Page:EB1911 - Volume 23.djvu/781

 gold medal). At the end of 1812 the 20th was again engaged in the Peninsula, and Major-General Ross early in the following year received a brigade command in Cole's division. Scarcely engaged at Vittoria, Ross's brigade played a distinguished part in the operations around Pamplona, and the 20th covered itself with glory at Roncesvalles and Sorauren. At Orthez Ross was severely wounded at the head of the brigade, which was assaulting the village of St Boës. He was among those who received the thanks of parliament for this battle, and he received the gold medal for Vittoria and the Peninsula gold medal. At the end of the war Ross was sent in command of a brigade to harry the coast of North America, and with 4500 men and three light guns landed in Maryland. At Bladensburg the Americans stood to fight in a strong position, but Ross's men routed them (Aug. 24, 1814). The same evening Washington was entered, and, the public buildings having been destroyed, the expedition re-embarked. This short and brilliant campaign excited the admiration of soldiers, critics and public alike, but the commander did not live to receive his reward. A few days later an expedition against Baltimore was undertaken; skirmishing soon began, and one of the first to fall was Ross. A public monument was erected to his memory in St Paul's Cathedral, and others at his residence at Rosstrevor and at Halifax, N.S. His family was granted the name Ross of Bladensburg by royal letters-patent.

 ROSS, a market town in the Ross parliamentary division of Herefordshire, England; 133 m. W. by N. from London and 12 S.E. from Hereford by the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 3303. It occupies a fine position on and about a rocky eminence on the left bank of the river Wye. There are manufactures of machinery and agricultural implements, and trade in the products of the district, such as cider and malt, and several fairs are held annually. The church of St Mary the Virgin stands high, and is surmounted by a lofty spire; it shows good Decorated and Perpendicular work. A beautiful terrace called the Prospect adjoins the churchyard and overlooks the river. The market house, dated 1670, is a picturesque building supported on columns, thee upper portion serving as a town hall. There are in the town many memorials of John Kyrle, the Man of Ross, who died here in 1724, and is eulogized by Pope in his third Moral Epistle (1732). The Prospect was acquired and laid out by Kyrle, who also planted the fine elm avenues near the church; his house stands opposite the market house, where he disbursed his charities; he erected the church spire, and is buried in the chancel, where his grave remained without a monument until Pope called attention to the omission. Nearly opposite the town is Wilton Castle, which defended the ford in the disturbed reign of Stephen, and suffered in the Civil Wars, being held for the Parliament and burned by the Royalists. The inhabited portion is modern. Four miles below Ross the important ford of Goodrich probably carried traffic in British and Roman times, and a magnificent castle, on a precipice rising sheer above the right bank of the river, commands it. The keep is doubtfully assigned to a date previous to the Conquest; the important position on the Welsh March led to several subsequent additions, especially in the 14th century, and the castle was only dismantled by order of the Parliamentarians after it had strongly resisted their arms on behalf of Charles I. in 1646, being the last to fall of the royal strongholds in this county.

Ross (Ros, Rosse) was granted to the see of Hereford by Edmund Ironside, but became crown property by an exchange effected in 1559. It derived importance from its situation on the road to South Wales. In 1305, only, it was represented in parliament by two members; but it was never incorporated, and was governed by appointees of the manor court, until the Ross Improvement Act of 1865 established elected commissioners of the borough. Fairs on the days of the Ascension, Corpus Christi, St Margaret and St Andrew were conferred by Henry III., and were in existence in 1888. A market every Thursday was granted by Stephen and confirmed by Henry III.; Friday is now market day.

 ROSS AND CROMARTY, a northern county of Scotland. The mainland portion is bounded N. by Sutherland and Dornoch Firth, E. by the North Sea and Moray Firth, S. by Beauly Firth and Inverness-shire and W. by the strait of the Minch. The island portion, consisting of as much of the island of Lewis as lies north of a line drawn from Loch Resort to Loch Seaforth, is bounded on the W., N. and E. by the Atlantic, and S. by Harris, the southern part of Lewis. Many islands, all but eleven uninhabited, are scattered principally off the west coasts of Lewis and the mainland. The area of the mainland is 1,572,294 acres and of the islands 404,413 acres, giving a total for the county of 1,976,707 acres or 3088.6 sq. m. The inhabited islands belonging to the mainland are all situated off the west coast. They are Gillean (lighthouse) in the parish of Lochalsh, Croulin in Applecross, Horisdale, Dry and Ewe in Gairloch parish, and Martin and Tanera More, of the group of the Summer Isles in the parish of Lochbroom. On the North Sea front the chief indentations are Beauly Firth and Inner Moray Firth, marking off the Black Isle from Inverness-shire; Cromarty Firth, bounding the districts of Easter Ross and the Black Isle; Moray Firth, separating Easter Ross from Nairnshire; and Dornoch Firth, dividing north-east Ross from Sutherlandshire. On the Atlantic face—which is a coastline of more than 300 m.—the principal sea lochs and bays, from S. to N., are Loch Duich, Loch Alsh, Loch Carron, Loch Kishorn, Loch Torridon, Loch Shieldaig, Upper Loch Torridon, Gairloch, Loch Ewe, Gruinard Bay, Little Loch Broom and Enard Bay. The chief capes are Tarbat Ness on the east coast, and Coygach, Greenstone, Reidh, Red and Hamha Points on the west. Almost all the southern boundary with Inverness-shire is guarded by a rampart of peaks, among them being An Riabhachan (3696), Sgurr na Lapaich (3773), Carn Eige (3877), Mam Soul (3862), Ben Attow (3383), Scour Ouran (3505), famous for its view from the summit, Ben Mohr (3570) and the Saddle (3317). To the north of Glen Torridon occur the masses of the Liatach, with peaks of 3456 and 3358 ft., and Ben Eay with four peaks above 3000 ft. each. On the north-eastern shore of Loch Maree rises Ben Slioch (3217), while the Fannich group contains at least six peaks of more than 3000 ft. The immense isolated bulk of Ben Wyvis (3429), and its subordinate peaks An Socach (3295) and An Cabar (3106), is the most noteworthy feature in the north-east, and the Challich Hills in the north-west with peaks of 3483 and 3474 ft. are equally conspicuous, though less solitary. Only a small fraction of western and southern Ross is under 1000 ft. in height. Easter Ross and the peninsula of the Black Isle are comparatively level. The longest stream is the Orrin, which rises in An Sithean and pursues a course mainly E. by N. to its confidence with the Conon after a run of about 26 m., during a small part of which it forms the boundary with Inverness-Shire. At Aultgowrie the stream rushes through a narrow gorge where the drop is considerable enough to make the falls of Orrin. From its source in the mountains in Strathvaich the Blackwater flows S.E. for 19 m. till it joins the Conon, forming soon after it leaves Loch Garve the small but picturesque falls of Rogie. Within a short distance of its exit from Loch Luichart the Conon pours over a series of graceful cascades and rapids and then pursues a winding course of 12 m., mainly E. to the head of Cromarty Firth. The falls of Glomach, in the south-west, are the deepest in the United Kingdom. The stream giving rise to them drains a series of small lochs on the northern flanks of Ben Attow and, in an almost unbroken sheet about 40 ft. broad, effects a sheer leap of 370 ft., and soon afterwards ends its course in the Elchaig. The falls are usually visited from Invershiel, 7 m. to the south-west. Twelve miles south by east of Ullapool, on the estate of Braemore, are the falls of Measach, formed by the Droma, a head stream of the Broom. The cascades, three in number, are close to the gorge of Corriehalloch. The Oykell, throughout its course, forms the boundary with Sutherlandshire, to which