Birr
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about Birr, the town in Ireland. For alternative meanings see: Birr (disambiguation).
| Birr Biorra |
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| Location | ||
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| Irish Grid Reference N058045 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Leinster | |
| County: | County Offaly | |
| Elevation: | 75 m | |
| Population (2006) - Town: - Rural: |
4,097 1,096 |
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| Website: www.offaly.ie/yourcouncil/birrtc.asp | ||
Birr (Biorra in Irish) is a town in the Midlands county of Offaly in Ireland. Once called "Parsonstown", after the Parsons family, Birr is situated at the meeting of the Camcor and Little Brosna rivers. On leaving Birr, the combined Camcor and Little Brosna rivers, now simply the Brosna river, flow into the River Shannon.
Birr is an old market and former garrison town dating to the 1620s.
The early monastery founded in Birr by St Brendan of Birr produced the Gospels of McRegol, named after the abbot at the turn of the 8th/9th century and now to be seen in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town with a carefully preserved Georgian heritage.
Birr Castle is the oldest inhabited home in the county. In the 16th century the O'Carrolls of Ely had one of their castles here and this was granted to Sir Laurence 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, who tried unsuccessfully to take it.
The castle still remains the seat of the Earls of Rosse and is home to the seventh Earl (Brendan Parsons) at present. As a family home, the Castle is only open to the public on special occasions. The surrounding 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.
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 third Earl of Rosse, which was, until 1917, the largest telescope in the world.
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.
In Emmet Square stands one of the oldest coaching inns in Ireland, dating from 1747 - Dooly's Hotel. 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.
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. On the Roscrea road, near the County Arms Hotel is the beautiful gothic-style Catholic church of 1817-25.
Birr also has a very successful hurling team, winning the all-Ireland championship four times. Many of Birr's hurlers - including Brian Whelehan - learned their craft at St. Brendan's Community School, which also boasts a strong musical and scientific tradition.
[edit] Notable people from Birr
- Joseph Stirling Coyne (1803-1868) Playwright, journalist, and one of the first editors of Punch magazine.
- John Guinan (1874-1945) Writer and playwright for the Abbey Theatre
- John Frazer (1804-1852) Journalist and poet.
