Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 8, DIA-England

D R O
r^ing is fertile in rye, flax, and black cattle. The inhabitants
« amounted in 1797 to 51,400, who have since that census
prc-neda. rapidly increased. It contains four cities and 1055 vil-
lages. The capital, of the same name, is situated on the
river Drissa, where it falls into the Diina. It is a small
town, with a slight but growing population.
DRIVING, in Metallurgy, is said of silver, when, in the
operation of refining, the lead being burnt away, the re¬
maining copper rises upon its surface in red fiery bubbles.
Driving, in the sea language, is said of a ship when
an anchor being let fall does not hold her fast, nor prevent
her sailing away with the wind or tide. The best help in
this case is to let fall more anchors, or to veer out more
cable; for the more cable she has out, the safer she rides.
When a ship is a-hull or a-try, they say she drives to lee-
ward.
DROGHEDA, a town in the province of Leinster, in
Ireland, situated in the middle of a small district called the
county of the town of Drogheda, between the counties of
Louth and Meath, is built on both sides of the river Boyne,
about five miles from its mouth, and thirty miles north of
the city of Dublin. The entire extent of the county is
5800 acres, or nine square miles. In the earliest notices
of it by ancient writers it is called Inver-Colpa, or the
Port of Colpa, and afterwards Tredagh. Drogheda, the
name it is at present known by, signifies “ the Bridge
over the Ford.” The portions on each side of the Boyne
were formerly distinct towns, under separate jurisdictions,
distinguished by the names of Drogheda on the side of
Meath, and Drogheda on the side of Uriel, the ancient
appellation given to the county of Louth and some ad¬
joining districts. It is now divided into the parishes of
St Peter, St Mary, and part of that of Ballymakenny; and
in the year 1813 it contained a population of 16,000 souls,
in 1821 of 18,118, and in 1831 of 17,365; being the only
place in Ireland whose numbers did not increase in the
interval between the two last-mentioned dates. It ranks
in amount of inhabitants the eighth of the chief cities and
towns in Ireland.
The municipal government of the town is vested in the
mayor, two sheriffs, two justices of the peace, and a re¬
corder, who hold under a charter granted under the fol¬
lowing singular circumstances : Whilst the town was split
into two independent jurisdictions, the inhabitants were
incessantly in a state of mutual hostility, in consequence
of trading vessels landing their cargoes in the southern
town, to avoid the payment of pontage duty levied on all
vessels discharging on the northern or Louth side. Much
blood was frequently shed on these occasions. At length
Philip Bennett, a monk residing in the town, took occa¬
sion, on the festival of Corpus Christi, to preach a sermon
before the constituted authorities of both sides, in which
he inculcated the blessings of union so emphatically, and
followed up the subject so effectively at an entertainment
to which he invited them in his convent the same day,
that they all joined in sending a deputation to Henry IV.
to obtain a new charter, by which both parts were em¬
bodied into a single corporation. This event took place
in the year 1412. The charter was afterwards confirmed
with alterations by James I. The mayor was honoured by
Edward IV. with a sword of state, and L.20 a year for its
maintenance, in reward of the services performed by the
townsmen in an engagement at Malpas Bridge, where this
magistrate, at the head of 500 archers and 200 pole-axe¬
men, contributed to the defeat of O’Reilly and his confe¬
derates. Previously to the union Drogheda returned two
members to parliament. The number has since been re¬
duced to one, who is elected by a constituency consisting
of 531 freemen and 407 freeholders and leaseholders, the
total number of electors being 560.
D R O 199
The town has always been considered by the English Drogheda,
as a place of much importance. In the reign of Edward w-v-w
III. it was classed, along with Dublin, Waterford, and Kil¬
kenny, as one of the four staple towns of Ireland. Rich¬
ard II. received in it the submissions of O’Neal, O’Donnel,
and other chieftains of Ulster and Leinster. The right
of coining money was granted to it. Parliaments were
several times assembled in it, in one of which the value of
money was raised, by altering the silver groat or four-
penny piece to sixpence. In another parliament, also
held here, in the beginning of the reign of Edward IV.,
the town was granted the right of having a university,
with the same privileges as that of Oxford. The plan
however failed, owing to the poverty of the town and the
unsettled state of the country; and an attempt lately
made by the corporation to re-assert the right was also
unsuccessful. One of the Earls of Desmond was behead¬
ed here on a charge of high treason, brought against him
in parliament by the Earl of Worcester when lord lieute¬
nant. Plere also the celebrated statutes known by the
name of Poyning’s laws, which made such a change in
the political relations between England and Ireland, were
enacted. In the civil wars of 1641 the town was besieged
by O’Neal and the northern Irish forces; but was gallant¬
ly defended by Sir Henry Tichbourne, and after a long
blockade relieved by the Marquis of Ormond. The same
nobleman relieved it a second time, when invested by the
parliamentary army under Colonel Jones. In 1649 Crom¬
well appeared before it at the head of a numerous and
■well-appointed army. The town was taken after a short
though spirited defence; and every individual in it, with¬
out distinction of age or sex, was put to the sword, after
promise of quarter given. Thirty only escaped the butch¬
ery, who were afterwards transported as slaves to Barba-
does. In 1690 it was garrisoned by King James’s army;
but after the decisive battle of the Boyne it surrendered
to the conqueror without a struggle, in consequence of a
threat that quarter would not be granted if it were taken
by storm. Its subsequent history is not marked by any
circumstance of striking political notoriety.
Of the ancient fortifications very few relics remain.
The only one of its four gates still in existence is that of
St Laurence, which forms a very picturesque object. The
modern town, built chiefly on the northern bank of the Boyne,
is divided into four principal parts or quarters, by the two
main streets that intersect each other at the Tholsel. The
bridge which connects this portion with the southern is
narrow, and by no means well suited to the great and in¬
creasing current of passengers and vehicles that take ad¬
vantage of it. The principal public buildings are, the may¬
oralty-house, to which a suite of assembly-rooms is attach¬
ed ; the Tholsel, a square building of cut stone, with a cu¬
pola ; the corn-market, the linen-hall, two parish churches,
and several Roman Catholic chapels, the largest of which
is that of St Peter. There are also several religious houses,
in one of which, the abbey of Dominican nuns, without St
Laurence’s gate, is still preserved the head of Oliver Plun-
ket, Roman Catholic archbishop of Armagh, who was ex¬
ecuted at Tyburn in the year 1681, on an unfounded charge
of treason. His body, having been interred in St Giles’,
London, was afterwards removed to the Continent. A
classical school, under the endowment of Erasmus Smith,
is maintained here. There are also several free schools, ■
the principal of which, called the Patrician school, accom¬
modates 150 pupils. Among the charitable institutions is
one for the reception of thirty-six clergymen’s widows,
who are each provided with a house and an annuity of
L.26 during life, arising from bequests made by two arch¬
bishops of Armagh. Here is also an alms-house for twen¬
ty-four aged widows, an infirmary, and a mendicity asso-