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Parsonstown
Birr (; ga, Biorra, meaning "plain of water") 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. Access and transport The town is situated near the meeting of the Camcor and Little Brosna rivers, the latter flowing on into the River Shannon near Victoria Lock. The Ormond Flying Club has been in operation at Birr Airfield for over 30 years. The area has been linked with aviation for som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leviathan Of Parsonstown
Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, is a historic reflecting telescope of aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the Hooker Telescope in California in 1917. The Rosse six-foot telescope was built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse on his estate, Birr Castle, at Parsonstown (now Birr in Ireland). Design and construction Parsons improved the techniques of casting, grinding and polishing large telescope mirrors from speculum metal, and constructed steam-powered grinding machines for parabolic mirrors. His mirror of 1839 was cast in smaller pieces and then fitted together before grinding and polishing; its 1840 successor was cast in a single piece. In 1842, Parsons cast his first mirror, but it took another five casts before he had two ground and polished mirrors. Speculum mirrors tarnished rapidly; with two mirrors, one could be used in the telescope while the other was being re-polished. The telescope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birr Castle
Birr Castle (Irish: ''Caisleán Bhiorra'') is a large castle in the town of Birr in County Offaly, Ireland. It is the home of the 7th Earl of Rosse and his family, and as such the residential areas of the castle are not open to the public, though the grounds and gardens of the demesne are publicly accessible, and include a science museum and a café, a reflecting telescope which was the largest in the world for decades and a modern radio telescope. History There has been a castle on the site since 1170, and from the 14th to the 17th centuries the O'Carroll family ruled from here over an area known as "Ely O'Carroll". After the death of Sir Charles O'Carroll, Sir Lawrence Parsons (died 1628) was granted Birr Castle and of land in 1620. Parsons engaged English masons in the construction of a new castle. This construction took place, not on the site of the O'Carrolls' Black Tower (since disappeared), but at its gatehouse. "Flankers" were added to the gatehouse diagonally a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Of Rosse
Earl of Rosse is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, both times for the Parsons family. "Rosse" refers to New Ross in County Wexford. History The Parsons were originally an English family from Dishworth (Diseworth) Grange in Leicestershire; there having been five brothers who settled in Ireland during the late 16th century. One of the brothers, William Parsons, was created a Baronet in the Baronetage of Ireland of Bellamont in the County of Dublin in 1620 by James VI & I. The third Baronet was created Viscount Rosse in the Peerage of Ireland in 1681, and the second Viscount was created Earl of Rosse in the Peerage of Ireland in 1718; these titles of the first creation became extinct on the death of the second Earl in 1764. Sir Lawrence Parsons, the younger brother of Sir William Parsons, 1st Baronet, settled in Birr, King's County, later known as Parsonstown, and was the ancestor of the younger (Birr) branch of the family. His grandson Laurenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Offaly
County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain. Offaly County Council is the local authority for the county. The county population was 82,668 at the 2022 census. Central Statistics Office figures Geography and political subdivisions Offaly is the 18th largest of Ireland's 32 counties by area and the 24th largest in terms of population. It is the fifth largest of Leinster's 12 counties by size and the 10th largest by population.Physical geography [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provinces Of Ireland
There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom_of_Meath, Meath has been considered to be the fifth province; in the medieval period, however, there were often more than five. The number of provinces and their delimitation fluctuated until 1610, when they were permanently set by the English administration of James VI and I, James I. The provinces of Ireland no longer serve administrative or political purposes but function as historical and cultural entities. Etymology In modern Irish language, Irish the word for province is (pl. ). The modern Irish term derives from the Old Irish (pl. ) which literally meant "a fifth". This term appears in 8th-century law texts such as and in the legendary tales of the Ulster Cycle where it refers to the five kingdoms of the "Pentarchy". MacNeill enumer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Secondary Road
A national secondary road ( ga, Bóthar Náisiúnta den Dara Grád) is a category of road in Ireland. These roads form an important part of the national route network but are secondary to the main arterial routes which are classified as national primary roads. National secondary roads are designated with route numbers higher than those used for primary roads, but with the same "N" prefix. Routes N51 and higher are all national secondary roads. National secondary roads have a default speed limit of 100 km/h (62.5 mph) as, along with national primary routes, they fall into the speed limit category of ''national roads''. There are 2657 km of national secondary roads in Ireland, making up slightly over 50% of the entire national route (national primary and national secondary) network. TII: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
N52 Road (Ireland)
The N52 road is a national secondary road in Ireland. It links the M7 motorway from just south of Nenagh, County Tipperary to the M1 motorway north of Dundalk in County Louth. The route forms a connection between the north east of Ireland and the mid west traversing the midlands. It interchanges with the M6 at Kilbeggan and at Tyrrellspass, the N4 at Mullingar, the N3 at Kells, and the N2 at Ardee before continuing towards Dundalk. The road is long. Quality of Road The road is mainly single carriageway two-lane throughout. It has some upgraded sections, but generally the standard is poor or very poor. It starts (from the southwest) at a grade separated junction with the M7 motorway and bypasses Nenagh on its western side as single carriageway. Past Nenagh, it is generally a single carriageway road with no hard shoulders all the way to Birr. Many sections of this part of the route are very poor through County Tipperary with sharp bends. The route from Birr to Tullamore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
N62 Road (Ireland)
The N62 road is a national secondary road in Ireland. It links the M6 motorway east of Athlone, County Westmeath with junction 6 of the M8 motorway at Kilnoe near Horse and Jockey in County Tipperary, to the southmap. '''' (irishstatutebook.ie), 2012-02-28. The route also forms a junction with the M7 motorway south of . The government legislation that defines the N62, the ''Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2012 (Statutory Instrument 53 of 2012)'', pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
R440 Road
The R440 road is a regional road in Ireland linking Birr, County Offaly and Mountrath, County Laois. It passes through the village of Kinnity, Co. Offaly and from there climbs to the watershed of the Slieve Bloom Mountains north of Stillbrook Hill, crossing at an elevation of into County Laois on the plateau and descending to Mountrath. The road is long. See also *Roads in Ireland *National primary road *National secondary road ReferencesRoads Act 1993 (Classification of Regional Roads) Order 2006– Department of Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ... {{Roads in Ireland Regional roads in the Republic of Ireland Roads in County Laois Roads in County Offaly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Lock (River Shannon)
Victoria Lock, also known as Meelick Lock, is the first lock on the River Shannon upstream of Lough Derg, it is situated between Meelick, County Galway and Clonahenoge, County Offaly where the Little Brosna River enters the Shannon. It is very near the tripoint where the provinces of Munster, Leinster and Connacht meet. The lock is of architectural and technical interest and is listed on the Nation Inventory of Architectural Heritage, the dimensions are 142 ft x 40 ft. Thomas Rhodes on the instructions of the Shannon Commissioners constructed the lock in the 1840s as part of a widescale upgrade of the Shannon Navigation. The lock is still in use today by pleasure craft, both private and fleets of rental cruisers who use the River Shannon and the connecting canals. A second lock, Hamilton Lock is also located nearby but is now disused. Protected status Offaly County Council lists both the lock and the lock keepers cottage on its Record of Protected Structures (ref 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
