CFX: Added to Russell 2000 Index

Contact:  Mark A. Gavin, EVP/Chief Operating Officer
          (603) 355-8604


                      CFX CORPORATION ADDED
                      TO RUSSELL 2000 INDEX


Keene, N.H., July 7, 1997 -- CFX CORPORATION (AMEX: CFX)
announced today that it has been added to the Russell 2000 Index,
an index of small capitalization stocks and a subset of the
Russell  3000 Index. The Russell 3000 Index measures  the
performance of the 3,000 largest U. S. companies based on total
market capitalization.

Company spokesman and Chief Operating Officer, Mark A. Gavin,
said, "We are very pleased to be included in the highly respected
Russell 2000 Index. This validates that our strategies are adding
value to our overall shareholder base. Over the past eighteen
months, through acquisitions and internal growth, CFX will be
transformed into the fourth largest independent community bank in
New England with a pro forma market capitalization in excess of
$450 million."

CFX Corporation is a multi-bank holding company with total assets
of $1.74 billion as of March 31, 1997. The Company's three
banking subsidiaries are CFX Bank, headquartered in Keene, New
Hampshire, Orange Savings Bank, headquartered in Orange,
Massachusetts, and The Safety Fund National Bank, headquartered
in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. CFX Mortgage, Inc., CFX Bank's
mortgage banking subsidiary, services approximately $886 million
in mortgage loans for others. In addition, CFX Funding L.L.C., a
51% owned subsidiary of CFX Bank that engages in the facilitation
of lease financing and rated securitizations, now services over
$108 million in leases for others. The Company operates 43 full
service offices, 2 loan production offices, and 68 automated teller
and remote service banking locations in New Hampshire and central 
Massachusetts, and operates a trust division with assets of 
approximately $371 million.

Upon completion of CFX's pending acquisitions of Portsmouth Bank
Shares, Inc. and Community Bankshares, Inc. (expected in the
third quarter of 1997), it is anticipated that CFX will have
approximately $2.7 billion in assets, 57 full-service banking
offices, 2 loan production offices and 88 automated teller and
remote  service  locations in New Hampshire and
centralMassachusetts.

Portsmouth  Bank Shares, Inc., a  bank  holding company
headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, had 3 full-service
branches, and $263 million in total assets as of March 31, 1997.
Community  Bankshares,  Inc.,  a  bank  holding  company,
headquartered in Concord, New Hampshire, had 11 full-service
branches and total assets of $581 million as of March 31, 1997.

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