Blankenburg

Blankenburg, (1) a town, 37 miles SSE. of Brunswick, on the borders of the Harz Mountains. Pop. 10,300. - (2) A watering-place in the Rudolstadt division of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, 25 miles S. by W. of Weimar. Pop. 2120.

Blantyre

Blan'tyre, or High Blantyre, a village of Lanarkshire, near the right bank of the Rotten Calder, 8 1/4 miles SE. of Glasgow by rail, in a coal and iron mining district. Pop., with Auchenwraith and Causewaystones, (1901) 2521. Low Blantyre, or Blantyre Works, 1 3/4 mile NE., has dyeworks, and a weaving factory where young David Livingstone, a native of the place, worked as a ' piecer;' here also are his memorial church and statue. Pop. 1505. - Also the name of a Scottish mission-station founded in 1876, to the south of Lake Nyassa, Central Africa. It is situated on the heights between the Upper Shire and Lake Shirwa, in a well-wooded district.

Blarney Castle

Blarney Castle, a ruined tower, 4 miles NW. of Cork, with a stone, difficult of access, to kiss which endows one with eloquence.

Blaydon

Blaydon, a manufacturing town of Durham, on the Tyne, 5 miles W. by S. of Newcastle. Pop. 19,371.

Blaye

Blaye (anc. Blavla), a river-port in the French dep. of Gironde, 20 miles NNW. of Bordeaux. It lies on the right bank of the Gironde, here 2 1/2 miles broad, at the base of a rocky eminence crowned with Vauban's citadel (1652). Pop. 4157.

Bleiberg

Bleiberg, an Austrian village in Carinthia, 8 miles W. of Villach, in the valley of the Drave, near the Bleiberg (Lead Mountain). Pop. 3500.

Blekinge

Blekinge (Blay'king-eh) is a province in Sweden, also called after Carlskrona (q.v.).

Bleneau

Bleneau. (Blay-no'), a village in the French dep. of Yonne, 29 miles WSW. of Auxerre. Here Turenne defeated Conde in 1652.

Blenheim

Blenheim (Ger. Blindheim), a village of Bavaria, 23 miles NNW. of Augsburg. It gives name to the great victory of Marlborough and Prince Eugene over the French and Bavarians, August 13, 1704. The battle, however, really took place at the neighbouring village of Hochstadt, and to the Germans is so known.

Blenheim

Blenheim, capital of Marlborough district, New Zealand, on the Wairau River, near the coast, 20 miles S. of Picton by rail. Population, about 5000.

Blenheim Park

Blenheim Park, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, was designed by Vanbrugh, and gifted by the nation to the victor of Blenheim. It stands in a park 12 miles round.

Blessington

Blessington, a market-town of Wicklow, on the Liffey, 18 miles SW. of Dublin. Pop. 302.

Bletchingley

Bletchingley, an ancient town of Surrey, 5 miles NE. of Reigate. Till 1832 it returned two members. Pop. of parish, 2128.

Bletchley

Bletchley, a railway junction in Buckinghamshire, 47 7niles NW. of London, 31 NE. of Oxford, and 45 SW. of Cambridge.

Blewfields

Blewfields. See Bluefields.

Blida

Blida (Blee-da), a thriving town of Algeria, 32 miles SW. of Algiers by rail, with orange orchards. Pop. 16,628.