Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/582

Rh LEITH. 574 LEITRIM. court is held here every Tuesday. Police matters arc managed by a commission. The real property of the town in 1860-1 amounted to 147,636. The corporation revenue in 1859 was 692. The population of the district of Leith, embracing Leith, Musselburgh, and Portobello, in 1851, was 30,919, and in 1861, 45,417. One of the earliest, if not the earliest mention of Leith, occurs in the charter of Holyrood Abbey, founded by David I., where it is termed Inverleith. Its proximity to the capital, and the circumstance of its having until recently been the port of Edinburgh, have rendered Leith the scene of several interesting historical events. In 1313, and again in 1410, the shipping in Leith Harbour was burnt by the English. In 1544 the town was almost destroyed, and its shipping carried off by the English under the Earl of Hertford. In 1549 the French took possession of the town to assist the Queen Regent to suppress the Reformation. In 1560 the forces of Queen Elizabeth, in conjunction with the Scottish Protestant forces under the Lords of the Congregation, took pos- session of the town. The Solemn League and Covenant was sworn and subscribed in 1643 by many of the inhabitants. It was visited by the plague in 1647, which carried off 2,000 out of 4,000 of the inhabitants. In 1650, after the defeat of the Scots by Cromwell at Dunbar, the town was occupied by Lambert, his major- general, while Cromwell possessed himself of Edinburgh ; it was afterwards occupied by General Monk, who in- duced several English families to settle here, to whom a good deal of the mercantile spirit of the port is attri- butable. Leith fort was repaired, and a citadel with five bastions erected by Cromwell. Races were instituted in the reign of Charles II., and until recently were held in the month of July. The citadel was held for a short time in 1715 by the Pretender and his adherents. In 1779 Paul Jones caused a great panic in the town by appearing in the Frith. George IV. landed here in 1822 on his way to Edinburgh, an inscribed plate marking the spot where he landed. In 1842 the town was visited by the Queen and the late Prince Consort. LEITH, two hills of this name in co. Surrey, one near Haslemere, the other near Dorking. The latter is the highest point in the county, being near 1,000 feet above the sea-level. It commands extensive views over the counties of Surrey, Sussex, Oxford, Hants, Middle- sex, Essex, and the sea. LEITHEN WATER, a tributary of the river Tweed, in co. Peebles, Scotland. It joins the Tweed at Inner- leithen. LEITH LUMSDEN, a vil. in tho par. of Auchindoir, co. Aberdeen, Scotland, 3 miles from Auchindoir. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in tho marble quarry. LEITHOLM, a post-office vil. in tho par. of Eccles, co. Berwick, Scotland, 4 miles N.W. of Coldstream. It is situated near Leet Water. LEITH WATER, a river of co. Edinburgh, Scotland, rises under West Cairn, in the Pentland hiSs, and after a course of 18 miles, in which it turns numerous mills, falls into the Forth at Leith. It is crossed by the Dean and other bridges, and has on its banks a suburb of Edinburgh, in the par. of St. Cuthbert, called from it the Water of Leith. LEITRIM, a maritime co. in the prov. of Connaught, in the N.W. of Ireland, bounded on the N. by Donegal Bay and the cos. of Donegal and Fermanagh, on the E. by Fermanagh and Cavan, on the S. by Longford, and on the W. by Roscommon and Sligo. Its greatest length, N. to S., is 61 miles, and its breadth varies from 65 to 26 miles. The circuit is about 134 miles, of -which 4 miles, in Donegal Bay, are sea-coast. The area is 613 square miles, or 392,363 acres, of which 249,350 are arable, 115,869 uncultivated, 3,396 planted, and 23,748 covered by water. It extends from 53 45' to 54 29' N. lat., and from 7 53' to 8 8' W. longitude. According to the geographer Ptolemy, Leitrim, with Fermanagh and Cavan, was occupied by the tribe of Erdini, or Ei-naitjh, and this district subsequently was known as Sreifne, or Srenny. Leitrim was known as West JBreifne, Hy-Srinin-Breifne, or Sreifne O'Rourk, the former name arising from Brian, son of Eachod, the first Scotch kin( of Connaught, and the latter from the chief family jj the district ; while Cavan was called Sreifne 0' Betty, from the name of tho ruling family there. The country wai invaded by Dermod MacMurrough, with the assistant of Henry II., but Tiernan O'Rourk, who was chief a that time, defeated him, and subsequently assaults Dublin, though unsuccessfully. He afterwards, how ever, assisted the English in their attack on Roderick King of Connaught. From this time, till it was consti tuted a county by Sir II. Sidney in 1595, Leitrim formei part of Roscommon. The O'Rourks remained iudepen dent of English rule till the middle of the 16th century and in 1588 Brian O'Rourk rose against the English and occupied Dromahaire Castle, from which he was driven by the Earl of Clanricarde and Sir Richard Bingham. He then fled to Scotland, where he was captured, and was finally hanged in London. In 1596 his son Teigue joined O'Donnell's rebellion, and in the next year he, with Maguire, chief of Fermanagh, defeated Sir ConyeiB Clifford in the Curlew mountains. In 1603 he submitted to the English rule. In 1641 the people of Leitrim, under Sir Owen O'Rourk, joined O'Nial's rebellion, at the termination of which most of the remaining property of the family was confiscated. Many grants to new settlers were also made at the restoration of Charles H. and the accession of William III. Other powerful families in Leitrim were the O'Murreys, MacLoghlins, MacGlanchies, and MacGrannels. The name Reynold* is borne by some of the descendants of the last-mentioned family, being obviously a corruption of the more ancient name. The northern part of tho county is exclu- sively mountainous, while the southern extremity, from Rusky to Carrick, and along the vale of tho Shannon, is fertile and cultivated. Tracts of good land occur also in the vales of the northern division, as, for instance, round Dromahaire, Manorhamilton, and Glencar. The principal mountains are as follows : In the vicinity of Lough Allen, Slievan Jerin, 1,922 feet; Bencroy, 1,707 feet; Lugna Cuillagh, 1,424 feet; Cashell, 1,377 feet; Bartony, 1,301 feet; Slieve Nakilla, 1,703 feet: near Manorhamilton are the two mountains of Mullaghna- tire, 1,422 feet; and Benbo, 1,366 feet: further N. are Truskmore, 2,072 feet, the highest in the county; Brookhill, 1,712 feet; Dovey, 1,511 feet; Cruckaballin, 1,408 feet; Aghabonad, 1,346 feet; and Mullaghnatire, 1,275 feet. The Shannon is the chief river in Leitrim. It enters the county from Cavan at Glangavlin, and, passing through Lough Allen, proceeds southwards through Leitrim, Carrick-on-Shannon, Jamestown, and Drumsna. The whole length has been rendered navi- gable by means of canals. Lough Allen is the largest lake in Leitrim, measuring 7 miles by 5. The Shannon also forms loughs Boffin, Corry, and Bodarig. The river Bonnet rises in Lough Glenade, towards the N. of Uie county, and flows past Manorhamilton and Dromahaire into Lough Gill. The Glenfarn runs from near Manor- hamilton into Lough Macnean, which lake is united to Lough Kelvin by the river Kilcoo, which separates Leitrim fromFennanagh. The river Differin runs through Lough Car into Sligo Bay. Lough Belhavel is united to Lough Allen by a short stream called the Duibhachar. W. of Lough Allen there are the Yellow river, which rises near Beucroy, and flows past Ballinamore to Lough Garadice ; the Eslin, which flows through several small lakes into Lough Boffin ; the Rinn, which rises near Feenagh, and passes through Lough Rinn on its way to join the Shannon; and several smaller streams and lakes. The Drowes and the Duff, which are tho respec- tive outlets of loughs Melvin and Gill, possess salmon fisheries. Trout and other fish are plentiful in all the loughs and rivers, and herrings, sprats, cod, whiting, and ling, are caught in abundance off the coast. The geological formation of the county corresponds with the character of its surface. Tho fertile valleys in tho S.W. have a substratum of limestone, covered with a dark rich loam, while those in the N. rest upon conglomerate, sandstone, and greywacke. The subsoil of the sides ot" the hills is more commonly clay-slate. The mountains