Delaware Watergap

DELAWARE WATERGAP, a borough and summer resort of Monroe county (Pa.), U.S.A., on the Delaware river, about io8m. N. of Philadelphia and about 88m. W. by N. of New York. Population (1910) 446; (1930) 443. It is served directly by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, and by the Belvidere division of the Pennsylvania railways ; along the river on the opposite side (in New Jersey) runs the New York, Susque hanna and Western Railway, and the borough is connected with Stroudsburg, Pa. (about 3m. W. by N.) by an electric line. The borough was named from the neighbouring gorge, which is noted for the picturesqueness of its scenery, especially in winter, when the ice piles up in the river, sometimes to a height of 20 feet. Here the river cuts through the Kittatinny (Blue) Ridge to its base.

On the New Jersey side is Mt. Tammany (about i,600ft.) ; on the Pennsylvania side, Mt. Minsi (about 1,50oft.) ; the elevation of the river here is about 30o feet. The gap (about 2m. long) through the mountain is the result of erosion by the waters of a great river which flowed northwards acting along a line of fault ing at right angles to the strike of the tilted rock formations. Later geological changes gave the river its present course. The scenery and the delightful climate have made the place a popular summer resort. The borough was incorporated in 1889.

See L. W. Brodhead, The Delaware Water-Gap (Philadelphia, 2nd ed., 187o) .

DE LA WARR

or DELAWARE, an English barony, the holders of which are descended from Roger de la Warr of Isfield, Sussex, who was summoned to parliament as a baron in 1299 and the following years. He died about 1320; his great-grandson Roger, to whom the French king, John, surrendered at the battle of Poitiers, died in 1370; and the male line of the family became extinct on the death of Thomas, 5th baron, in 1426.

The 5th baron's half-sister, Joan, married Thomas West, ist Lord West (d. 1405), and in 1415 her second son, Reginald succeeded his brother Thomas as 3rd Lord West. After the death of his uncle Thomas, 5th Baron De La Warr, whose estates he inherited, Reginald was summoned to parlia ment as Baron La Warr, and he is thus the second founder of the family. His grandson was Thomas, 3rd (or 8th) baron (d. 1525), a courtier during the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII.; and the latter's son was Thomas, 4th (or 9th) baron (c. 1472— The younger Thomas was a very prominent person during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. He died without children in Sept. 1554, when his baronies of De La Warr and West fell into abeyance. his monument may still be seen in the church at Broadwater, Sussex. He had settled his estates on his nephew William West (c. 1519-95), who was disabled by act of parlia ment (1549) from succeeding to his honours for having sought to poison his uncle. However, in 1570 he was created by patent Baron De La Warr. In 1596 his son Thomas (c. 1556-1602) claimed precedency in the baronage as the holder of the ancient barony of De La Warr, and his claim was admitted.