for the most part of parallel
ranges running eastward and westward between the
coast and the central plain. The Kerry Mountains
are prolonged eastward by the Bochragh Hills, whose
line is continued across the valley of the Blackwater by
the Knockmealdown Range to the hills of Waterford,
North of this line runs the parallel range of the Gal-
tees, and again still further to the north the Silvermine
and Slievebloom Hills stretch away north-eastward along
the bounds of the central plain.
The Eastern Highlands. — These are composed
of those two circular masses of granite mountains
which we have already described as the portals to
the great gateway of the west. The southern group,
that of the Wicklow Mountains, is the larger and
more remarkable of the two. Its greatest height,
Lugnaquilla (over 3,000 feet), is loftier than any of
the Irish mountains except the two chief summits of
Kerry, and like the Kerry mountains, this group con-
tains lakes and waterfalls which have made it only
second to the mountains of the south-west in the
beauty of its scenery.
A long range of low shore which stretches to the
north of Wicklow parts its mountains from a second
mass of granite rocks, the Mourne Mountains. These
form a small compact group projecting into the sea
between the bays of Dundalk and Dun drum. Their
highest summit, Slieve-Donard, rises 2,796 feet above
the sea, and is surrounded by a number of peaks which
exceed 2,000 feet in elevation.
The Plain. — The great plain of limestone rock
1.] GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND. 367
which is girded about with these mountains was
once covered with dense forest and is still luxuri-
antly wooded. It is now an immense pasture-field,
which gives to Ireland its name of the Emerald Isle.
Its surface is scarcely broken by a few low hills, and
the only interruption to its abundant fertility are the
tracts of bog land which lie across its centre. Two
lines drawn across the island from Dublin to Galway,
and from Wicklow to Sligo, will take in between them
the chief part of this bog-land, which forms not one
morass, but a number of small bogs separated by
ridges of cultivated land, and provides the turf used
for firing in the absence of coal. The plain itself is
traversed by but one large river, which gathers up
into its basin a multitude of little streams, by which
tlie lowland is watered ; but this river, the Shannon^
the greatest in the British Islands, and from its
mouth almost to its source forms a highway for trade
into the heart of the land.
Lakes. — Besides this vast plain, Ireland possesses
another characteristic feature in the multitude of its
lakes. The bulk of these lie in the plain itself, and
among the lower slopes of the hills, and extend over
one half of the island, that half which lies to the
north west of a slanting line drawn from Belfast
Lough to Kenraare Bay.
In this feature Ireland resembles that part of Britain
which is most opposed to it in structure, the Highlands
of Scotland ; but in tlieir distribution and relation to
each other its lakes differ widely from those of either
Scdlland or England, for while the latter lie isolated
368 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
from each other in lines radiating from some central
point, the Irish lakes form long chains of water linked
to each other by connecting rivers.
They may be divided into five distinct groups.
(i.) LfOUgh Neagh lies all by itself below the
Antrim Mountains ; extending as it does over an area
of 150 square miles it is the greatest inland lake in
the British Islands, while in the whole of Europe
there are but three larger than it.
(2.) The Lakes of the River Erne form a long
chain running from the central plain to Donegal Bay.
The chief of these are the Upper and Lower Erne,
connected by the river of the same name.
(3.) The Lakes of the Shannon are a long series
of waters beginning near Sligo Bay, and linked together
by the Shannon, to whose estuary they extend. The
greatest among these are Lough Allen, Lough Rea, and
Lough Derg.
(4.) The chief Lakes of Connemara are Lough
Mask and Lough Corrib, which are joined together by
an underground channel.
(5.) The Killarney Lakes are three in number,
the Upper, Middle, and Lower lakes, all of which
open into each other. They are extremely beautiful
in scenery, lying as they do at the feet of the highest
mountains of the island, the Macgillicuddy Reeks.
The River System of Ireland is wholly unHke that
of Britain in its character. In Britain the rivers rise
in the western heights, and crossing the centre of the
country fall into the eastern sea. But in Ireland,
owing to the encircling girdle of mountains, t|ie
I.] GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND. 369
rivers have a very different course. Having their
sources in these bordering heights, they fall into the
sea on the same side of the island on which they
rise, without ever crossing the central plain. This
plain is in fact only traversed by the one great ex-
ception to the general rule, the Shannon, and by the
small streams which form its tributaries.
The Rivers of the West.— The Shannon, the
greatest river of the British Islands, rises in the
lowest outskirts of the broad belt of hills which
crosses noithern Ireland, passes through the central
plain in a long scries of lakes, taking up only one im-
portant tributary, the Suck, from the western heights,
and at last, after crossing the most fertile soil of the
country in a course of 224 miles, opens into the At-
'- lantic by a magnificent estuary sixty miles long, and
from one to eleven miles broad. It is the only navi-
gable river of Ireland, since it alone has a course
long enough to allow it to grow to any size ; and its
waters are traversed by a number of steam vessels
carrying passengers and the cattle of which its chief
trade consists. On the same western coast with the
Shannon are two small rivers having their course in
an opposite direction to the north, the Afoy, which
falls into Killala Bay, and the Erne, which passes
into Donegal Bay.
The Rivers of the North are few and small : the
FoyU, which enters into Lough Foyle ; and the Bann,
which rises in the Mourne Mountains, passes through
/<'//^'// Neagh and falls into the Atlantic
'i he Rivers of the East arc equally unimportant:
B B
370 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
they are the Lagan, which has a very short course to
Belfast Lough : the Boyne, whose course Ues midway
between the Mourne and Wicklow Mountains, and
which falls into the sea at Drogheda, where it forms
a small harbour : and the Liffey, at whose mouth
stands the capital of Ireland, Dublin.
The Rivers of the South are more important,
for each one of these forms at its mouth a valuable
harbour. The easternmost of these are the Slaney and
the Barroiv, which flow in parallel courses due south,
and open out into the estuaries of Wexford Haven and
Waterford Harbour. The valley of the Barrow forms
the dividing line between the Wicklow Mountains of
the east coast and the ranges of the southern coast ;
from the westward it takes up two tributaries, the Nore
and the Suir. The course of the Suir is remarkable,
since the lower valley of the river lies due west and
east, and thus exactly follows the direction into which
all the remaining southern rivers are thrown by the
parallel mountain ranges of this coast.
The Blackwatei'y the Lee, and the Bandon, all rise
among the mountains of the south-west, and flow due
east to the sea through the valleys which run between
the mountain ridges. They form at their mouths
Yoiighal Harbour, the magnificent harbour of CorJz,
and Kins ale Harbour.
Coast-Line. — The same general features may be
traced in the character of the Irish coast-line as in
that of England and Scotland, but there are some
important differences, (i.) The northern and western
shores of Ireland are fringed by a border of islets,
I.] GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND. 371
but these being for the most part mere barren rocks,
are too small to afford the shelter given to Eng-
land and Scotland by their more important islands.
(2.) There is the same contrast as exists in Great Britain
between the eastern and western coasts, the western
being fenced by a wall of precipitous cliffs, torn into
rude and wild forms by the waves of a tempest-driven
ocean ; while the eastern is for the most part composed
of low, monotonous, sandy shores, stretching along a sea
at once shallower and tamer than the Atlantic. This
eastern coast, however, differs from that of Great
Britain in being twice broken by masses of high granite
mountains. (3.) The western coast is cleft by deep
bays and fiords capable of giving shelter to the largest
ships ; the eastern shore, on the other hand, is marked
^i>y shallow curves and inlets of the sea, and these,
not lying open like the bays of the west to the dash
of the Atlantic waves, are half choked by shoals, sand-
banks, and sunken rocks. (4.) A greater number
of rivers empty themselves into the eastern sea than
into the western ; but these rivers, unlike those of
Britain, arc too small to form good harbours at their
mouths, and the river of the west, the Shannon, is alone
of importance.
On the whole, therefore, Ireland like Great Britain
has its coasts deeply indented by the sea, so that the
entire length of its shore is over 2,000 miles, and no part
of the country can be more than fifty miles from good
navigation. It has also for its size a greater number of
natural harbours for large vessels than England or
Scotland ; but it is burdened by one disadvantage not
B a
372 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
shared in by Great Britain, since its greatest ports are
turned away from the nearest land for trading pur-
poses, and look out towards a vast ocean, which
during many hundred years of Irish history parted
Europe from the undiscovered lands of the New
World. The various ports which now exist on the
side nearest to England have been chiefly made by
artificial means, as the necessities of trade with the
only neighbouring country became more pressing.
The North Coast. — The northern coast is
much shorter than all the rest, and wild and rugged
in character like that of the west. It is cleft
by two deep inlets of the sea, Lough Swilly
and Lough Foyle, the latter of which forms a good
harbour. These are parted by a narrow mountain-
ous peninsula ending in Malin LLead. Horn Head
lies near the western extremity of the coast, while
Fair Head marks the eastern, only thirteen miles from
the Mull of Can tyre. Here the whole coast is formed
of volcanic rocks and beds of ancient lava : Fair
Head itself is formed of huge columns of old volcanic
rock, descending from the top of the cliff in steep
lines : Rathlin Lsland, hard by, is a continuation of
the same rocks : and the famous Gianfs Causezuay, a
little to the west, is a vast pile of perfectly regular
volcanic columns, projecting out into the sea for more
than I, coo feet.
The West Coast. — The western coast of Ire-
land is marked by very distinct natural features. As
in England, three great mountain- masses project into
the sea, whose rock-walls, like those of Scotland, are
I] GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND. 373
cut by deep bays and inlets which open to the south-
west and run deep into the land.
Between the northernmost of these peninsulas, that
of Donegal, and the central peninsula of Connaught,
stretches a great inward curve of sea, which is broken
along the coast into three smaller bays : the Bay of
Donegal, shut in by mountains ; the lesser but much
more important Bay of Sligo, which opens on a fertile
plain ; and Killala Bay, lying to the west of it.
The peninsula of Connaught is divided into two parts
by Clew Bay, with Clare Island lying at its mouth.
The coast to the north of this bay is very irregular ;
its chief feature is the strangely-formed peninsula of
Mullet, ending in Erris Head, which is attached to
the coast by a strip of land but half-a-mile wide, and
'^ '-ms with the mountainous rocks of Achill Island,
tick sod Bay.
Between the peninsula of Connaught and that of
Kerry lies a second great inward curve of sea, which
is broken like the former into three smaller bays
along the coast. The northernmost of these, Galway
Bay, with the small Arran Islands lying across its
opening, is an important harbour.
The estuary of the Shannon lies farther down the
coast, between the promontories of Loop Head and
Kerry Head, To the south of Kerry Head opens the
small bay of Tralee. The peninsula formed by the
Kerry Mountains in the extreme south-west is cleft by
a number of deep bays and arms of the sea, nearly
all of which afford excellent shelter for ships. The
chief of these to the south of Dunmon Head arc
374 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
three : Dingle Bay, Kenmare Bay, and Bantry Bay.
Small rocky islets are dotted along this rugged coast ;
of these Valencia Island, in Dingle Bay, is the only
one which can be cultivated.
Of these many harbours, the estuary of vthe Shannon,
with its port Limerick, is by far the most important.
The greater number of the other bays are shut out by
mountain ranges from easy communication with the
central plain, and their trade is very limited, being
often confined to fisheries alone.
The East Coast. — The eastern coast differs
greatly from the western in its long regular line of
low shore, broken only by two slightly projecting
mountain masses, the Mourne Mountains and the
Wicklow Mountains. Its central point is Dublin
Bay, which is sliut in to the north by the peninsula
of Howth Head, and has at its south-eastern opening
the artificial harbour of Kingstown. This bay, in
spite of its sandbanks, has become of great import-
ance for commerce, for Dublin is the great feeder of
the country, and gathers in for the whole of Ireland
the produce of foreign lands — tea, coffee, sugar, wood;
wine, &c.
The bays lying to the north of Dublin are
Dundalk and Dzindrum Bays, of little value foi
commerce ; between them the smaller but more im-
portant Carlingford Bay ; to the north of these
Strangford Bay, landlocked by the Ards peninsula,
and forming the only good natural harbour of the
eastern coast ; and beyond it Belfast Lough. Belfast
is, after Dublin, the great harbour of the east; but
I ] GENERAL VIEW OF IRELAND. 375
its trade lies, not in gathering goods into the
country, but in sending out the home manufac-
tures of linen and cotton. It is thus contrasted also
with Limerick, whose export trade lies in live cattle.
The lesser ports of the east export chiefly butter and
farm produce.
To the south of Dublin there is but one bay, that
of Wexford Haven : between it and Dublin the coast-
line is only broken by a few rocky promontories —
Cahore Pointy Wicklow Head, and Bray Head.
The South Coast. — The southern coast from
Carnsore Point lo Mizen Head somewhat resembles
the eastern in general character, but its bays, lying
open to the Atlantic, are not choked by sand-
banks, and its two chief harbours of Waterford and
Cork are naturally far superior to the harbours of
the east. Waterford Harbour, at the mouth of the
Barrow, is sheltered by Hook Head ; its trade lies
wholly in carrying cattle to Bristol. Cork,N-which is
completely land-locked, gives safe shelter to the
largest ships; it forms the only naval station in Ire-
land, and through it passes the whole commerce with
America, as well as a great cattle trade with England.
The Old Head of Kinsaie is a promontory guarding
the small harbour of Kinsaie; and between Ca/^e
Clear and Mizen Head lie two or three natural ports
capable of receiving large vessels, but only used for
fishing-boats. Cape Clear, the southern point of Clear
Islandf is a mere mass of barren clifts.
CHAPTER II.
THE IRISH COUNTIES.
The physical differences between Ireland and
Britain are reflected in the different character of their
political geography. In Britain the counties group
themselves in the river-basins of the country, and their
boundaries are in many cases determined by its lines
of waterparting. The commerce, too, and industry
which come of the mineral wealth of Britain have
made its towns the most important element of its
social and political life. But in Ireland we find none of
the physical conditions which produce these results.
Its river-system, save for the Shannon, plays Httle part
in its geography ; mineral wealth it has none, and its
commerce and industry, save at one point in the
north, remain insignificant. Its shires, therefore, and
its groups of shires, do not correspond with the areas
of river-basins : nor have they been formed by the
force of physical circumstances. They represent
for the most part either the territories of old Irish
tribes, or artificial divisions made by their English
CH. 11.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 377
conquerors; and the new Provinces into which they
are grouped correspond roughly with the areas of
kingdoms into which the island was split up while
it remained independent. Before the invasion of the
English Ireland was divided into five kingdoms —
Ulster, Connaught, Munster, Leinster, and Meath, the
% two last of which subsequently became one. These
kingdoms still survive in the four Provinces into which
Ireland is broken up. The modern Ulster lies north of
a line from Donegal Bay to Carlingford Bay; Con-
naught stretches along the western coast from Donegal
Bay to Galway Bay, and reaches inland as far as
Leitrim and the line of the Shannon ; Munster
includes the south-western and southern shore from
Galway Bay to Waterford Harbour, and its inland
border runs along the eastern limits of Tipperary to
AVaterford ; the remainder of the island along the
stern coast from Waterford Harbour to . Carlingford
liiy forms the province of Leinster.
The relation of town and country is a yet
more remarkable distinction between the two islands.
Though the population of Ireland is twice as
great as that of Scotland, yet there are more large
towns in the Scottish Lowlands alone than in the
whole of Ireland. The great plain which forms
the bulk of Ireland is more thickly peopled than
almost any part of Europe of the same area; it is
1 dotted all over with quiet country towns and hamlets.
But all of these are small and poor, and there is not
a single inland town of 20,000 inhabitants. The really
large towns of Ireland are id fact but seven in
378 GEOGRAPHY. [ch^.p
number — Dublin in the east, Belfast and Londonderrj
in the north, Limerick in the west, and Cork anc
Waterford in the south. But all of these lie on th<
sea-coast, and they form a thin fringe of sea-port;
which exist chiefly through their trade with England.
The four Irish Provinces are again divided intc
counties, of which there are thirty-two in all.
I. Ulster has an area of 8,555 square miles, anc
a population of 1,830,398; in proportion to its siz€
it is therefore the most densely peopled of the Irish
provinces. By population and industry it is dividec
into two distinct parts. The half lying to the west i;
peopled by the ancient Celtic races who fled to the
farthest mountains for shelter from the English in-
vasion, and have here preserved their old language,
In this part the industry is wholly pastoral and
agricultural. The half lying to the east has been
colonised by the Scotch, and is the only manufacturing
district in Ireland ; to its trade in linen and cottori
Ulster owes the upgrowth within its limits of two ol
the great towns of Ireland, Belfast and Londonderry.
It contains nine counties, four of which lie along the
coast.
(i.) Donegal, the north-western part of Ireland,
consists for the most part of a rugged mass of
mountains rising steeply from the Atlantic Ocean.
The county is bordered by the sea from the Bay of
Donegal to Lough Foyle. On its land side it is parted
from Fermanagh by Lough Erne and the river Erne ;
and from Tyrone and Londonderry by the river Foyle
and its affluents. The steep mountain ridges, parted
II.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 379
by deep and narrow valleys, which traverse it from
north-east to south-west, rise to their greatest height
near the western shore in Mount Errigal, while in the
north they run up between Lough Swilly and Lough
Foyle to Malin Head, the most northerly point of
Ireland. The country is barren and scarcely cultivated,
the river-valleys being dotted here and there with
villages, such as Liffordy the county town, on the Foyle,
Letterkenny on Lough Swilly, Ballyshannon on the
Erne as it enters Donegal Bay, and Donegal on the
bay itself.
(2.) Londonderry is a triangle wedged in be-
tween Antrim and Donegal on the east and west, with
Tyrone to the south, and having an opening northwards
to the Atlantic. Lough Foyle and Lough Neagh lie at
opposite extremities of the county, whose boundaries
are marked to east and west by the rivers connected
with these lakes, the Foyle, which empties itself into
Lough Foyle, and the Bann, which comes from Lough
Neagh. The county is much broken by mountains and
hilly ground ; the chief heights, the Sperrin Mountains^
hV on its southern border, and the lesser Camtogher
intains cross its centre. Agriculture is therefore
> ' ■ y poor and scanty, but the linen manufacture
lof the coast district has gathered to the shire twice
reat a population as is to be found in Donegal
ionderryy on the river Foyle ^ not far from the
1 ugh, is one of the two chief towns of northern Ire-
l.uul, and possesses 25,000 inhabitants. Coleraine on
the Bann, and Nnvtoum Limaimdy on the Roc, are
>niaU towns near the shores of the same bay.
33o GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
(3.) Antrim is a long narrow county on the north-
western coast, and is shut in on every side by water, being
bounded to north and east by the Channel that parts
Ireland from Scotland, on its western side by Lough
Neagh and the Bann, which sever it from Londonderry,
and on the south by the Lagan and Belfast Lough,
which part it from Down. Its mountains are chiefly
built up of old volcanic rock, such as those which
form the marvellous columns of the Gia7if s Causeway.
The highlands of the county constitute a high tableland
that extends along its eastern coast, and thence falls
gradually to Lough Neagh and the Bann valley, where
the land becomes fertile. But the population and in-
dustry of the county mainly gather round the shores of
the Belfast Lough, where the linen and cotton manu-
factures of Ireland centre. At the head of the Lough
is Belfast, the second greatest city in Ireland, with
175,000 inhabitants; on the north side of the same.^
Lough is Carrickfergus ; and Lagan, on the river of the
sanie name, lies at no great distance from its shores. ■
The only town of any size that lies apart from this
group is Ballymena, in the centre of the county.
(4.) Down is the fourth and last county of Ulster
which rests on the sea. Its long coast-line is deeply
indented by the Belfast Lough, Strangford Harbour,
Dundrum Bay, and Carlingford Bay. On the land
side it only touches two counties, Antrim and Armagh.
Its southern portion is occupied by a mass of rounded
granite heights, the Mour?ie Momitatns, and the rest
of the county is broken by scattered hills. The only
cultivation consists in small farms or fields of flax,
II.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 381
so that the linen manufacture is the main industry, and
this gives employment to many small towns. The more
important of these lie on the chief harbours, such as
Downpatrick and Newtoum Ards on Lough Strangford,
and Newry at the head of Carlingford Bay.
(5.) Tyrone, with Armagh, Fermanagh, Mon-
aghan, and Cavan, form the five inland shires of Ulster.
Tyrone stretches right across the centre of this
province from Lough Neagh to the Donegal Mountains,
having to northward Londonderry, and to southward
Armagh, Monaghan, and Fermanagh. To the north
and west it is hilly, the Sperrin Mountains being its
chief heights, but as the hills sink towards the great
lake on the east level tracts of cultivated land take their
place, so that in this county agriculture is added to the
linen trade. The principal town, Omaghy is in the
litre of the shire; Strabane lies to the north of it
111 the Foyle valley; Dutigannon has sprung up on a
small coal-bed found to the eastward.
(6.) Fermanagh is only shut out from the Atlan-
tic by a narrow belt of the Donegal Highlands. It
lies between T>Tone on the north, and Leitrim and
Cavan on the south, having Monaghan on its western
side. The county is made up of the valley of the river
Erne, which traverses its centre, widening into the two
upper and lower lakes of the same name ; while along
the southern border a range of mountains forms the
dividing wall between the Erne valley and the head-
waters of the Shannon. In Fermanagh oats and wheat
grow better than in the other northern counties, but
among its little agricultural villages the only place o£
382 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
note is Emiiskillen^ which lies partly on an island
formed by the Erne as it passes from lake to lake.
(7.) Monaghan is a small shire that stretches
southwards from Tyrone, having Fermanagh and
Cavan on its western border, while Armagh extends
along its eastern side. Monaghan consists of a belt of
high undulating ground with a gradual slope on one
side to the basin of Lough Neagh and on the other
to Lough Erne. Its two little towns lie one on each
slope, Monagkan on a small river falling into Lough
Neagh, and Clones on a stream which passes to
Lough Erne.
(8.) Armagh is a narrow county which extends due
north and south between Tyrone and Louth, and is
bounded to west and east by Monaghan and Down.
That part of the county nearest to the sea lies
within the mountainous country of the coast ; but as
the hills slope to the Lough Neagh basin they form
a fertile plain, in which are situated the larger towns of
Armagh, a cathedral city, once the ecclesiastical capital
of Ireland ; and of Lwgan by Lough Neagh. Both
these towns are famous for their manufactures of fine
linen and damask.
(9.) Cavan is a hilly district driven down into the
central plain of Ireland between Leinster and
Connaught, and which thus forms the southernmost
extremity of Ulster. On its northern side it is
bounded by Fermanagh and Monaghan : Meath and
Longford lie to the south, and Leitrim to the west.
The heights of Cavan lie at opposite ends of the
county, rising to mountains in the north-west where
n.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 383
the Shannon takes its rise, and falling to low hills in
the south-east. Between these two tracts of high-
land runs the broad valley of the river Erne, with the
small lakes that are scattered along its course. The
land is not well cultivated, and the only town beyond
the size of a village is Cavan,
II. CoNNAUGHT is in form a large irregular square
occupying the extreme west of Ireland, and running
out into the sea between the Bays of Galway and
Donegal. Its western part is very rugged and
mountainous, while the eastern passes into the
central plain of Ireland as far as the banks of
the Shannon, the change from the higher to the
lower ground being marked by a line drawn from
" ilway to Sligo. The area of the province is 6,962
^iuare miles, but its population is less dense than
that of any other part of Ireland ; it contains in fact
under 847,000 inhabitants. It is peopled almost
entirely by the Celtic race, which is here hemmed in
between the sea and foreign invaders, and through
its remoteness from civilising influences has re-
mained the wildest and least cultivated part of the
population of the island. The province is the least
fertile in Ireland ; its farming is very poor, and its
chief industry lies in sheep-grazing. It has five
counties, of which four lie on the sea-coast.
(i.) Leitrim, the first of these shires, is a long
narrow district, just touching the sea-shore at Donegal
Bay. Lough Allen and the valley of the Shannon
divide the county into two parts ; the northern part,
lying between the highlands of Fermanagh, Cavan,
384 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
and Sligo, is of mountainous character, while the
southern part, stretching down to the plains of Long-
ford and Roscommon, is low and flat. The" whole
county is poor, and does not possess a single town of
any size. Carrick-on-Shajinon is a mere village on
its southern borders.
(2.) Sligo lies on the sea-coast- between Leitrim
and Mayo, with Roscommon to the south. A line
of mountains runs along its north-eastern side, pro-
jecting into the sea: a second range of lower heights,
the Ox Mountains, lies on its western border \ and
between these two ranges stretches a broad plain into
which the sea has cut deeply so as to form the
beautiful bay of Sligo, shut in by mountains on either
side. On this bay lies the only town of any import-
ance, Sligo, with 10,000 inhabitants.
(3.) Mayo, one of the largest counties in Ireland,
borders the Atlantic Ocean, and is shut in to land-
ward by Sligo, Roscommon, and Galway. The shire
is made up of a mass of steep mountains rising
precipitously out of the sea on the west, and
bounded on the east by the broad valley of the river
Moy, and by a tract of low ground belonging to the
central plain of Ireland, in the northern part of which
lies Lough Conn, and in the southern Lough Mask.
The coast is wild in scenery, and deeply indented
by bays, of which the chief are Killala, Blacksod
Bay, landlocked by the peninsula of Mullet, and Clew
Bay, with Clare Island and Achill Island near its
mouth. To the north of Clew Bay rises the steep
range of the Nephin Beg Mountains, and to the south
II.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 38s
of it the mountains of Croagh Patrick and Muilrea.
The Httle towns of the shire lie in the low ground,
such as Castlcbar^ Ballina^ and Killala in the basin
of the Moy, the latter at the head of Killala Bay ; and
Westport on Clew Bay.
(4.) Galway, the second largest county in Ireland,
lies on Galway Bay, between the counties of Mayo
and Clare. The greater part of it consists of an
immense level plain extending far inland, and parted
from the lowlands of Roscommon by the river Suck,
from King's County by the Shannon, and from
Tipperary by Lough Derg. But a smaller portion of
the county is composed of a mass of heights, the
Connemara Mountains, driven out seawards along the
northern shores of Galway Bay, and almost cut off
from the plain by Lough Mask and Lough Corrib.
This rocky district is barren and deserted ; and the
few little towns of the shire lie in the river valleys
of the plain. Galway^ on the shores of the bay, is
the largest town of Con naught, and occupies a
position answering to that of Sligo, on its more
northerly harbour ; Tuam, the cathedral city, stands
on the river Clare; and Balinasloe^ on the Suck,
is famous for the most important cattle fairs in
Ireland.
(5.) Roscommon is the only inland county in
Connaught, Its eastern boundary is formed by the
Shannon and Lough Rea, which part it from Leitrim,
Longford, Meath, and King's County; in the north
and west it stretches out to Sligo and Mayo, while
its southern part is narrowed by the Suck, which parts
c c
386 .GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
it from Galway. The county lies wholly within the
central plain of Ireland, and forms an undulating
tract of agricultural land, with a gentle slope from the
higher ground of its northern borders towards the
south. Its towns are scarcely more than villages :
Roscommon, between the Suck and Lough Rea;
Boyle, between two small lakes in the north; and
near it Elphin, an episcopal town.
III. MuNSTER occupies the whole peninsula of
south-western Ireland, from Galway Bay to Waterford
Harbour, and forms the largest province in Ireland,
having an area of 9,476 square miles. Its population
amounts to 1,390,402 persons. It includes all the
best natural harbours of the country, and two of its
chief sea-ports, Cork and Limerick. The province
comprises the great belt of the southern mountains :
but among these lie some of the most fertile
districts in Ireland, such as the Golden Vale o\
Limerick and Tipperary, and the rich basin of the
Shannon, districts whose fertility is increased by a
climate milder and more full of moisture than that
of any other part of Ireland. It has six counties,
of which but one lies wholly inland.
(i.) Clare forms a peninsula, which is attached
on the north-east to Galway, and bordered on all
other sides by the Atlantic Ocean and the Shannon,
the last of which divides it from Tipperary, Limerick,
and Kerry. It is composed of a tract of rugged and
mountainous country, broken across the centre by the
valley of the Fergus, which contains the chief town,
Ennis. Kilrush is a little port at the mouth of the
II.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 387
Shannon ; Killaloe^ the seat of a bishopric, is situated
on the Shannon as it issues from Lough Derg.
(2.) Limerick lies on the opposite side of the
estuary of the Shannon from Clare, having Tipperary
to the east, Cork to the south, and Kerry to the west.
It is thus wholly shut out from the sea, A tract of
hilly country runs along its western borders, and on the
south-east rise the Galtees ; but the chief part of the
shire consists of a broad plain of the richest land in
Ireland, bordering the Shannon, and known from the
extreme fertility of its soil as the Golden Vak. This
district produces the best grass for cattle to be found
in the United Kingdom. The county town. Limerick^
is situated in the midst of the plain on the bank of the
Shannon where it begins to widen to its estuary, and
' IS become from the advantages of its position the
rgest town of western Ireland. It contains 40,000
inhabitants.
(3.) Kerry, which lies next to Limerick on the
Shannon estuary, and thence projects into the Atlantic,
forms the most south-western part of Ireland. To the
south and east it is bounded by the county of Cork.
Its coast is more rugged than any other part of
the Irish shores, and thickly studded with small
islands, of which Valentia is the chief. Two
jutting peninsulas of rock stretch out seawards
on its western side, between the deep bays worn
by the Atlantic waves, the first ending in Mount
Brandon, between Tralee Bay and Dingle Bay, and
the second formed of the mass of the McGillicuddy's
Reeks, between Dingle Bay and Kcnmare Bay. The
c c a
38S GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
McGillicuddy's Reeks end on their eastern side in
the mountains and lakes of Killarney, well known for
the beauty of their scenery. The industry of the
county is small, and consists wholly of cattle-grazing,
so that it has scarcely any towns save Tralee, a fishing-
town on the bay ; and Killarney^ whose chief liveli-
hood depends on the tourists who visit the Lakes.
(4.) Cork, the largest county in Ireland, lies on its
southern coast. The shire is composed of several
long mountain ranges, which strike across it in parallel
lines from Kerry to Tipperary, and which sink on its
northern border into a fertile plain, forming part
of the Golden Vale of Limerick. These ranges are
parted by the valleys of three rivers running also from
west to east, the Brandon, the Lee, and the Blackwater,
in which the chief towns of the county lie sheltered.
Each stream forms at its mouth an important harbour.
Near the mouth of the Lee is the chief town, Cork,
a large city with a cathedral, with woollen and linen
manufactures, and with a considerable foreign trade due
to its geographical position both with regard to Europe
and to America, Queenstown is a port in an island of
Cork harbour, and is important as the point of de-
parture for America. The towns lying on the Bandon
to the south of the Lee are Kinsale on the harbour at
its mouth ; and Bandon, a little agricultural town higher
up its valley. On the Blackwater are Youghal, on the
harbour formed by the estuary of the river; and
Fermoy, in its upper valley. Besides the river har-
bours there are considerable natural bays, such as
Bantry Bay, and other lesser ones along the coast ;
11.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 389
but these have as yet nothing but little fishing towns
on their shores, being shut out from the central plain
by barriers of rude mountains. The low lands of
Cork form some of the best grazing country in Ireland,
but the great moisture of the climate unfits them
for the growing of wheat and corn.
(5.) W^aterford is a small county lying next to
Cork on the southern coast, and composed for the most
part of the last heights of the same parallel mountain
ranges which run across Cork. The Knockmeildown
Mountains and the valley of the Suir part it on the
north from Tipperary and Kilkenny. At its junction
with the Barrow, the Suir forms the estuary of Water-
ford harbour, and near the head of this harbour is the
large town of WaUrford^ the seat of the export trade
to Bristol, with a population of 24,000. Dungarvon is
a smaller seaport town on Dungarvon Harbour.
(6.) Tipperary is the only wholly inland county of
Munster. It is shut in between eight other shires : to
the east are King's County, Queen's County, and
Kilkenny ; to the south, Waterford ; to the west the
heights of the Galtees and Silvermine Mountains
part it from Limerick and Clare, while Lough Derg
and the Shannon sever it from Gal way. The county
practically consists of the basin of the Suir» a district
which contains some of the best ground in Ireland
for growing wheat, and whose farming is of a belter
kind than that of any of the counties wc have passe<i
through. The chief towns lie in this valley, and
are wholly agricultural; ThurUs^ high up the rivci
v.illey; Cashcl^ to the cast of the Suir, built round
390 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
the slopes of an abrupt rock, which is crowned
by the ruins of one of the most famous ancient
churches of Ireland, and still gives its name to a
bishopric ; Tipperary, at some distance on the other
side of the Suir; Cloftmel, the county town, twice
as large as any of these, with over 10,000 in-
habitants ; and Carrick-on-Suir, on the border where
the stream forsakes the county. Nenagh is a little
agricultural town in the northern part of the shire
where the land slopes down to Lough Derg.
IV. Leinster Ues in the form of a long and rather
narrow parallelogram, resting on the Irish Sea from
the Mourne Mountains to the south-eastern point of
the island. It consists for the most part of the great
central plain with its low sea-border facing England,
and was thus the first part of the country overrun by
the English conquerors and parcelled out among
English owners. It remains therefore the most
English and least purely Celtic part of Ireland. The
area of Leinster is 7,612 square miles; it contains
1,345,997 inhabitants. Of its twelve counties only
five touch the sea-coast.
(i.) Louth, the northernmost of the Leinster
counties, and the smallest shire in Ireland, extends
along the low eastern coast between Carlingford Bay
and the river Boyne ; while on its land side it touches
the counties of Armagh, Monaghan, and Meath.
The low ground which constitutes the bulk of Louth
is mainly occupied by pasture lands; but in the
harbours of the coast a considerable trade is carried
on with England, which gives rise to two towns of
11.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 391
some importance. These are Dundalk^ on Dundalk
Bay ; and DrogJieda^ near the mouth of the Boyne.
(2.) Meath forms part of the central plain of
Ireland, and only opens on the sea by a narrow belt
of land running eastward between Louth and Dublin.
To northward its broad reaches of pasture-land are
bounded by the hills of Monaghan and Cavan ; to
westward they widen into the plains of VVestmeath,
King's County, and Queen's County ; while to south-
ward they pass into the more broken ground of
Carlow. Within these limits stretches a level tract of
exceedingly rich soil, which forms in fact the basin of
the Boyne. Wholly given up to grazing industry, its
towns are few and small. They all lie in the valley
of the Boyne and of its affluent the Blackwater :
Triniy on the Boyne ; Kells^ on the Blackwater ; and
Navarif at the junction of both rivers. The Hill of
Tara, the ancient meeting-place of the Irish kings, is
a few miles from Trim.
(3.) From Meath the county of Westmeath
stretches westward between the shires of Longford and
King's County. Lying mainly as it does within the
basin of the Shannon, which flows along its western
border, its rich tracts of level soil are watered by a
number of small lakes and streams which drain their
waters into that river. Its chief town, Mullingar,
is situated in the centre of the county, in a
district marked by a cluster of lakes and tarns;
a second town, Athlone^ is situated on the bank
of the Shannon as the river passes out of Lough
Rea.
392 GEOGRAPHY. [cHAt.
(4.) The little county of Longford, which lies to
northward of Westmeath, forms almost the central
point of Ireland, where three of its provinces meet.
On its northern borders Longford adjoins Cavan in
Ulster ; and on its western side it is bounded by two
counties of Connaught, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Lying wholly in the basin of the Shannon, its surface
is generally low and flat, and its pastures are watered
by a multitude of small streams which pass westward
to that river as it skirts the borders of the shire.
On one of these small affluents lies the little county
town, Longford.
(5.) The two following shires, those of King's
County and Queen's County, were so named aftei
Queen Mary and her husband, Philip II. of Spain, in
whose reign they were first formed into counties. Il
the first of these the name of Philip is preserved ii
the village of Philipstown ; while the capital of th<
second, Maryborough, derives its name from Queen
Mary.
King's County lies to the south of Westmeath
and forms a long and narrow tract of land that
extends westward to Roscommon and Galway, from
which it is parted by the Shannon. To the south the
Slieve Bloom Mountains divide it from Tipperary and
Queen's County ; while to eastward it is bordered by
Kildare. The great bulk of the shire lies like West-
meath in the basin of the Shannon, and is composed
of the same rich grazing land. Its two most important
towns, Tullamore and Parsonstown^ lie to westward on
affluents of the Shannon. In the eastern part of the ^
II.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 393
county, however, the soil is less fertile, parts of it being
composed of tracts of unreclaimed bog-land belonging
to the Bog of Allen.
(6.) Queen's County, to the south of King's
County, consists of a small circular tract of land
of a mountainous character, bounded on the south
by the hilly districts of Tipperary, Kilkenny, and
Carlow. The Slieve Bloom Mountains run along its
western border line, and in their heights lie the springs
of the Barrow and the Nore. The towns are all agri-
cultural, and are in fact little more than villages,
such as Maryborough in its centre, and Mountmdlick
and Portarlington in the valley of the Barrow.
(7.) To westward of the King's and Queen's
Counties, the shire of Kildare extends in a long tract
of land due north and south, being bordered on its
eastern side by Dublin and Wicklow. This shire
consists for the most part of a level plain of pasture-
land, watered in the south by the Barrow, and in the
cast by the Liffey, while its northern portion is
occupied by a large part of the Bog of Allen. The
towns of the county are very small. The chief among
them are Athy on the Barrow in the south-west ;
Naas^ and Maynooth^ the great college for training
Roman Catholic priests, on the Liffty in the east.
Midway between Athy and Naas is the village of
Kildare^ an ancient episcopal city, and now the
site of a military camp. A broad plain which
surrounds the camp is known as the Curragh of
Kildare^ and forms a district famous for its sheep-
pastures.
394 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
(8.) Dublin is a small narrow county, which lies
on the eastern coast between the low plains of Meath
and the mountains of Wicklow, having Kildare to the
west. It is traversed by the lower valley of the river
Liffey, that opens into the bay of Dublin, and whose
banks, near the head of the bay, form the site of the
capital of Ireland, Dublin. This city, the seat of an
archbishopric, contains the chief University of Ireland ;
its position at that opening of the central plairi of
Ireland which faces England makes it the natural
centre of internal and foreign trade, and its population,
250,000, is consequently far greater than that of any
other town in Ireland. Owing to the unsafe character
of the bay on which it Hes, its trade for the most part
passes through Kingstown, a large town at the south-
eastern opening of the bay, where a very fine artificial
harbour has been made ; the north-eastern boundary
of the bay is formed by the rocky promontory of
Howth Head.
(9.) Wicklow extends southward from Dublin as
far as Wexford, and is limited to westward by Kildare
and Carlow. Though lying on the eastern sea-coast
it differs from all the other maritime counties of
Leinster, for while they form level plains Wicklow is
composed of a rugged mass of granite mountains,
second only in height to those of Kerry, which
abruptly break the generally low shores of the Irish
Sea. This circular mass of the Wicklow Mountains
contains, as we have seen, some of the most beauti-
ful Irish scenery; rising to their greatest height in
Lugnaquilla, they thence sink eastward to the sea,
II.] THE IRISH COUNTIES. 395
and westward to the central plain. Three small
streams, which all alike have their sources in the
northernmost heights of the shire, are thrown down to
the Irish Sea, and are famous for the scenery along
their valleys, while each of them empties itself into
the sea by one of the chief towns of the county. The
Avoca, which has the longest course of the three, after
it has traversed the mountain group from north to
south and passed through the Vale of Avoca, forms
at its mouth the harbour where the seaport of Arklow
is built. The Vartry joins the sea near Wicklow^
the capital of the county, on Wicklow Harbour. The
JJargle flows past the base of the Great and Little
Sugarloaf Mountains to pour itself into the sea at
Bray^ a fashionable watering-place.
(10.) To the south of Wicklow the county of
Wexford extends along the shore of St. George's
Channel, and forms the south-easternmost shire of
Ireland. It consists practically of the gradual slope
of the Arklow and Wicklow Mountains which lie along
its northern borders, and thence sink to the sea on its
southern and south-eastern limits ; the ground is there-
fore low and undulating for the most part. The river
Slaney passes through the centre of the county, forming
nt its mouth the estuary of Wexford Harbour, with the
large trading town of Wexford on its inner side ; the
little county town of Enniscorthy lies farther up the
river valley. The river Barrow flows along a portion
of the western border of the shire, dividing it from
Kilkenny, and has on its banks the small town of
A'tw Ross.
396 GEOGRAPHY. [chap.
(ii.) The hills which run along the western
limits of Wicklow and Wexford divide both these
shires from that of Carlow. This county consists
of a very small tract of land which extends between
the valleys of the Slaney and the Barrow ; to the
northward it widens to the plains of Kildare and
Queen's County, while to westward it is shut in by
the hills of Kilkenny. Its towns are small and of
little consequence : Carlow^ the county town, lies on
the Barrow ; and Tullow on the Slaney.
(i2.) Across the western border of Carlow lies the
much greater county of Kilkenny, which extends
westward to Tipperary, and reaches north and south
between Queen's County and Waterford. Lying in
the basin of the Barrow, which bounds it to the east,
the shire is watered by the two chief tributaries of
this river, for its southern portion is bounded by the
valley of the Suir, while the bulk of the county is
composed of the valley of the Nore.
On the banks of this river, and in the centre of the
rich plain which it traverses, lies Kilkenny^ the capital
of the county, and the largest inland town in Ireland.
It contains about 17,000 inhabitants.
II.]
tllE IRISH COUNTIES.
397
Area in
County.
County Town.
Sssr
Population.
Ulster—
Donegal . . .
Lifford . . .
1,865
277,775
Londonderry .
Londonderry .
810
173,932
Antrim . . .
Carrickfergus .
1,190
419.782
Down . . .
Downpatrick .
957
217,992
Armagh . . .
Armagh . . .
S13
179,221
Monaghan . .
Monaghan . .
500
112,785
Tyrone . . .
Omagh . . .
1,260
215,668
Fermanagh . .
Enniskillcn . .
714
92,688
Cavan , . .
Cavan. . . .
746
140,555
8,555
1,830,398
CONNAUGHT—
Galway . . .
Galway . . .
2,447
248,257
Roscommon .
Roscommon
950
141,248
Leitrim . . .
Carrick-on-
Shannon . .
613
95,324
Sligo ....
Sligo ....
721
116,311
Mayo ....
Castlebar . .
2,231
245,855
6,962
846,995
MUNSTER—
Clar« ....
Ennis. . . .
1,294
147,994
Limerick. . .
Limerick . . .
1,064
I9',3»3
Kerry ....
Tralee . . .
1,853
196,014
Cork ....
Cork ....
2,88s
516,046
Watcrford . .
Watcrford . .
721
122,825
Tippcrary . .
Clonmel . . .
II
216^210
1,390,402
398
GEOGRAPHY.
Area in
County.
County Town.
Square
Miles.
Population.
Leinster—
Longford . .
Longford . .
421
64,408
Westmeath . .
Mullingar . .
709
78,416
Meath . . .
Trim ....
906
94,480
Louth ....
Drogheda . .
315
84,199
Dublin . . .
Dublin . . .
348
405,625
Wicklow . . .
Wicklow . . .
781
78,509
Kildare . . .
Naas ....
654
84,198
King's County .
Tullamore . .
772
75,781
Queen's County
Maryborough .
664
77,071
Kilkenny . .
Kilkenny . .
795
109,302
Carlow . . .
Carlow . . .
346
51,472
Wexford .
Wexford .
901
132,536
7,612
1,345,997
INDEX.
INDEX.
Arbkrley Hills, 97, 98, 137
Aberdare, 239
Aberdeenshire, 330
Aberdeen, 331
Mvenny, 143
-twith. 834
Ian. 188
ii(ton, 127
Island, 365, 373, 384
ilture. 75
iiltural counties, East Midland,
165
iltural towns of Suffolk, 175 ; of
•X, 180; of Hertfordshire, 183;
>xf irdshire, 186 ; of Berkshire,
. of Sussex. 107
.ciiUure, of Wales, a 18. 213: of
, 383. 330 : of Ireland. 381
»79
347
riv«r, and iu ralicy, 84
t
Alyth, 336
AmMestoe, laa
Andover, 108
Anglesea, fsland of, 999
AngtM. braes of, 263. 393
an. 355
an, river, 300
Annimdalc, 315
river, 94
Antrim, mountains of, 3^14
80
Min-iro, 3B0
Ippin. ate
Unlcby. laa
uwoath. 333
Irdcn, forest of, 140
Ardnamurchan Point, 308
Ardross, 263
Argyleshire, 318, 325
Arklow, 395
Armagh, county and dty, 38a
Arran, 310
Arran Inlands, 37^
Arran Mowddy Mountain, 23a, 313
Arrcnie Mountain, 2aa, 333
Arthur s Seat, 280
Anin, river, 94, 196
Ashton-under-Lyme, ia8
Athlone, 391
Athol Mountains, 265. 335
Athy, ^95
Atlantic Ocean, it effect on the climate
of Great Uritain and Ireland. 9, 37
Avon, river and valley (of Bnstol),
98, 100, 107, 137, 139-141, 199—
aoi, ao8
Avon, river (of Salisbury), 94. 107,
«39
Axe-edge Hill. 15:^
Aylesbury, 184
Aylesbury, vale of, 71, 184
Aylsham, 175
Ayrshire, 282
Ayr, county and town, 3s*< 3S3
Ayr, river, aSt, 300
Bacup, ia7
Badenoch. asy
Bakewell. 140
Banbury, 186
B a n doo, nvcr, 37^
Bala, lake, aaa, 933
Balhna. 485
BallanaskM. ^s
Uallyineaa, 380
D D
402
INDEX.
Ballyshannon, 379
Balmoral, 293, 3^
Bamborough CasLle, 117
Bangor, 231
Banff, county and town, 329
Bann, river, 369
Bannockburn, 342
Bantry Bay, 374, 388
Barking, 181
Barmouth, 233
Barnard Castle, iig
Barnstaple, 212
Barra Islands, 310
Barrhead, 350
Barrow, river, 370
Barrowstoneness, or BdnesS; 342
Barton-on-Humber, 166
Basingstoke, 198
Bassenthwaite Water, 45, 120
Bath, 208
Bathgate, 342
Bays, of the western coast of England
and Wales, 30, 35, 39 ; of the eastern
and southern coasts of England, 31,
34. 35, 39 ; of Scotland, 303, 304,
307, 308, 311, 322 ; of Ireland, 364,
371. 373
Beachy Head, 34, 196
Beauley Firth, 290
Beaumaris, 230
BeamLnster, 203
Beccles, 17s
Bedfordshire, 163, 169
Bedford, 170
Belfast Lough, 374
Belfast, 380
Ben An. 335
Ben Attow, 257
Ben Avon, 26}, 292
Benbecula, 310
Ben Cleugh, 280
Ben Cruachan, 258
Ben Dearg, 257, 265, 292, 335
Ben Hope, 257
Ben KlilDreck, 262
Ben Lawers. 258, 335
Ben Lodi, 258
Ben Lomond, 258
Ben Mac Dhui, 264, 292
Ben J\Iore, 257, 258, 310, 335
Ben Nevis, 258
Ben Venue, 335
Ben Voirlich, 258
Ben Wyvis, 263
Ben-y-Gloe, 265, 335
Berkeley, 139
Berkshire, 179, 187
Berwickshire, 357
Berwick-on-Tweed, 117, 359
99, 219, 223
Berwyn Mountains, 47, 219, 221
Bideford Bay, 37, 212
Bideford, 212
Biggleswade, 170
Bill of Portland, 34
Birkenhead, 128
Birmingham, 141
Bishop Auckland, 118
Bishop Stortford, 183
Bishop Wearmouth, 118
Blackburn, 127
Black Country, 70
Blackdown Hills, 209
Black Larg, 273
Blacklead. 120
Black Mountains, 47, 4
Blackpool, 125
Blacksod Bay, 373, 384
Black water, river, 180, 370
Blair Athol, 336
Blairgowrie, 336
Blyth, 117
Bochragh Hills, 366
Bodmin, 213
Bogs of Devon and Cornwall, 25, 211
Bog-land of Ireland, 367
Bolton, 127
Boot and shoe manufactures of Staf
ford, 157 : of Northamptonshire
i68
Borrowdale, 45, 120
Boston, 166
Bournemouth, 199
Bowfell,, 43, 120
Boyne, river, 370
Bradf jrd, Wiltshire, 202
Braemar, 293, 331
Braes of Angus, 265. 293
Braich-y-Pwll, 38, 220
Braintree, 180
Brampton, 120
Brandon Hill, 365 -M
Bray Head, 375 *
Bray, Ireland, 395
Breadalbane Mountains, 258, 294
Brechin, 383
Brecknock Beacon, 47, 48, 99, 224
Brecknockshire, 235, 237
Brecon, 237
Breidden Hills, 236
Brendon Hills, 209
Brent, river, 181
Brentford, 183
Bridgnorth, 136
Bridgwater Bay, 37
Bridgwater, 209
Bridport, 203
Brighton, 197
Brine springs, 103
INDEX.
403
Bristol, 139
Bristol Channel and Harbour, 37
Bristol Channel, watershed and rivers
of the, 95, 96, 226
Broad Law, 274
Broseley, 136
Brown Willy, 51, 213
Bnie, river, 2C^
Bttchan, 264
Buckinghamshire, 177, 178, 184
Buckingham, 185
Bujlth, 238
Bungay, 175
Bunnabeola, twelve pins of, 365
Bure, river, 174
Burnley, 147
Bury, 127
Bury St. Edmunds, 175
Buteshire; Bute, 326
Bute, 318
Bute ; Kyles of Bute, 310
Buttermere, 45, 120
Buxton, 149
ADF.R Tdris, 55. 222, 233
Cahore Point. 375
[Cairngorm, 264
Cairngorm Mountains, 264
^aim Table, 280
Caimtoul, 264
[Caithness, 262, 306, 318, 320
^Idcr, river, 126
Caledonian Canal, 254
[^liander, 337
^m. river, 171
'mh ornc, 213
mbrid^cshire, 163, 170
CamViri(l^;c, 171
Camrl, r.vcr, 213
^mplKll-town, 326
>mi>sic KcUs, aoo, aSi
^nals, 74
>uials of the Fenland , i6a
^nnock Chase. 69, 150
Canterbury, 19a
imtyre, 2^0
^ntyre. Mull of, 308
^apc rirur. 375
>pc Wr.ith. 259, aCo, 889, 306
>r.vl.c Mills, 135
Zu6i((, 225, 239
^rdigan Bay. 36. 38
lennihire. 934
irl : . . J74
Carlow. county and town, 396
Carmarthen Bay, 37
Carmarthenshire, 240
Carmarthen, 241
Carnarvon Bay, 37
Carnarvonshire, 230
Carnarvon. 231
Camedd Davydd, 220
Carnedd Llewellyn. 220
Camtogher Mountains, 364
Carrick. 282, 315, 353
Carrick-on-Shannon, 384
Carrick-on-Suir, 390
Carrickfergus, 380
Carse of Cowrie, 294
Cashel. 389
Castlebar, 385
Castle Douglas, 355
Castleton Caverns. 150
Catmoss. Vale of, 166
Cattle of Scotland. 330
Cavan, county and town, 382
Chalk ranges of uplands, 59, 172, 183.
198
Chalk cHfTt of Kent, 102
Chalk downs of the Wealdcn, 73
Chalk downs, south, rivers of tne. 01
Channel Islands; area and popula-
tion, 18
Chiuid, 209
Chamwood Forest, 152
Chatham, 192
Chelmer, river, 180
Chelmsford, 180
Cheltenham, 139
Chepstow, 143
Cherry-orchards of Kent, 19a
Cherwell, river. 92. 167, 186
Cheshire. 130 ; plain of, 70 : rivers nf
the plain, 95, loi ; pasture land,
103
Chetil Bank, 203
Chester-le-Street. 1 18
Cheviot Mountains, to, ao, ai, 53.
a7o
Cheviot Peak, 375
Chichester Harbour, 196
Chichester. 107
Chiltem Hills. 25. 60, 65, 67, 91, 169.
183, 184. 186, 187
Chipping Norton. 186
Chorley. ivt
Christchurch, 199
Cirencester. 140
Clackmannan. County and town, 339.
34<
Clar* Itland. 37V 384
Clare, county, j86
Clay, 179. »9«. •oi
D Da
404
INDEX.
Clay, London, i8i
Clear Island, 375
Clee Hills, 49, 135
Clent Hills, 97, 137
Cleveland Hills, 62, 158
Cleveland Moors, 155
Clew Bay, 373
Cliffs of the western coast of England
and Wales, 30 : of the eastern and
southern coasts, 31, 34
Climate of the British Islands, 3, 13,
27
Climate, affected by mountains, 40
Climate of Wales, 218
Clitheroe, 127
Clones, 382
Clonmel, 390
Clun Forest, 135
Clwyd, river, loi, 221, 226, 231
Clyde, river, 283, 299
Clyde, Firth of, 260, 307
Clyde, counties of the, 345
Clydesdale, 315, 347
Coal-measures of Great Britain, 6
Coal, 12, 16, 17, 27, 42, 48, 70, 85, 138
Coal-fields; Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 153;
Cumberland, 121 ; Derbyshire, 149;
Durham, 118 ; Northumberland,
117; Pennine Moors, 53; Shrop-
shire, 136 ; South Lancashire, 126 ;
Staffordshire, 151 ; Wales, 143, 144,
218, 224, 232, 239
Coal-fields of England and Wales,
tabular statement of their area,
112, 113
Coal-fields of Scotland, 11, 248, 282,
284, 296
Coalbrook Dale, 136
Coast-lines, importartce of, 29
Coast-line of England and Wales, 21,
29, 32; of Scotland, 302; of Ire-
land, 370
Coatbridge, 347
Cockermouth, 121
Coilin Mountains, 309
Colchester, 180
Colne, 127
Colne, river, 92, 180, 181, 183, 184
Colonization, 17
Colonsay Island, 310
Commerce, result of geographical
position on, 7, 40
Commerce of England and Wales, 75,
82, 88, 90 — 92, 95, 182 ; of Scotland,
248, 284, 286, 291. 294, 300; of Ire-
land, 7, 382
Congleton Edge, 130
Coleraine, 379
Coniston Old Man, 44, 55
Coniston Lake, 129
Coniston Water, 45
Connaught, 377, 383
Connaught, mountains of, 365
Connemara Lakes, 368
Connemara Mountains, 365
Conway, river, loi, 221, 226, 2:^1
Conway, 231
Copper-m nes, 52, 2Tj
Copper f mndries of Wales, 224, 225
Cork Harbour, 370, 375
Cork, county and town, 388
Cornsare Point, 363
Cornwall, 205, 206, 212
Cornwall, Highlands of, 25, 41, 49, 51;
78
Cornwall, rivers of, 94
Cotswold Hills, the, 23, 61, 78, 91, 97,
138, 185
Cotton manufacture, 42, 104, 127, 150
Counties. English, 108 ; of the Ribble
and Mersey basins, 123 ; of the
Severn Basin or West Midlands,
133 ; of the Humber Basin, 145 ; of
the Trent Basin, T46, 147 ; of the
Wash or East Midland Counties,)
162, 164; East Anglian, 172, 173;!
of the Thames Basin, 177, 178 ; ofl
the Southern Waterparting, 194
South-western, 205, 206
Counties of England ; tabular view of:
areas and population, 214
Counties, Welsh, 228, 229 ; of the
Irish Sea Basin and the Bristol
Channel Basin ; table of areas and
population, 242
Counties of Scotland, 315, 317, 351 ;
table of areas and population, 360
Counties of Ireland, 376 ; table
area and population, 397
County towns, 109
Coventry, 141
Cowal, 260
Cowes, 230
Cranborne Chase, 202
Craven Moors, 156, 159
Crewkerne, 208
Cricklade, 201
Crieff, 336
Criffel, 273
Croagh Patrick, 365
Cromarty Firth, 290, 305
Cromarty, plain of, 263
Cromarty, Ross and, 318
Cromarty, county and town, 321, 322
Cross Fell, 41, 54, 114
Crouch, river, 180
Croydon, 189
Cnimmock Water, 45, 120
INDEX.
405
ulvcr Cliffs, 199
iimberland, the county, 119 ; its hills
nd lakes, 24, 43, ^4
Cumbrays, the, 311
umbrian Hills, 24, 41, 43, 44, 54,
"3, "9
umbrian rivers, 96, 105
unninghame, 282, 352]
?upar Angus, 336, 340*
Turragh of Kifdare, 395
ALWINNIB, Pass of, 265
alkeith, 344
Parent, river, 191
Darlington, 119
)art, river, 2x1
Jartmoor, 50, 78, 210, 21a
)artmouth, 213
>arwen, river and valley, 126, 127
)aventry, 168
>eal, 192
ean Forest, 40. 138
ee, river and estuary, 46, 78, 100,
loi, 107, 130, 221. 226, 231, 233
ee, river and valley, Scotland, 364,
085. 291, 292, 300
enbighshire, 331
•enbigh Hills, 321
lenbigh. 331
leptford, 192
Derbyshire ; the Peak, 22 ; the Pen-
nine chain of hills. 33, 41
terbyshirc, coal measures of, 119
'erwcnt, river, 4$, 84, 86, 105, 118,
1 30, 149, 156
trwentwater, 45
evizcs, 201
evonjv rt, 311
ironshirc hills, 35, 41, 49, 50
Bv»>nvhirc rivers, 94
oiishirc, 205, 30(6, aio
ingle l{:iy. 374
•in^wall, 33a
'rie More, 357
». 75
>lKellv. 333
j'iV.aT I AW, 374
>n, river. 85, 156, 291, apa
loncKal, Mountains of, 364
loncK-it. ll;iy cf. 373
|oncn;«I..;<)unty and town, 378, 379
"rchcstcr. 303
rkins. 189
"ch Firth, a9o, 305, 333
ch. ^ai
Heights, 64, toa
Dorsetshire, 194, 195, aoa
Doune, 337
Dove, river, 86, 149, 150
Dov«r, Straits of, 26, 34, 193;
Djver, 192
Doveran, river, 291
Dovey, river, 333, 336, 333
Dowlais, 339
Down, cjunly, 380
Downpatrick. 381
D.jwns (set Cotswold Downs, Hair.p>
shire Downs, Marlborough Downs,
North Downs, .South Downs)
Drainage of the Fens, 71
Drainage, 179
Drogheda, 391
Droitwich, 137
" Drumalban," the backbone cf Scot*
land, 356
Dryburgh Abbey, 298
Dublin Bay, 364. 374
Dublin, county and city, 394
Dudley Hills, 69
Dudley, 138
Duddon river, 105, lao
Dumbarton, county and town. 349
Dumfries, county and town, 353, 35$
Dunbar, 345
DunbUne, 317
Duncansby Head, 306
Dundalk Bay. 374
Dundalk, 391
Dundee, 331
DundruniBay. 374
Dunfermline, 340
Dungannon, 381
Dungarvon, 389
Dunge Ness. 34
Dunkeld, 336
Dunkerry Beacon. 50. 109
Dunmore Head. 373
Dunnet Head, 306
Dunoon, 336
Dunse, 359
Dunstable, 170
I>urham, plains of, 114
Durham, county. 117
Durham, the city, cathedral, and
castle, 118
I>ttnley. 139
Dysart, 350
K;i' untie*, I7t. tM
H.i : .t:ht» and uptanda, is>
31. CK>, 05. «>7. B9, 91, i6j, lya, 174.
«75
4o6
INDEX.
Eastbourne, 197^
Eastern counties of England, no, in
East Midland counties, 162, 164
Eastern highlands of Scotland, 327
East Swale, river, 93
Eden, river, 43, 105, 107, 115, 120,
122
Edge Hills, 61, 140, 186
Edinburgh Rock, 280
Edinburgh, county and city, 284, 296,
343. 344
Egremont, 121
Elgin, county and town, 329
EUesmcre, 136
Ely, Isle and city of, 170
Emerald Isle, the, 367
England, its area, 12 ; its characteris-
tics compared with those of Wales,
Scotland, and Ireland, 13 ; its posi-
tion in relation to the continent, 13 ;
effect of structure and position on
its political history, 14 ; its area and
population, 18 ; view of Western
England, 23 ; view of Eastern Eng-
land, 25 ; westc ast, 35
England and Wales ; general view of,
19; their historical and political
differences, 27
English Channel, its effect on the
civilisation of Britain, 15, 20, 32, 34
English counties, 108, T14
Ennerdale Water, 45
Ennis, 386
Enniscothy, 395
Enniskillen, 382
Epping Forest, 72, 179
Epsom, 189
Erne, river and lakes, 368, 369
Errigal, Mount, 364
Erris Head, 363, 373
Esk, river, 300, 301 (see North and
South Esk)
Eskdale, 315
Essex, 177 — 179
Estuaries of the English Coast, east,
south, and west, 33, 36, 39
Estuaries : Devonshire rivers, 211 ;
Irish rivers, 369. 375 ; Medway, 192 ;
Mersey, 103, 104 ; Clyde, 283, 284,
299 ; Forth, 283, 284 ; Severn, 99,
139, 226; Thames, 72, 90, iSi
Eton, 184
Ettrick Forest, 315
Ettritk Pen, 275
Ettrick, river, 298
Europe-; its relation to the British
Islands, i
Evfcnl jde, river, 186
Evesham, Vale of, 337
Evesham, 138
Exe, river, 50, 94, 210, 212
Exeter, 212
Exmoor, 78, 209, 210
Eye, 175
Fair Head, 363, 372
Fal, river, 213
Falkirk, 342
Falmouth, 213
Faringdon, 188
Fame Islands, 117
Farnham, 189
Fenlands, 71, 88, 89, 162, 165
Fermanagh, county, 381
Fermoy, 388
Fever, 179
Ffestiniog, 222, 223
Fifeshire, 339
Fife, Hills of, 280
Findhoin, river, 291
Firths of Scotch rivers, 287 ; Clyr'
260, 299, 307 ; Forth, 395 ; Inv
ness, 267 , 305 ; Lorn, 307 ; Solw:;
.307 .
Fisheiies of England, 175, 180;
Scotland, 248, 307, 326
Flamborough Head, 33
FlaTiborough Hills, 63
Fleetwood, 125
Flintshire, 232
Flint, 232
Flint Hills, 221
Folkestone, 191, 192
Forelands, North and South, 34
Forests ; Epping and Hainault, 179.
199 ; of Arden, 140 ; the New Forest
. 74 ; of Wyre, 135
Forest Ridge, the, 73
Forres, 329
Forth, firth of, 395
Forth, river, 283, 295, 305
Fort William, 324
Foulness Island, 33
Foyle, river, 369
Fraserburgh, 330
Frome, river, 94, 203
Frome, 208
Fuller's earth, 190
Furness, penin.-.ula of, 44, 129
G.
Gainsborough, 160
Gala, river, 298
I
1NDE?<
407
Cialashiels, agS, 358
(^alljway, 315
Calloway Hills, 273
(ialbway, Mull and Rhinni of, 308
Caltecs Hills, 366
C. a I way Bay, 364, 373
(lalway, county and town, 385
(iatcshead, no
Cic .graphy. Political (sef Political
(•.c.^raphy)
C.iaiu's Causeway, 37a
( ilaiii -rganshire, 238
(ilaiiiMr^;an, Vale of, 240
t.l.irif ni Brigg, 166
(.lasi;.,w, 284, 299, 347
(.lis Mhiel, 265
I .Unelg, 260
(.icngariff, 365
(ilcnmore, 254, 262, 263
(.lens of Scotland, 260, 261, 286
(>l»ssop, 150
Gloucester, county and city, 133, 138,
Glyders, the, 220
Gneiss of the Scottish Rocks, 953, 260
Goat Fell, 310
Golden Vale of Limerick, 386, 387
Gosport, 199
: Govan. 347
Gourocic, 350
Gjwrie, C!arse of, 294
Grampian Mountains, 255
Granite quarries of Cornwall, 52 ; of
Scotland, 254
(•rantham, 166
r.ravcsend, 192
Great Rr.tain ; general characteristics
and pos^ion of, 1 ; lU area and
population, 18
Great Britain and Ireland, their
political and social diffefencet, 8;
political division of Great Britain, 9
Great Mar low, 184
Great Orme's Head, 37, aao
threat Ouse, river, 8g, 107, 169, 170^
«T4
Greenlaw, 359
Greenock. 350
Grrenwich, 19a
Grimsby, 166
Guildford, 189
H.
HADniNGTOM, county aitd town, 345
Hailleich, 176
Hainauit Forest, 7a, 17^
Halstead, 180
Hambledon Hills, 62, 158
Hamilton, 347
Hampshire, 194, 195, 197
Hampshire Downs, 65, 67, 78, 187,
189. i94,_,i97
Hampstead, 181
Harbours of England and Wales, 14,
29. 30. 33. 76, 91, 93. 94. 105, 133.
'73. '75. '96, 199. 203, 284. 839 ; of
the South of England, 35 ; of the
West Coast, 36 ; of Iftiliind, 370,
Harlech, 233
Hartlepool, 119
Harris, island of, 310
Harrow, x8i, 183
Hart Fell, 274
Hartland Point. 38
Harwich, 180
Haslingden, 127
Hastings. 197
Hawes Water, 45
Hawick, 358
Hay, Radnorshire, 238
Headlands of tlaglaod, Ea«. South,
and West, 33. 34. 37, 38 ; of Scot-
land, 306, 308, 311: of Ireland,
363
Heather in Scotland, 257
Hebrides, the, 309
Helensburgh, 349
Helvellyn. 43—451 5S> '"
Henley, 186
Hereford. Plain of, 47, 48
Herefordshire, the county. 133. 14a
Hereford. 142
Hertf .rdshire, 177, 178, 183
Hertford. 183
Hexham, 117
Heywood. 128
High Dyke, Lincolnsliirv* 165
Highgate. i8t
Highlands of Scotland. 10. U7' *5>-
952 : conurasted with the Lowland
Hills, 270
Highland Lakes of Sc ^tland. a«6
Highland M.-iiniaitiH „( So >tland, 176
Highland Rivera f Scotland, tS^ .
tabular view of itirro, 101
Highlands of Ireland. Northern. 364
Western, |6s: Southere, 365.
F.astem, j66
High Wycombe, 184
Hitchin, 184
Hog's Back. 189
Hoidemese Marsh, 6t
Holland, or the hollow hnd, Une>b-
»htre, 71. 165
Hulyweli, sja
4o8
INDEX
Holyhead and Holyhead Island, 38
230
Holy Island, 33, 117, 230
Honiton, 212
Hop-grounds of Kent, 192
Horncastle, 166
Horn Head, 372
Horsham, 197
Hounslow, 183
Howth Head, 374
Hull, port of, 87
Humber Basin, counties of the, 145
Humber river-group, 83
Humber, the river, 33, 104, 107, 165 ;
its estuary, 80, 83, 87
Hungerford, 188
Hunstanton Point, 33
Huntingdonshire, 163, 168
Huntingdon, 169
I.
Ilfracombe, 210
Ilsley Downs, 65, 91, 187
Ingleborough, 41
Inverary, 326
Inner Hebrides {see Hebrides)
Inverness, Firth of, 267, 290, 305
Invernesshire, 318
Inverness, county and town of, 323, 324
Ipswich, 175
Ireland ; general characteristics and
position of, i, 7 ; its political and
social differences from Great Britain,
8 ; its area and population, 18
Ireland, 362
Irish Sea_, 20, 21, 25, 35, 102
Iron and ironworks in England, 12, 42,
48, 70. 82, 121, 129, 131, 136, 138,
144, 149, 224, 232, 240; in Scotland,
248, 283, 284, 296
Ironbridge, 136
Irvine, 353
Irwell, river, 103, 126, 128
Isla, river, 295
Islay, Island and Sound of, 310
Islands on the coasts of England, 33,
35.38
Island of Anglesea, 35, 229
Isle of Man ; its area and population,
18, 243
Isle of Portland, 203
Isle of Sheppey, 191, 193
Isle of Skye, 309
Isle of Thanet, 191
Isle of Wight, 34, 199
Islands of Scotland, 302, '304, 308,
312
Islands of Ireland, 370, 372, 373
Isle, river, 209
Itchen, river, 94, 198
Ivel, river, 209
J.
Jedburgh, 359
Johnstone, 350
Jura ; Pass of Jura, 310
K.
Kells, Rhinns of, 273
Kells, 391
Kelso Abbey, 298
Kelso, 359
Kendal, 122
Kenilworth Castle, 141
Kenmore Bay, 374
Kennet, river, 92, 187, 201
Kent, 179, 190
Kent, river, 122
Kerry, county, 387
Kerry Head, 373
Kerry_ Mountains, 365
Keswick, 120
Kettering, 168
Kidderminster, 137
Kildare, county and town, 395
Curragh, 395
Kilkenny, county and town, 396
Killala, 385
Killala Bay. 373, 384
Killaloe, 386
Killarney, 388
Killarney Lakes, 368
Killiecrankie, Pass of, 265
Kilmarnock, 353
Kilrush, 386
Kincardineshire, 332
King's County, 392
Kingston-on-Thames, too
Kingston, Hampshire, 199
Kingstown, 374
Kingstown, Ireland, 394
Kingussie, 324
Kinross, county and town, 339, 34
Kinsale Harbour, 370, 375
Kinsale, 388
Kinsale, Old Head of, 375
King's Lynn, 174
Kirkaldy, 340
Kirkcudbright, county and town,
354
Kirkham, 125
Kirkintilloch, 349
the
INDEX.
409
Kirkwall, 319
K napdale, 260, 308
Knighton, 237
Knockmealdown Hill.*!, 366
K^yle. 353
I.Ar.AN, river, 370
lagan, 380
Lakes ; of Cumberland , 34, 44, 120 ; of
the Highlands of Scotland, 266; of
Southern Scotland, 275 ; of Perth-
shire, 335 ; tabular view of Scotch
I^kes, 277 ; of Ireland, 9, 367
T.ainbeth, 190
Latnmermuir Hills, 270, 274
Lanark, county and town, 346, 347
Lancashire ; manufactures o(, 42 ;
rivers of the plain of, 95, loi ; the
county, 123
Lancaster, 125
Land's End, 34, 35, 38, 51
I^inguage, 17
Lavider, river. 298
Lauderdale, 315
Lea, river, 92, 179, 181, 183
Lead mines, 5a, 149, 213, 332
Li;amj river, 141
L<-amington, 141
Lodbiiry, 14a
Lcc, river, 370
Leigh, 128
Lcighton Buzzard, 170
IxiinMer. 377. 390
I^ith, 344
Leiirim, county, 383
Lennox, 315
1^1 minster, 143
I-erwick. 319
Lctierkcnny, 379
Lcvcn. river, 3C0
Lewes, Sussex, 197
Lewis, I'land of, 310^ 322
Lick.y Hills, 97, 137
Lidiiil. river, 301
Ll.|.l.-..!:,lc. 315
Lit]< \, liver, 370
litT. nl. ,79
Litncrifk, county and town, 387
Linen manufactures in Scotland, 249,
2'><. 3v<S; in Ireland, 7. 38a
Line In Wolds, 61, 83, 165
Lin< r.lnshire, 163
I.ini..ln. t66
I.inliihB..w, county and town. 343
Lizard Head. 33
LitartI P.. int. 51
Llanbent, Pus of, 319
Llandafl*. 239
Llandeilo. 341
Llandovery, 341
Llandudno, 331
Llanelly, 341
Llangollen, Vale of, 231
Llanidloes, 336
Loch AJsh, 307
Loch Arkaig. 367
Loch Awe. 368
Loch Carron. 307
Loch Earn. 368, 335
Loch EUlderachillis, 307
Loch Eil, 367, 307
Loch Enard, 307
I>och Ericht, 267, 335
Ix>ch Etive, 268, 307
Loch Fyne, 368, 308
Loch Garry, 367
Loch Houm, 307
Loch Katrine, :68, 33 j
Loch Ken, 375
Loch Laggan, 367
Ix)ch Leven, 368, 307
I^ch Linnhe, 307
IxKh Lochie, 367
Ixx:h Iximond. a^B. 359, a68, aSo
Ix>ch Long, a68. 308
Loch Morar, 367
Loch-na-gar, 365
Loch Nejw, 967
Loch Oich. 367
I-och Quoich, 367
Lech Kannock, z&f, 335
F ... h Shiel. 367
I.' .h Shin. 366
I-'.ch Spcy, 390
IxKh Sunart, 307
I^ch Tay, 367, 33$
Loch Torridon, 307
Lochaber, 357
Lorn' nd Hills, aSo
London ; its position as alTccdng com
merce, 7. 7a, 9a, tSt ; its populaU n,
18a
L'-ndonderry. county and town, 379
Longford, county and town. 39a
Long Mynd. 49, 13s
I^ngtown, lao
Imm Head, 373
l!othians : k«M, Middk. and Wttl.
3»5
I.oihuns, the, 343
Lorn. 360
I . ni. Firth of. 107
I )84
lx>ugii i'crg. j68
4IO
INDEX.
Lough Foyle, 372
Lough Mask, 368, 384
Lough Neagh, 368
Lough Rea, 368
Lough Swilly, 372
Louth, 166
Louth, county, 390
Lowestoft, T75
Lowlands of Scotland, 10, 247; their
hills and plain, 248, 269, 276; con-
trasted with the Highlands, 270 ;
grouping of the hills, 272 ; their
rivers, 289 ; tabular view of them,
301
Lowther Hills, 273
Luce Bay, 308
Ludlow, 136
Lug, river, 142
Lugnaquilla, 366
Lune, river, 43, 105, 115, 122, 125
Lurgan, 382
Luton, 170
Lytham, 125
M.
Macclesfield Forest, 130
Macgillicuddy Reeks, 365
Madeley, 136
Maidenhead, 188
Maidstone, 191
Mainland, Orkney Islands, 319
Maldon (Essex), 180
Malin Head, 372
Malmesbury, 202
Malvern Hills, 49, 97, 98, 137
Malvern, 138
Man, Isle of (see Isle of Man)
Manchester, 128
Manufactures of England and Wales,
42, 69, 70, 75, 85, 87, 103, 104, 112,
119, 127, 129, 131, 132, 136 — 139, 141,
149— 151 ,153, 154, 160, 166, 168, 173,
175. 185, 212, 236; of Scotland, 248,
249, 298, 331, 348, 350, 358 : of Ire-
land, 7, 382
Marble quarries, 211
March (Cambridgeshire), 171
Margate, 192
Market Drayton, 136
Marlborough Downs, 65, 65, 91, 187,
201
Marlborough, 201
Marsh lands and Marshes, 5, 88, 165,
179, 191, 207
Maryborough, 393
Maryport, 121
Matlock, 149
Maynaoth, 395
Mayo, Mountains of, 365
Mayo, county. 384
Mealfourvoonie, 263
Meath, county, 391
Medway, river, 92, 94, 191
Melrose Abbey, 298
Melrose, 359
Menai Strait, 35
Merionethshire, 233
Merrick Mountain, Scotland, 273
Mersey, river, 36, loi, 103, 107, 125,
130
Mersey Basin, counties of the, 123
Merthyr Tydvil, 239
Metallic products and metals, 6, 40,
43, 50, 117
Mickle Fell, 41, 54
Middlesex, 117, 178, 181
Middleton, 128
Midhurst, 197
Midland Counties of England, no,
III
Milfard Haven, town and harbour of,
37, 241
Minch, straits of, 310
Mines and minerals of England, 6, 12,
13, 16, 27, 40, so, 69, 112, 117, 121,
127, 211, 213, 224 ; of Wales, 224,
225 ; of Scotland, 296 ; in the Isle of
Man, 243 _
Mineral springs of Derbj'shire, 149;
of Leamington, 141 ; of Malvern,
138 ; of Reigate, 189
Mizen Head, 363
Moel Siabod, 220
Moffat, river, 300
Moffatdale, 3j6
Mold, 232
Mole, river, 92, 94, 189 _
Monadh-Leadh Mountains. 264
Monaghan, county and town, 382
Monk Wearmouth, 118
Monmouthshire, 133, 143
Monmouth, 143
Monnow, river, 142
Montgomeryshire, 235
Montgomery, 236
Montrose, 333
Moorlands and Moors of England, 25,
42, 53, 83—85, 114, 126, 159. 209.
213 ; of Wales, 48 ; of Scotland,
247, 257, 258, 262
Moray ( Elgin), 329
Moray Firth. 261, 305, 322 ; nvers 01
the Firth, 290
Morpeth, 117
Morvern, 260
Morvern Hills, 262
Morecambe, Bay, 36, ^3
INDEX.
411
Motherwell, 347
Mounta.ns, importance of, 40
Mountain groups of England and
Wales, 40
Mountains of England, 43, 51, 105,
114, 115, 131, 135. 143, 205. 309,
213, 317 ; of Wales, ir, 45, 49, 218,
243; of Scotland, 10, 246^-348, 351,
254. 257. 258, 265, 322, 338 ; of the
Scotch Highlands and Lowland
Hills, tabuW view of, 276; of Ire-
land, 363
Mountain torrents of Scotland, 286
Mountmcllick, 393
Mount's Bay, 35
Mourne Mountains, 366, 374
Mowcop. 150
Moy, river, 369
Much Wen lock, 136
Mulrea, 365
Muirf(jot, Hills, 274
Mull, Island and Sv.und of, 309, 310
Mull of Can tyre, 308
Mull of Galloway, 308
Mullet, peninsula of, 373, 384
Mullingar, 391
Munster, 377, 386
Musselburgh, 344
N.
N'aas, 395
Nairn, county, town, and river, 291,
328
Naval power of Great Britain, 16
N'avan, 391
Neath, nver, 324, 327
Neath, 240
Needles, the, 199
Ncn. river, 89, 107, 167, i6i, 170
N'cnaj{h. 390
N'cphin Beg Mountains, 365
Ncs«, river, 790
Ncwark-on-Trent, 154
Newbury. 188
Ncwcastle-on-Tyne, 117'
New Forest, 74, 179, 199
Newmarket, 171
Newix)rt. Isle of Wight. 200
Newpirt. Monmouth%hirr. 145
NcwjMirt, Shropshire, ijG
New Radnor, 237
New Ross, 395
Ne%»rry, 381
Newton. it8
Newti.n Abbot, 213
Newtown. Montgnmeryshira, 236
Newtown Ards, 381
Newtown Limavady, 379
Nidd, river and valley. 84
Nith, river, 272, 300
Nithsdale, 315
Nore, river, 370
Norfolk, 172 — 174
Northern cuuiAies of Engbnd, ito.
Ill
North-western counties of England,
no. III
Northampton Heights, 61
Northampton Uplands. 89
Northamptonshire, 163, 167
Northampton. 168
North Berwick Law, 380
North D0WIU, 26, 60, 66, 67, 93, 189—
191
North Esk, 293
North Foreland. 34
North Sea, its eflect on the dvilisarlon
of Britain, 15, 20, 3X, 35, 78; its
watershed, 81
North Shields, 117
Northumbrian counties. 114, 115
Northumbrian rivers. 80
Northumberland, it6
North Uist. 310
North Walsham, 175
Norwich. 176
Noss Hetd, 306
Nuneaton, 141
O.
Oakham. 166
Oban, 336
Ock. nver and valley, 187. i83
OchiU HilK 380. 281. 294
Oldbiry, 138
Oldham, 128
Old Man Mountain, 129
OIney, 18$
Omagh, 38t
Ooliuc range of Uganda, ns. 59' ^
81. 88, 161. 167. 18s. «». •(». ao]
Ord of Caithness, ate. 306
Orkney Islands, 308, 309
Orkney, 118, 319
Oronsay Island. 310
Orwell, rtver. 93. 175
Otwcsiry. 136
Ouie. valley. 6 1. 69. 71
Ouse. river, aad its inr
87. 94, to7 : its I
168.170. tii. 196
Ouiar Ucbndta Um H«brtd««)
Over Darwta. tay
Oxfordflhirt. 177* *7*t **S
Oxford. 186
0« MottOtaiiM, 384
MS. «S4. «•/.
412
INDEX.
P.
Padih.vm, 127
Paisley, 350
Parret, river, 49, 95, 100, 207, 209
Parsonstown, 392
Pass of Dalwinnie, 265
Pass of Killiecrankie, 265
Pass of Llanberis, 219
Pasture-lands, of England, 103, 209 ;
of the Scotch mountains, 248 ; of
Ireland, 367, 386
Patrick, 347
Peak of Derbyshire, 22, 41, 55, 86
Peal Fell, 275
Peebles, county and town, 356, 357
Pembrokeshire, 241
Pendle Hill, 125
Pennine Chain of Moors and Moun-
tains, 22, 23, 41, 52, 59, 69, 79, 83,
156; its coal-fields, 112
Penrhyn slate quarries, 220
Penrhyn, 231
Penrith, 120
Pentland Hills, 280
Penzance, 213
Perry, river, 135
Perth, county and town, 294, 331, 334,
336
Peterborough, 168
Peterhead, 330
Petersfield, 198
Pewsey, Vale of, 201
Physical structure and resemblance of
the British Islands, 2 : their differ-
ences, 3, 6
Pickering, Vale of, 62, 84, 155, 157
Pitlochrie, 336
Plains of England, 23, 62, 68, 83, 84,
114, 162, 194 ; of Scotland, 263, 278,
30s, 338 ; of Ireland, 363, 366, 377
Plinlimmon Range of Mountains, 47,
219
Plinlimmon, 55, 222
Plym, river, 211
Plymouth Sound, 35, 95, 211
Plymouth, 211
Polden Hills, 209
Political geography, 8 ; political and
social differences of Ireland and
Great Britain, 8 ; the political divi-
sion of Great Britain, 9 ; of Wales,
11; of Scotland, 10, 313; of Eng-
land, 12 ; of the English counties,
108, 110, 160
Political history of England affected
by its structure and position, 14
Pullockshaws, 350
Pomona, 319
Poole Harbour, 94, 203
Poole, 204
Population of Great Britain generally,
16 ; of London, and Scotland, j6,
17; of Lancashire, 129; of Scot-
land, "^Gaelic and English. 10 {see
statistics under each County)
Portarlington, 393
Port Glasgow, 350
Portland Bill, 34
Portland, Isle of, 203
Portobello, 344
Portpatrick, 269, 272, 353
Portree, 325
Ports of England, 197 ; principal,
Bristol, 98, 139 ; Falmouth, 213 ;
Glasgow, 299 ; Grimsby, 166 ; Hull,
87 ; Liverpool and Birkenhead, 104,
128 ; London, 182; Newcastle, 82 ;
Sunderland, 82 ; Poole, 204 : Yar-
mouth, 174 ; Cardiff, 225 ; of Scot-
land, 284, 296; of Ireland, 372, 378,
388
Portsea, 199
Portsmouth and its harbour, 35, 74,
199.
Position of the British Islands, 7
Potteries, the, 151
Presteign, 237
Preston and its harbour, 105, 125
Provinces of Ireland, 277
Purbeck Island and its Cliff-line, 74,
203
Purbeck Heights, 203
Q-
QiTANTOCK Hills, 50, 209
Queen's County, 392, 393
Queenstown, 388
R.
Radnorshire, 235, 236
Radnor Forest, 237
Railroads, 74
Rainfall of England, 4, 13, 27, 76 ; of
Wales, 218
Ramsgate, 192
Rannoch, Moor of, 257, 258
Rathlin Island, 372
Reading, 188
Redditch, 138
Redruth, 213
Reigate, i8g
Renfrew Hills, 280
Renfrew, coimty and town, 349. 350
Rhinns of Galloway, 308
Rhinns of Kells, 273
INDEX.
413
Rhyl. 233
Kibble, river, iot, 104, 125, 156
Kibble Basin, Counties of the, 133
Richmond, Surrey, 190
Richmond Moors, Yorkshire, 155,
«S9
Ridings of Yorkshire, 160
Rivers, 5
Kivers of England and Wales, 20,
49. 51. 73. 74 ,
River system of England, 13, jS;
determined by mountains, 40
Rivers, importance of, 75
Rivers, grouping of, jg
River groups, table ofT 106
River system of Wales. 225 ; of Scot-
land, 285 ; of Ireland, 368
Roads, 20, 74
Rochdale, 127
Rochester, 191
Rocks of England, 6, 31, 47; of
Wales, 216, 220; of Scotland, 246,
252. 270
Ro( kiniiham Forest, 61, 89
Kxltti. river, 135
Rolini^, river, 180
Ki)in<it:y Marsh, 191
Kos-;. Herefordshire, 142
Kms-. and Cromarty, 318 321
R'>s( mmon, county and; tjwn. 385.
306
Ruther, nver, 191
Rothesay. 327
Rough Tor, 51
R.-xhiirgh. 357. 358
Rtiab n, 221, 232
Rugby. 141
Kutncrglen, 347
Ruthin. 231
Rutlandshire, 163, 166
Rydcaoo
S.
Saffron, 180
S.iA^ron Walden. 180
St. Abb's Head, 269. 97a
St. Alban'a. 184
St. Alhan's Head, 34
St. Aixircw's, 340
.St. As.nnh. 23a
St lt,c\ Head, 37
St. Uridc'* Bay, 37, 341
St D.ivid's Head. 38
Si • '.rr.r^S ChantKl, 35
s ingdon^hire. 169
' *.ul, ai3
St. Mary's UkH, 975
St. Neots, 169
St. NInian's, 34a
Salford. 128
S&lisbiiry Plain, 64. 66. 78, 194
Salt mines, 13, 103. 118, 130, 137
Salt manufacture, 119
►Scafell, 43. 5«. 120
Scenery of the Highlands and Low-
lands of Scotland, 371, 093, 303 ; of
Ireland. 368
Schiehallion, 258, 335
Scilly Islands, 34, 51
Scone, 337
Scotland : political geography of. 10 ;
Higt lands and Lowlands. 10 ; Clans,
xo ; progress of civiUsation in, 1 1 ;
its area, 11 ; union with Engkind.
XI ; coal-beds. 11 ; manufactures,
II ; compared with Wales, la ; its
area and population, 18. 246, 2^9 ;
physical map of, 344 ; boundanes.
945 : physical structure. 246 : indiis*
tnes, 2^8; coast-line and islands,
302: political divisions. 313
Sea-lochs of Scotland, 360, 303, 306,
308
SeaixNtt (te* Ports)
Selkirk, county and town. 357
Settle, Valley of. 158
Severn Basin. c«.iunties of the, 133.
134
Severn, nver, 37. 46, 48. 78. 97. too,
104. 107. 135, i39>".). a«6
Severn Valley. 135, 137
Shap Fell. 43. 47. 121
Shannon, river and lakes, 367—361)
Sheemess. 193
Shelve Hill. 135
Sheppey. Isle uf, 33, 191, 193
Sherborne. ao3
Sherwood ForeM. 151
Sljcihnd Islands. 308, 309
S*: ..8.319
> ; ng in Scotland, jdo. 318
Shires, or Counties (iw CoundeO
180
/. 136
Shropshire. 133, 134
Sidlaw Hills. 979. a8a. 194
Silver in Cornwall. •13; in the Isle of
Man. 943
.Silvcrmine Hills. 366
aiiddaw 4hiy **o
atye. Isle of. 309. 313. JM
Slancy. nver. $fo
Slate and Shte.qttarriea, it, iio, tir,
S18, ai9 tso. 9ta
414
INDEX.
Sleat, Sound of, 309
Slievebloom Hills, '366
Slieve-Donard, 366
Slieve League, 364
Sligo Bay, 373
Sligo, county and town, 3S4
Snaefell, 243
Snowdon range of Mountains, 47. 219
Snowdon, 24, 48, 55, 219
Soar, river, 86
Social differences of Ireland and Great
Britain, 8
Soil of the British Islands, 6
Solent, the, 34
Sol way Firth, 20, 36, 43, 300, 307, 308
Sol way Moss, 355
Somersetshire, 205 — 207
Sound of Islay, 310
Sound of Mull, 310
Sound of Sleat, 309
Sources of rivers, 79
Southern waterparting, Counties of
the, 194
Southern Counties of England, no,
III
South-western counties of England,
no. III, 205, 206
Southampton, Plain of. 74
Southampton as a port, 74
Southampton and Southampton Water,
35, 94, 199
South Downs, 26, 60, 66, 67, 196, 197
South E?k, 293
South Foreland, 34
South Shields, 119
South Uist. 310
Southwark, 190
Spalding, 166
Sf errin Mountains, 364
Spey, river and valley, 264, 290
Spithead, 34
Start Point, 34
Staffordshire coal-fields and manufac-
tures, 151
Stamford, 166
Stirling, county and town, 341, 342
Stiper Stones. 49, 135
Stockton-on-Tees, 119
Stone and Stone quarries, 27, 42, 211,
217, 219
Stonehaven, 332
Stonehenge, 200
Stormont, 314
Stornoway, 323
Stort, river, 179, 183
Stour, river, 93, 94, 98, 175, 179, 191,
192, 203
Stourbridge. 138
Strabane, 381
Stranraer, 354
Straits of Dover, 26
Strangfurd Bay, 374
Stratford-on-Avon, 141
Strathmore, 264, 282
Straths of Scotland, 286
Straw-plaiting, 169, 183, 185
Stroud, 139
Suck, river, 369
Sudbury, 176
Suffolk, 172, 173, J 75
Sugarloaf Mount, 143
Suir, river, 370
Sunderland, n8
Surrey, 179, 188
Sussex, 194 — 196
Sutherland, 318, 320
Swale, river, 84
Swale, East, river, 93
Swamps, 88, 180
Swansea Bay, 37
Swansea, 225, 240
Swindon, 201
Taff, river, 224, 227, 239
Tain, 322
Tamar, river, 50, 94, 210, 212
Tame, river, 86, 141, 150
Tara, Hill of, 391
Tarns of^ the Welsh mountainous dis-
trict, 48
Taunton, Vale of, 49, 209
Taunton, 210
Tavistock, 211
Tavy, river, 211
Tawe, river, 95, 211, 212, 224, 227
Tay, river, 293, 305
Tees, river, 33, 80, 82, 107. 118, 156
Teify, river, 100, 223, 226
Teign, river, 211
Teignmouth, 212
Teith, river, 296
Teme, river, 98, 135, 137
Temperature of the British Islands, 4
Tern, river, 98, 135
Test, river, 94, 198
Teviot, river, 298
Teviotdale, 315
Tewkesbury, 139
Thame, river, 92 ; and valley, 184,
185, 186
Thames, the river, 26, 33, 107, 181,
182, 187 ; its upper valley, 71 ; its
basin and estuar>', 72, 80, 90—92,
INDEX.
41S
Thames Basin, Counties of the, 177 ;
map of towns and rivers, 178
'Ihanet, Isle of, 191
I hetford, 175
I hirlmere, 45
'Ihurles, 389
Thurso, 320
1 ides, 7
'lin mines, 52, 213
Tinto Hill, 280
Tipperary, county and town, 389. 390
Tiverton, 212
I'one, river, 209
Tor Bay, 222
Torquay, 212
Torridge, river. 95. ai2
Towy, river, 100. 223. 227
I'rade, effect of geography on, 40 (sff
Commerce)
Tralee, Bay of, 373
Tralee, 388
Trent, nver, its valleys and tributaries,
83, 86, 87, 107, 165
Trent, Counties of the basin of the,
M5— M7
I run, -^gi
'I r .ssactis, the, a68. 335
Ir.stan. Mount. 364
I r.iwbridge, 202
Truro, 213
luam, 385
Tullamore, 392
Tullow, 396
Tummel. river, 394, 295
Tunhridge. 191
Tunhridse Wells, 191
'I weed, river, 20, 80, 297
Twcedd.ile, 315
Tyne, river, 80. 8a, 107, 117. 118
Tynemouth, 117
'lyrone, cuunty, 381
U.
I'r l.CSWATKR, 45, lat
11 trr. 177. 378
li, l.r.l.fT. fsle of Wight, aoo
I ll.xi.l ranges. 57
l(j|.tii<Js of the Kast Midland Coun-
ties, 165
UpLinU. Chalk, 17a. 183. 198
UplaiuU. Oolaic, 163, 185, aoo, »oj.
203
Upptnuham, 166
lire, nvrr and valley, 84
U»k. river, 78, 99. 100, 107, t4a. 143.
223. aa6
U.k. ,43
Valb OP Aylesbury. 71, 184
Vale of Blackmore, aoa
Vale of Catmnss, 166
Vale of Kvesham, 137
Vale of Glamorgan, 240
Vale of Llangollen, aji
Vale of Pewaey, 201
Vale of Pickering. 84
Vale of Taunt >n. 49, ao9
Vale of White Horse, 71, 187
Valencia Island, 374
Valleys. 69
Valley ©f the Ouse, 71
Valley of the lliames. 73
Valleys of Worcestershire. 137
Ventnor, 200
Virnwy, river, 98, 235
W.
Walks : political geography, 11: com-
pared with Scotland, ta: general
view of Waka, 19 : the Welsh rooun.
tains. II, 24 41. 45. 46. 49. 54:
area and populaUon. 18. 216; rivcr.«.
78. 96. 100
Wallingford. 188
Wantage. 188
Ware. 183
Wareham, 303
Warrington. laS
Warwickshire, 133, 140
Warwick, 141
Wash, the, 33
Wash, esttiary and rivers of the. 88. 89
Wash. Counties of the. or East Mid-
land Coonttes. 16a, 164
Wash Water, lao
Wastwater, 45
Waterford. county and town, 389
Watcrford Harbour. 375
Waterford Hills. j66
Waierparung of England and Walts.
ao. at
Waierparting of SoialbcfB Bngjwd.
ao7
Waierparting of Wale*. —$
Waterpaning of ScoUaad, •$$, as6k
Wate^JSd of tha Brvtot ChMBtl. 961
WaterJiird Jttlm Ifffab Sm, loa. 93%
aaS
WatarriMd of tht Nonh Sm, ti
Waimbwl of Scotland, ««
4i6
INDEX.
Watford, 184
Waveney, river, 93, 174, 175
Weald, the, 73, 74
Weald, rivers and district of the, 93,
196
Wealden Heights, the, 73, 78, 188—
190, 194, 196
Wear, river, 80, 82
Weaver, river and valley, 70, 103
Weaver Hills, 150
Welland, river, 89, 107, 165 — 167
Wellingborough, 168
Wellington, Shropshire, 136
Wellington, Somerset, 210
Wells, Norfolk; 174 _
Welsh mountains, rivers of the, 96 ;
coal-fields of the, 113
Welshpool, 236
Wenlock Edge, 49. 135
Wensum, river, 174
Westbury, 202
Westmeath, county, 391
West Midland Counties of England.
110, III, 133
Westmoreland, Moors of, 114
Westmoreland, county, 121
Westport, 385
Wexford Haven, 375
Wexford, county ?ind town, 395
Wey, river, 92, 1S9
Weymouth, 203
Wharfe, river, and its valley, 84
Whernside, 41, 43
Whitchurch, 136
Whiteadder, river, 298
White Coomb, 274
Whitehaven, 121
White Horse, Vale of, 71
White Horse Hill, 65, 187
Whiten Head, 306
Wick, 320
Wicklow, county, 394
Wicklow Head, 375
Wicklow Mountains, 366, 374
Wigan, 127
Wight, Isle of, 199
Wigtonshire, county and tjvvn, 352,
354
Wigton, 120
Wigton Bay, 508
Wiley, river, 200'
Wiltshire, 194, 195, 200
Winchester, 198
Windermere, 45, 121, 129
Windrush, river, 186
Winds, 4
Windsor, 188
Wish each, 171
Wishaw, 347
Wisp Hill, 275
W itham. river, 88, 107, 165
Witney, 186
Wolds of York and Lincoln, 83
Wolds of Lincolnshire, 165
Woodstock, 186
Woollen trade of Yorkshire, 42, 104 '
Woolwich, 192
Worcestershire, 133, 137
Worcester, 137
Worthing, 197
Wrekin, the, 135
Wrexham, 232
Wye, river, 48, 49, 78, 99, 100, 107, 142,
223, 226
Wyre, Forest of, 135
Wyre, river, 125
Yarmouth, 174
Yare, river, 93, 107, 174
Yarrow, river, 298
Yeo, river, 209
Yeovil, 209
Yes Tor, 50, 211
Yorkshire, manufactures of, 42
York, Plain of, 69, 155, 156
Yorkshire Moors, 62, 15s, 158
Yorkshire Wolds, 61, 83, 155, 158
York, cthe capital of Northern Eng-
land, 157
Youghal harbour, 370
Youghal, 388
Ystwith, river, 223, 226
Zinc, 232
ITY
LONL-ON : R. CLAY, SONS, AN*) Ti^LOR, PRINTF.RS
December 1879.
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