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| THE QUAY, BANGOR, COUNTY DOWN.-The accompanying view shows a portion of the Quay at Bangor, County Down, situated on the south side of the entrance to Belfast Lough and about twelve miles east-north-east of the City of Belfast, with which it has connection by railroad and steamer. Scotch authorities claim that it derives its name from the Celtic Ban-choir-White Choir-but Irish antiquarians assert that it obtains its title from a hill which rises near the town. We are historically informed, however, that St. Comgall founded there an abbey in A. D. 555, which became so eminent a seat of learning that its fame spread throughout Europe, and it was resorted to by scholars from all parts of the known world. Historians assert that it was the model on which Oxford University was subsequently established and that when King Alfred the Great, some of whose ancestors were educated in Ireland, founded, or restored, Oxford, he sent to the Bangor College for professors to complete the faculty. That was during Ireland's golden age, when she was the land of scholars,as well as saints, whose fame has outlived the devastation of barbarians and the rage of ruthless conquerors. In A. D. 818, the pagan Northmen descended on Bangor in their war galleys and slew the abbot and nine hundred of his learned monks. The remains of an old castle are still shown to the tourist. Bangor is now noted as a favorite sea-bathing resort. |
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