Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/212

Rh PEETWOOD. 200 PETERBOROUGH. one for the county, and one for the parliamentary borough of Perth ; while Culross contributes to Stirling and Tulliallan, and with four adjacent parishes have votes for Kinross. It is governed hy a lord-lieutenant, vice-lieutenant, sheriff, and two substitutes, who reside respectively at Perth and Dunblane, and by about sixty deputy-lieutenants. For special purposes it is divided into ten departmental districts, as mentioned above, and is further divided into sixty-nine entire quoad sacra civilia parishes, with parts of eleven others ; but these do not correspond with the present ecclesiastical parishes, which are continually being altered, both as to number and extent. The greater part of seven presbyteries in the synods of Perth, Angus, and Fife, are comprised within this county. Perth and Culross are royal and parliamentary burghs, the former being also the county and sessions town. Auchterarder, Abernethy, and Dunblane were formerly royal burghs. The ancient cities are Perth, Dunkeld, and Dunblane, the seats of bishoprics of the same name previous to the establish- ment of Presbyterianism. The burghs of barony are, Alyth, Abernethy, Auchterarder, Blairgowrie, (Jraig of Madesty, Crief, Kincardine, and Longforgan. The towns, containing upwards of 2,000 inhabitants, are, in order of population, Perth, Auchterarder, Blairgowrie, Crieff, Cupar-Angus, and Kincardine ; besides about 200 smaller towns and inconsiderable villages.. The man- sions in the county are numerous, including Dunkeld House, and Blaircastle, of the Duke of Athole ; Tay- mouth Castle, of the Marquis of Breadalbane ; Doune Lodge, of the Earl of Moray ; Duplin Castle, of the Earl of Kinnoul ; Elcho Castle, of the Earl of Vemyss ; Cluny Castle, of the Earl of Airlie ; Scone Palace, and Logie- Almond, of the Earl of Mansfield ; Gloneagles, of the Earl of Camperdown; Strathallan Castle, of Vis- count Strathallan ; Drummond Castle and Stobhall, of Lord Willoughby D'Eresby ; besides numerous other seats of the nobility and ancient families. The roads are well constructed, and are kept in good condition. They include the main road from Edinburgh, by Queens- ferry and Dunfermline, which enters the county a few miles S. of Perth, the road from Glasgow, by Stirling, the road from Dundee, by Meginch; the road from Aberdeen, by Forfar and Brechin ; the road from Inver- ness and the northern Highlands, by the Pass of Killie- crankie and the valleys of the Garry, Tumel, and Tay; and the road from Argyleshire, by way of the Dochart and Tay valleys ; all which converge at Perth. Besides these, there are three roads leading from Stir- ling, through Monteith, into the western Highlands. The road-trusts are divided into the eleven districts of Aberfeldy, Auchterarder, Blairgowrie, Carse of Gowrie, Cupar-Angus, Creiff, Culross, Dunblane, Dunkeld, Perth, and Weem. Five main lines of railway the Scottish Central ; Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee ; Scottish Mid- land Junction, or North-Eastern ; the Inverness and Perth Junction ; and the Dundee and Perth ; all centre at Perth. The Scottish Central railway traverses the southern part of the county for about 28 miles, and has branches to Crieff and Callander. The Scottish Mid- land Junction railway passes through a portion of the south-eastern corner of the county, and has branch lines to Blairgowrie and to Dunkeld, at which latter place it joins the Inverness and Perth Junction ; and another branch up the Almond to Methven. The eastern fork of the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee, and the Dundee and Perth lines, also traverse part of the eastern district. PEETWOOD, a par. in the hunda. of Wanninster and Dunworth, co. Wilts, 2 milea N.V. of Hindon, its post town, and 6 J S. of Warminster. The village, which consists of two or three farmhouses, is situated on Pert- wood Down, and is wholly agricultural. The parish is traversed by the road between Shaftesbury and War- minster. The tithes have been commuted for a rent- charge of 70, and the glebe comprises 10 acres. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Sarum, val. 56. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, has a tower containing one bell. PETER AND PAUL, ST., a par. in the bar, of Kil- mallock, co. Limerick, prov. of Munster, Ireland. It lies along the river Loobagh, and contains the town of Kilmallock, which see. PETEEBOEOUGH, or NASSABURGH, a lib. in the co. of Northampton, containing, besides the city of Peter- borough, the pars, of Bainton, Barnack, Borough-Far, Castor, with chplries. of Button and Upton, Etton, Eye, Glinton, Helpstone, Marholin, Maxey, Newborough, Northborough, Paston, with the chplry. of Wellington, Peakirk, St. Martin Stamford Baron; Thornhaugh, Ufford, Wansford, Whitring, and part of St. John Baptist, comprising 61,430 acres, exclusive of the city of Peterborough. PETERBOEOUGH, a market town, city, and par- liamentary borough, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of the lib. of Nassaburgh, or Peterborough, co. Northampton, 40 miles N.E. of Northampton, and 81 N.W. of London by road, or 76 by the Great Northern, 102J by the Great Eastern, and 110 by the London and North- Western lines of railway, each of which companies have important stations in the town ; there are also branch lines to Blisworth and Stamford. It is an ancient and well-built city, situated on the northern bank of the river Nene, which here divides Northamptonshire from Huntingdonshire, and is crossed by a wooden bridge. In the Saxon times it was called Mcdeshamsted and Medeswelhamsted, from a whirlpool in the river Nene, then the ^Lufona t and owes its origin to the celebrated Benedictine abbey, founded in the middle of the 7th century by Peada, son of Penda, fifth king of Mercia, in atonement for having murdered his own sons, for their attachment to Christianity, prior to his own conversion. About 870 the monastery was burnt by the Danes, who had laid waste the adjoining country, and continued in a ruined state for a century, when it was restored by Ethel wold, Bishop of Winchester, under the auspices of King Edgar and of Adulph, the king's chan- cellor, who appropriated all his wealth to the rebuilding of the monastery, of which after its restoration he was made abbot. About this time, the name Medesltamsted was superseded by that of Burgh, otherwise Gilden- turgh, from the wealth and splendour of the new struc- ture, and subsequently was called Peter-burgh, or Peterborough, from St. Peter, to whom the church was dedicated. In the reign of William the Conqueror, Hereward-le-Wake, the last of the Anglo-Saxon war- riors, who distinguished themselves by their resistance to the Normans, hearing, whilst in exile, that the Con- queror had given away his paternal lands to a Norman, set sail from Flanders, and putting himself at the head of the insurgents of the fens, attacked and plundered the abbey, and burnt the village which was rising around it. In 1116 the monastery and village were greatly in- jured by fire, but were gradually restored, and the pre- sent cathedral commenced by Abbot Salisbury, and further completed by Abbot Martin in 1144. At this period the town, which had previously stood on the eastern side of the monastery, was removed to the situa- tion it now occupies, and the monastery raised to the rank of a mitred Benedictine abbey, the abbots being summoned to Parliament in the reign of Henry III. The town appears also to have rapidly risen in import- ance, for we find it returning two members to Parlia- ment in the reign of Edward I. At the Dissolution, the revenue of the abbey was estimated at 1,97_2 7s. 0|f/., and the conventual church made a cathec^-al in 1541 by Henry VIII., who selected Peterborough as the seat of one of the new bishoprics. During the civil war in the reign of Charles I., the parliamentary forces, under the command of Cromwell, destined for the siege of Croy- land, were stationed in the town, where they committed numerous depredations defacing the monuments in the cathedral, and pulling down part of the cloisters, the chapter-house, acd the episcopal palace, which were sold by order of the Parliament. The Lady-chapel was shortly after taken down by the townsmen, to whom the cathe- dral had been granted for a parish church. In 1790 an Act of Parliament was obtained for carrying out varioua local improvements, which have greatly modernised the