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jig

(Encyclopedia)jig, dance of English origin that is performed also in Ireland and Scotland. It is usually a lively dance, performed by one or more persons, with quick and irregular steps. When the jig was introduced...

Montrose

(Encyclopedia)Montrose, town (1991 pop. 12,127), Angus, NE Scotland, on the North Sea at the mouth of the South Esk River. Open to water on three sides, it is a spacious resort town, with flax and jute mills, boat ...

Motherwell and Wishaw

(Encyclopedia)Motherwell and Wishaw wĭshˈô [key], town (1991 pop. 30,616), North Lanarkshire, S central Scotland. The two parts of the town were united in 1920. Formerly a center of heavy industry (coal and stee...

Argyll

(Encyclopedia)Argyll or Argyllshire, former county, W central Scotland. Under the Local Government Act of 1973, Argyll was divided between the new Highland and Strathclyde regions in 1975, with most of the county b...

Stirlingshire

(Encyclopedia)Stirlingshire or Stirling, former county, central Scotland. Under the Local Government Act of 1973, Stirlingshire was divided between the new Central and Strathclyde regions. In the local government r...

Baker, Sir Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Benjamin, 1840–1907, English civil engineer. He helped build London's underground railway, Tower Bridge, and the Blackwall Tunnel, and with Sir John Fowler he designed and built the bridg...

Hamilton, James, 1st earl of Arran

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, James, 1st earl of Arran ărˈən [key], 1477?–1529, Scottish nobleman; son of the 1st Baron Hamilton and Mary, daughter of James II of Scotland. He was privy councilor to James IV, by who...

Old Red Sandstone

(Encyclopedia)Old Red Sandstone, series of red and brown sandstones, conglomerates, and shales deposited in Wales and Scotland and in England near the Welsh and Scottish borders in the Devonian period of geologic t...

Warbeck, Perkin

(Encyclopedia)Warbeck, Perkin, 1474?–1499, pretender to the English throne, b. Tournai. He lived in Flanders and later in Portugal and arrived in Ireland in the employ of a silk merchant in 1491. There adherents ...

Sadler, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Sadler or Sadleir, Sir Ralph both: sădˈlər [key], 1507–87, English diplomat. Through the influence of Thomas Cromwell, he secured (c.1536) the favor of Henry VIII, for whom he went on numerous mi...