Avondale

Avondale, the Wicklow seat of the late Mr C. S. Parnell, on the Avonmore, 1 mile S. of Rathdrum.

Avonmouth

Avonmouth, in Gloucestershire, at the mouth of the Avon, 6 miles NW. of Bristol, has a pier and extensive docks (1879), constructed at a cost of £600,000.

Avranches

Avranches (Av-rongsh'), a French town in the dep. of Manche, on the left bank of the See, near its mouth in St Michel's Bay, 37 miles E. of St Malo by rail. Till 1801 a bishop's seat, its former cathedral was built in the 18th century on the site of a cathedral consecrated in 1121, in which Henry II. received absolution for Becket's murder. Pop. 7764.

Awbeg

Awbeg, a river of Cork, flowing 30 miles to the Blackwater.

Ax

Ax, a town in the French dep. of Ariege, at the foot of the Pyrenees, 74 miles SSE. of Toulouse. Pop. 1233. Its 80 hot sulphur-springs range in temperature from 77° to 172° F.

Axbridge

Axbridge, a Somerset village, 10 miles NW. of Wells. Pop. of parish, 732.

Axe

Axe, two rivers of Somerset and of Dorset and Devon, flowing the one 25 miles to the Bristol Channel, the other 21 to the English Channel.

Axholme

Axholme, Isle of, a low level tract of Northwest Lincolnshire, cut off by the Trent from the rest of the county. Measuring 18 by 5 miles, it was anciently a forest, and then a marsh, which was drained into the Trent in 1625 and succeeding years by Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutchman, at a cost of £56,000. Epworth here was the home of the Wesleys.

Axim

Axim, an important station and port on the Gold Coast, a little E. of the mouth of the Ancobrah River.

Axminster

Ax'minster, a town of Devonshire, on the Axe, 27 miles E. of Exeter by rail. From 1755 till 1835 Axininster was famous for the manufacture of Turkey and Persian carpets. Dr Buckland was a native. Pop. of parish, 2909. See Pulman's Book of the Axe (1875).

Axmouth

Axmouth, a Devon fishing village, 6 miles SSW. of Axminster. Pop. 615.

Axum

Axum, once capital of an Ethiopian kingdom, is now in the modern Abyssinian province of Tigre, and lies mainly in ruins. Pop. 5000. See a monograph on it by J. T. Bent (1893).

Ayacucho

Ayacu'cho (formerly Huamanga or Guamanga), a town of Peru, 220 miles ESE. of Lima. Founded by Pizarro in 1539, it is now a handsome and thriving town. Here, on 9th December 1824, the combined forces of Peru and Colombia totally defeated the last Spanish army that ever set foot on the continent. Pop. 20,000. - The dep. of Ayacucho has an area of about 20,000 sq. m., and a pop. of upwards of 300,000.

Ayamonte

Ayamon'te, a fortified town in the Spanish province of Huelva, Andalusia, on the Guadiana, near its mouth. Pop. 6511.

Ayasaluk

Ayasaluk, a village on the site of the ancient Ephesus (q.v.).

Aylesbury

Aylesbury, the chief town of Buckinghamshire, in a fertile vale, on a rivulet flowing to the Tame, 43 1/2 miles NW. of London. Among its buildings are the cruciform parish church, finely restored by Sir G. G. Scott (1849-67), the corn exchange and markets (1865), and the county infirmary (1862). The inhabitants are engaged in making bone-lace and straw-plait, in brewing, dairying, and rearing fat ducks for the London markets. Aylesbury was taken from the Britons by the Saxons in 571. Till 1885 it formed with its hundred a parliamentary borough, returning two members. Pop. (1841) 5429; (1901) 9244.