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Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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BEL<br />

cotton, gardening, and cultivating the land; and the<br />

females in spinning, knitting, and domestic occupations.<br />

The management of the asylum is vested in a committee<br />

appointed by the general board in Dublin; the medical<br />

department is superintended by a physician, governor,<br />

and matron, assisted by 26 keepers and others: the<br />

annual expenditure, about £2000, is advanced by Go-<br />

vernment, but repaid by the grand juries of the respec-<br />

tive counties. Many extraordinary cures have been<br />

effected, and upon an average nearly one-half of the<br />

patients have been restored to sanity by the skilful and<br />

humane system of treatment introduced and success-<br />

fully practised by the governor. A savings’ bank was<br />

established in 1816, for which a handsome edifice was<br />

erected in 1830, at an expense of £1400, raised from a<br />

fund which had accumulated from the gratuitous super-<br />

intendence of the committee for the fourteen years pre-<br />

ceding; the amount of deposits at present is nearly<br />

£90,000. There are also several minor establishments<br />

for the benefit of the poor, among which may be noticed<br />

the female penitentiary; the society for the relief of the<br />

destitute sick, establishedin 1826; the society for clothing<br />

the poor, in 1827; the society for discountenancing vice<br />

and promoting the Christian religion, also in 1827; the<br />

association for the protection of the rights of conscience,<br />

in 1830; the society for the religious improvement of the<br />

poor, also in 1830; a Bible society, tract societies, and a<br />

library of religious books for the use of the poor.<br />

There are no remains of antiquity in the town,<br />

though some are scattered over the parish: near Stran-<br />

millis, on the Lagan, was an ancient chapel, called<br />

Capella de Kilpatrick; on the summit of a hill in Upper<br />

Malone was the Capella de Crookmuck; near Callender’s<br />

Fort, on the Falls road, about two miles from the<br />

town, was that of Cranock, of which traces of the<br />

foundations and a large cemetery are still remaining;<br />

and on the same road, the chapel of Kilwee, where<br />

numerous elegantly carved crosses and other sepulchral<br />

monuments have been found. About three miles on the<br />

Carrickfergus road is a small fragment of an ancient<br />

fortress, called Greencastle; in Upper Malone was an<br />

extensive fort called Castle Cam, or Freeston Castle,<br />

on the site of which the elegant mansion of Malone<br />

House has been erected; at a small distance on the left<br />

of the road to Shaw’s-bridge are seen the foundations of<br />

a third fort; in the grounds of Malone, near Lismoine, are<br />

the remains of a fourth; and in the R. C. burial-ground<br />

at Friar’s Bush are the remains of a fifth. Among<br />

the most curious relics of antiquity are the caves<br />

in various places formed in the earth and in the<br />

hard limestone rock; of the former, three were disco-<br />

vered in 1792 at Wolf Hill, the largest of which is eight<br />

yards long and one yard wide, with four small chambers<br />

diverging from it; on the side of a small hill in the<br />

townland of Ballymargy is one of larger dimensions,<br />

and in a more perfect state, with two entrances; and<br />

near Hannahstown is one still larger, which since 1798<br />

has been closed, having at that time been a place of<br />

concealment for arms. Three large caves, which give<br />

name to the mountain called Cave Hill, are all formed<br />

in the perpendicular face of an immense range of basal-<br />

tic rock; the lowest is 21 feet long, 18 wide, and from<br />

7 to 10 feet in height; above this is another, 10 feet<br />

long, 7 wide, and 6 in height; and above that is a third,<br />

said to be divided into two unequal parts, each of which<br />

200<br />

BEL<br />

is more extensive than the largest of the other caves; but<br />

the ascent is so dangerous that few venture to visit it.<br />

The large ramparts of earth, called raths, or forts, are<br />

also numerous: of these the most extensive is Mac<br />

Art’s fort, on the summit of Cave hill, protected on<br />

one side by a precipice, and on the others by a single<br />

ditch of great depth and a vallum of large dimensions;<br />

the enclosed area is nearly level, and, from the height<br />

of the mountain, which is 1140 feet, commands a view<br />

of vast extent, variety, and beauty, including the Isle of<br />

Man, the Shores and mountains of Scotland, and a large<br />

portion of the counties of Antrim, Down, Armagh, Derry,<br />

and Donegal. Near the base of Squires hill are many<br />

smaller raths, and two of large dimensions almost at<br />

the summit of the Black mountain; and near the shore,<br />

at Fort William, is an encampment, 70 feet square,<br />

surrounded by a deep fosse and defended by a bastion<br />

at each angle, and said to have been thrown up by<br />

King William in 1690; near it is another intrench -<br />

ment of ruder construction. There are two large<br />

cairns on the Black mountain, in one of which, in<br />

1829, was found a large urn filled with calcined human<br />

bones, a spear head, and two ornaments of brass;<br />

there is also a cairn on Cave hill, and one on Squires<br />

hill. Great numbers of stone and flint hatchets, and<br />

arrow heads of flint, have been discovered; and brazen<br />

celts and querns, or hand mill-stones, are occasionally<br />

found.<br />

Among the gentlemen’s seats in the parish the most<br />

conspicuous for their elegance are Ardoyne, the resi-<br />

dence of M. Andrews, Esq.; Ballydrain, of H. Montgo-<br />

mery, Esq.; Ballysillen, of J.F. Ferguson, Esq.; Beech<br />

Park, of Arbuthnot Emerson, Esq.; Beech Mount, of<br />

<strong>Lewis</strong> Reford, Esq.; Brookfield, of T. Tripp, Esq.;<br />

Cromac, of T. Garret, Esq. 3 Duncairn, of A. J. Macrorey,<br />

Esq.; the Falls, of J. Sinclaire, Esq.; Fortfield, of W.<br />

Johnson, Esq.; Fort-William, of G. Langtry, Esq.;<br />

Glenbank of T. Mackay, Esq.; Glennalena, of W. Orr.<br />

Esq.; Glenville, of Mrs. McCance; the Grove, of W.<br />

Simms, Esq.; Jennymount, of R. Thomson, Esq.;<br />

Larkfield, of Henderson Black, Esq.; Ligoneil, of A.<br />

Stewart, Esq.; Lismoine, of R. Callwell, Esq.; the<br />

Lodge, of J. Emerson Tennent, Esq., M.P. for Belfast;<br />

Low-Wood, of J. Thomson, Esq.; Malone House, of<br />

W. Wallace Legge, Esq.; Mount Collier, of A. Mulhol-<br />

land, Esq.; Mount Vernon, of Hill Hamilton, Esq.;<br />

New Forge, of J. Ferguson, Esq.; Park-Mount, of J.<br />

McNeile, Esq.; Old Park, of H. Lyons, Esq.; Sea-view,<br />

of J. Boomer, Esq.; Springfield, of J. Stevenson, Esq.;<br />

Strandmillis, of G. Black, Esq.; Suffolk, of W. McCance,<br />

Esq.; Wheatfield, of J. Blair, Esq.; Willmount, of J,<br />

Stewart, Esq.; Wolf Hill, of Mrs. Thompson; Wood-<br />

burn, of M. Charley, Esq.; Finaghy, of J. Charley,<br />

Esq.; and Strigoniel, of J. Steen, jun., Esq. The mineral<br />

productions are coal, iron, manganese, marble, limestone,<br />

freestone, gypsum, and fullers’ earth, of which only the<br />

limestone is worked; the coal seams are seen in the<br />

Collin and Dunmurry water, and under the lands of<br />

Willmount, near which place also, and at New Forge,<br />

is the iron; the manganese, at the foot of the Black<br />

mountain, near which is a fine stratum of grey marble;<br />

and the gypsum, in the Collin and Forth water. Among<br />

the eminent natives of this place may be noticed, Dr.<br />

Black, the celebrated chymist; the Rev. T. Romney<br />

Robinson, author of an able mathematical work, and

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