CHAUX DE FONDS, LA, a large industrial town in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. It is about 19 m. by rail N. W. of Neuchâtel, and stands at a height of about 3255 ft. in a valley (5 m. long) of the same name in the Jura. Pop. (1900) 35,968 (only 13,659 in 1850); (1905) 38,700, mainly French-speaking and Protestants; of the 6114 “Catholics” the majority are “Old Catholics.” It is a centre of the watch-making industry, especially of gold watch cases; about 70% of those manufactured in Switzerland are turned out here. In 1900 it exported watches to the value of nearly £3,000,000 sterling. There is a school of industrial art (engraving and enamelling watch cases) and a school of watch-making (including instruction in the manufacture of chronometers and other scientific instruments of precision). It boasts of being le plus gros village de l’Europe, and certainly has preserved some of the features of a big village. Léopold Robert (1794-1835), the painter, was born here.
(W. A. B. C.).
CHAVES, a town of northern Portugal, in the district of Villa Real, formerly included in the province of Traz os Montes; 8 m. S. of the Spanish frontier, on the right bank of the river Tamega. Pop. (1900) 6388. Chaves is the ancient Aquae Flaviae, famous for its hot saline springs, which are still in use. A fine Roman bridge of 18 arches spans the Tamega. In the 16th century Chaves contained 20,000 inhabitants; it was long one of the principal frontier fortresses, and in fact derives its present name from the position which makes it the “keys,” or chaves, of the north. One of its churches contains the tomb of Alphonso I. of Portugal (1139-1185). In 1830 the town gave the title of marquess to Pinto da Fonseca, a leader of the Miguelite party.
CHAZELLES, JEAN MATHIEU DE (1657-1710), French hydrographer, was born at Lyons on the 24th of July 1657. He was nominated professor of hydrography at Marseilles in 1685, and in that capacity carried out various coast surveys. In 1693 he was engaged to publish a second volume of the Neptune français, which was to include the hydrography of the Mediterranean. For this purpose he visited the Levant and Egypt. When in Egypt he measured the pyramids, and, finding that the angles formed by the sides of the largest were in the direction of the four cardinal points, he concluded that this position must have been intended, and also that the poles of the earth and meridians had not deviated since the erection of those structures. He was made a member of the Academy in 1695, and died in Paris on the 16th of January 1710.
CHEADLE, a town in the Altrincham parliamentary division of Cheshire, England, 6 m. S. of Manchester, included in the urban district of Cheadle and Gatley. Pop. (1901) 7916. This is one of the numerous townships of modern growth which fringe the southern boundaries of Manchester, and practically form suburbs of that city. Stockport lies immediately to the east. The name occurs in the formerly separate villages of Cheadle Hulme, Cheadle Bulkeley and Cheadle Moseley. There are cotton printing and bleaching works in the locality. The parish church of St Giles, Cheadle, is Perpendicular, containing an altar-tomb of the 15th century for two knights.
CHEADLE, a market town in the Leek parliamentary division of Staffordshire, England, 13 m. N.E. of Stafford, and the terminus of a branch line from Cresswell on the North Staffordshire railway. Pop. (1901) 5186. The Roman Catholic church of St Giles, with a lofty spire, was designed by Pugin and erected in 1846. The interior is lavishly decorated. There are considerable collieries in the neighbourhood, and silk and tape works in the town. In the neighbouring Froghall district limestone is quarried, and there are manufactures of copper. In Cheadle two fairs of ancient origin are held annually.