Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/426

 412 F O R F K districts 43,179, as compared with 149,309, 6602, and 48,514 respectively in 1861. One member of parliament is returned by the county, two by the burgh of Dundee, and the other burghs unite with Inverbervie in Kincardineshire in returning a third. History and Antiquities. Forfar belongs to that portion of Scot land inhabited in the time of the Romans by the Picts. The county is supposed by some to have received the name Angus from being granted to a son of one of the Scottish kings who bore that name; but others trace the origin of the title to a Gaelic designation for a particular kind of hill, and connect its use with the hill of Angus, to the east of the church of Aberlemno. It is only a few centuries ago that the name Forfar, borrowed from the county town, was applied to the whole county. In ancient times the county was governed by hereditary earls, and it was made an hereditary sheriff- dom by David II. The principal historical events, not connected immediately with the burghs, are the supposed Roman battle of the Grampians; the battle of Egfrid, king of Northumbria, and Bridei, king of the Picts, near Duunichen, in 685, in which the former was slain; battles with the Danes at Aberlemno and other places; the defeat of Elpin, king of the Scots, by ^Engus, in the parish of Liff, in 730; a battle between the Picts and Scots near Restinoth, about the year 835; and the defeat of Lord Montfort near Panmure by the earls of Fife and March about the year 1336. In various parts of the county pretty entire remains of the &quot; weems,&quot; or old subterranean dwellings of the Celts, are found; traces of Roman camps are very common; there are a large number of stone forts, and there are vitrified forts at Finhaven, at Dnmsturdy Muir, and on the hill of Laws, near Monifieth. Spear heads, battle- axes, sepulchral deposits, Scandinavian bronze pins, gold bullets (used for coin), and other antiquarian remains are frequently met with. There are sculptured stone pillars at Aberlemno, Auldbar, Glammis, Kirriemuir, St Vigeans, and other places. The principal ecclesias tical antiquities are connected with the burghs. Among the old castles may be mentioned the roofless square tower of Redcastle, at the mouth of the Lunan; the old tower of the modern castle of Guthrie ; the tower of the castle of Auchinleck ; the stronghold of Inverarity, near Kirriemuir ; the large square keep of Broughty castle; the ruins of the castle of Finhaven; the two towers of the old Edzell castle; the ruins of Melgund castle, which are in a pretty entire condition; the ancient part of the splendid castle of Glammis; the small castle of Nevvtyle; the old square tower and gateway of the castle of Craig; and the remains of the old castle of Airlio, whose burning by the earl of Argyll in 1640 gave rise to the ballad of &quot;The bonnie house of Airlie.&quot; The number of fine modern residences is too great to admit of their being here particularized. The principal works on Forfarshire are Edward s Description of Anyu*, pub lished in 1(&amp;gt;78, and reprinted in 1791; Forfarshire Illustrated, 1843 ; Gardner s Jiotany of Forfarshire, and Memorials of Angus and the Mearns,&amp;gt;y Andrew Jer- vise, 1861. FORFAR, a royal and parliamentary burgh of Scotland, and capital of the county of the same name, is situated in the valley of Strathmore near the railway from Aberdeen to Perth. The principal buildings are the court-house, the town-hall, the county buildings, and the infirmary. The staple industry is the linen manufacture, but there are also breweries and tanneries. Forfar is of considerable antiquity, having been constituted a burgh before 1300. It was at one time the residence of royalty; and in the accounts of the chamberlain of the royal household, in the reign of Alexander III., and of some preceding monarchs, a charge is entered for the king s gardeners at Forfar. The town was protected by a castle which stood on a mound on the north side. Its origin is uncertain, but it is believed to have been the place where, in 1057, the first parliament of Malcolm Canmore assembled after the defeat of Macbeth. It was occupied and strongly garrisoned by the English in the beginning of the 14th century; but in 1307 Bruce, on his way through Angus, captured and destroyed it, putting the English to the sword. Its site is now marked by the town cross. It appears that the weekly market-day pre vious to the reign of James VI. was Sunday, when it was changed by Act of Parliament to Friday. In 1661 a spe cial commission was appointed by the crown to try several parties accused of witchcraft, some of whom were con demned to be burnt. The bridle which was put into their mouths in leading them out for execution is still preserved in the burgh. Further, it is recorded that John Ford, for his services as a &quot; witch ricker &quot; was on the same occasion admitted a burgess along with Lord Kinghorn. Previous to the middle of last century, the town possessed very few houses of two stories ; and notwithstanding its proximity to good grey slate quarries, the houses were almost all thatched. This burgh unites with Montrose, Arbroath, Brechin, and Inverbervie in sending one member to parlia ment. The population of the burgh (royal and parliamen tary) in 1861 was 9258, and in 1871 11,031. FORGE, a fire urged by a blast for the purposes of the smith. Of late years many improvements have been made in its construction. Formerly the forge was almost made entirely of bricks, and many so constructed exist still. From the attention of engineers having been called to the special requirements and increasing wants of the day, the old forge has undergone many changes. Undoubtedly these changes are for the better. The modern forge leaves little to be desired. It is only in cases where the metal is of small dimensions, and the work of rare occurrence, that the old method of building them in brick is still resorted to. The forge seen in country smithies and in small shops is made entirely of bricks. It is generally built against a wall upon arches to a convenient height. The hearth, which should be made with fire-bricks, is sunk to a depth of three inches or more, according to the nature of the work for which it is constructed ; so that the upper and outer course of brickwork forms a rim. About 2 feet 6 inches, more or less, above the hearth is placed the hood. This is also made of brick, and is built upon a flat iron rim. It is cone shape, and at the apex is an orifice leading into a flue for the escape of the smoke. In front of the forge is placed a water tank for quenching the work, tools, &c. The tuyere or tweer is placed at the back of the hearth, as well as a small water tank for keeping the nozzle from burning under the action of the severe heat to which it is submitted. A pair of bellows, either single or double, worked by a rocking staff or lever is placed on one side of the forge in a convenient position. The bellows are placed on each side, if the forge be provided with two fires ; when this is the case it is called a double forge. Modern or the latest constructed forges are made almost entirely of cast or wrought iron. The wrought iron forges are as a rule portable for the purpose of ships, dockyards, &amp;lt;fec. They are constructed with sheet iron of a suitable gauge, the pieces being riveted together, and generally have the bellows placed underneath the hearth so that it may be out of the way. This particularly applies to portable forges of any description. Cast iron forges (either single or double) are cast in one or two pieces, and are of superior thickness, so as to give strength and solidity. They are used as fixed hearths in shops. They are bricked up when the work is of a very heavy nature so as to support the weight. The hoods of these forges are also made of cast iron, and are bolted on to the main casting. They vary in shapes and sizes. Messrs Handyside of Derby have designed some which have found much favour in the English Government and other works. Some of the smaller forges are now fitted with a fan blast to be worked by hand. These are very powerful, and give a very uniform current of air. They also have the advantage of being made entirely of metal, which adds considerably to their strength and lightness. The exertion in blowing is much less with them than with the ordinary bellows, from the motion being circular and the fan running between centres. At the Paris Exhibition (1878) there were several forges constructed upon an improved method. The blast was obtained by a pump, a reservoir being attached for maintaining the current which was very easy to keep up. In large smithies the hearths are all placed in a row or scattered about the shops in convenient situations, each having a flue passing through the roof. They are worked