Birr is a town in County Offaly, Ireland. Between 1620 and 1899 it was called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town with a carefully preserved Georgian heritage. Birr itself has graceful wide streets and elegant buildings. Many of the houses in John’s Place and Oxmantown Mall have exquisite fanlight windows of the Georgian period. The town is known for Birr Castle and gardens, home of the Parsons family, and also site of the Leviathan of Parsonstown, the largest telescope in the world for over 70 years, and a large modern radio telescope.
Features
Georgian Birr
Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town due to the preservation and wealth of Georgian architecture in the town. The earliest Georgian style buildings dating from 1740s are located in Emmet Square and Emmet street (then known as Cumberland Square and Cumberland Street). The column in the centre of the square dates from 1747 and was built to carry the statue of the Duke of Cumberland, known as the Bloody Duke and the victor of the Battle of Culloden. The statue was removed in 1915 as it was in danger of collapse. The Oxmantown Mall was laid out in the early 19th century and was designed as a promenade leading from Birr Castle gates to the Church of Ireland. The mall is tree lined on one side with the Georgian houses on the other. John’s Mall was also built during this time also with fine Georgian buildings. The area is also known as the chains due to the sturdy chain railings enclosing the central plots in the centre of the Mall. Birr Town Council meets here in a building known as John’s Hall built in the style of a Greek Temple. Cumberland Square (now Emmet Square) c.1880-1900. The statue was removed from the pillar in 1915
The Seffin Stone is said to mark the centre of Ireland. Mentioned by Geraldus Cambrensis, who referred to it as Umbilicus Hiberniae, the indentations on the stone are as old as megalithic sites, such as Newgrange. Myths claim that the indentations are from the hand of Finn MacCool, hence the origin of the name as Suigh Finn (pronounced “See-Finn”), the Seat of Finn. It is located to the left of the gates to St John’s Hall, on John’s Mall, close to Emmet Square.
In Emmet Square stands Dooly’s Hotel: one of the oldest coaching inns in Ireland, dating from 1747. The name of Galway Blazers was given to the Galway Hunt after a celebration held in the hotel in 1809 resulted in the premises being set on fire. Film director John Huston was latterly a member of the Galway Blazers. Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba famously sang to crowds gathered below in the Square, from her hotel room above in Dooly’s Hotel. The nightclub attached to the hotel is named “Melba’s” to mark the occasion.
Ecclesiastical architecture
On the Wilmer road, near the County Arms Hotel, is a Gothic-style Catholic church built. St. Brendan’s Church of Ireland was also built in Gothic style in 1815 and is located in the Oxmantown Mall. A smaller Methodist Church known as Wesley Chapel was built in 1820 on Emmett Street to accommodate a growing Methodist congregation following the preaching of John Wesley in the late 18th century in Birr.
The Sisters of Mercy convent on Wilmer Road beside the Catholic church is also a gothic styled building. Most of the convent was converted by Offaly County Council to civic offices and a public library.
Birr Castle
Birr Castle is the oldest inhabited home in the county. In the 16th century the O’Carrolls of Éile had one of their castles here and this was granted to the English-born politician and judge Sir Lawrence Parsons in the course of the Stuart plantation, c. 1620. Sir Laurence Parsons built most of the structure of the present castle. The castle was twice besieged in the 17th century and one of the towers still shows the scars of the artillery of Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, who tried unsuccessfully to take it. The castle remains the seat of the Earls of Rosse and is home to the current peer, Brendan, 7th Earl of Rosse, with family members resident in the demesne. As a family home, most of the castle is only open to the public on special occasions, though three rooms can be visited more routinely through the demesne’s visitor centre. The castle’s demesne, however, is open to tourists every day of the year, and the gardens contain many fine trees and shrubs set in a landscaped park with waterfalls, river and lake, as well as the great reflecting telescope, the Leviathan of Parsonstown, and the modern radio-telescope, I-LOFAR.
In 1960, renowned photographer Antony, 1st Earl of Snowdon, took his new bride, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, to meet his mother, Anne, who was resident in Birr Castle. Anne, Countess of Rosse, was the wife of the 6th Earl.
Birr Telescope – The ‘Leviathan of Parsonstown’
A main feature on the grounds of the castle is the great Leviathan of Parsonstown, an astronomical telescope with a 72-inch metal mirror erected by The 3rd Earl of Rosse, which was, until 1917, the largest telescope in the world. The spiral structure of nebulae was discovered through this telescope. It featured in the PBS (USA) documentary, ‘Telescope – Hunting the Edge of Space Part 1: The Mystery of the Milky Way’ (2011). Astronomy broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore wrote The Astronomy of Birr Castle (1971), a history of the telescope and the significance of the work carried out here.
Workhouse
The workhouse, located in Syngefield, on Newbridge Street, opened in 1842 before the Great Famine. The building is now mainly derelict. It is not yet open to the public.
Firsts
On 31 August 1869, the first road fatality recorded in history occurred in Birr, when local born scientist Mary Ward, a cousin of The 3rd Earl of Rosse, fell from a steam-powered car on a bend. The vehicle traversed her, causing fatal injuries.
A descendant of the O’Carrolls, Charles Carroll was the first and only Catholic to sign the United States Declaration of Independence and, also, the only signatory to give his address. To distinguish himself from his father, Charles Carroll of Annapolis, he signed in full as “Charles Carroll of Carrollton”. The first US Senator for Maryland, he is mentioned in the state song and a former home forms part of Johns Hopkins University.
Local government
In local government, Birr is a municipal district within Offaly County Council. The district itself covers the entire west & south of Offaly. It was formed following a merger of the Ferbane electoral area and Birr Town Council in 2014. The district returns 6 elected representatives to Offaly County Hall in Tullamore. Prior to 2014 the town had its own urban council, Birr Town Council with its own elected representatives. The councils jurisdiction was only to the Birr urban area. It was formerly known as Birr Urban District Council prior to 2002. Originally council met at John’s Hall, a distinctive Greek Temple style building located in John’s Mall. In the mid 2000s the council moved to the Civic Offices on Wilmer Road. Birr Municipal District meetings will continue to be held there though it will not have the same powers as the Town Council.
Birr Court House
Birr Court House, built c1830, is a detached five-bay two-storey castellated court house located on Townsend St, Birr. Over the years the building has served as a prison, court and county council offices. The courthouse has since closed down and now lies empty.
Services and amenities
Birr is the principal market town of South Offaly and also serves parts of north east Tipperary. The main street is lined with a wide variety of shops to cater for all needs. Within the town there are a number of educational facilities including three primary schools: St Brendan’s Boys school, Mercy Primary School and the Model Primary School (Church of Ireland). There is one secondary school, St. Brendan’s Community School. Hotels include the County Arms and Dooly’s Hotel. The newspaper The Midland Tribune, covering South Offaly and North Tipperary, has its office in the town.
