John's Hall (), also known as Birr Town Hall () is a municipal building in John's Mall,

Birr, County Offaly Birr (; , 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 Earl of Rosse, Earls of Rosse. The town is in a Civil p ...

, Ireland. The building is currently used by the Irish Heritage School as their lecturing and exhibition venue.

History

The building was commissioned by

Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse (21 May 1758 – 24 February 1841), known as Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bt, from 1791 to 1807, was an Irish peer. Biography Parsons was the son of Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet and Mary Clere. He succeeded h ...

, whose seat was at

Birr Castle Birr Castle ( Irish: ) 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 the castle is generally not open to the public, though the grounds and gardens of the deme ...

, to commemorate the death of his son, John Clere Parsons, who died of

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...

in August 1828, aged 26. The building was designed by Bernard Mullins in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

and was inspired by the Temple on the Ilissus at

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. It was built in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone at a cost of £1,100 and completed in 1833. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing onto John's Mall. It featured a short flight of steps leading up to a full-height

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

formed by four fluted

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

columns supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. There was a square-headed doorway with an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

, surmounted by a panel commemorating the short life of John Clere Parsons at the back of the portico, and the side elevations, of five bays each, were fenestrated by

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s with architraves. A

mechanics' institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...

, established to provide adult education for local people, was instituted in the building at an early stage. A Russian

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

, captured at the Siege of Sevastopol during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, was presented to the town by the former

Secretary of State for War The secretary of state for war, commonly called the war secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The secretary of state for war headed the War Offic ...

, Lord Panmure, and installed to the southeast of the building in 1858. A statue of the astronomer,

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (17 June 1800 – 31 October 1867), was an English engineer and astronomer. He built several giant telescopes. His 72-inch telescope, built in 1845 and colloquially known as the "Leviathan of Parsonstown", was ...

, who built several giant telescopes, was designed and sculpted by

John Henry Foley John Henry Foley (24 May 1818 – 27 August 1874), often referred to as J. H. Foley, was an Irish sculptor, working in London. He is best known for his statues of Daniel O'Connell for the O'Connell Monument in Dublin, and of Prince Albert for t ...

and unveiled in front of the building by the Countess of Rosse on 21 March 1876. A megalithic monument known as the "Seffin Stone", which had originally been located at Seffin to the south of Birr, was installed just to the southwest of the building in June 1974. The historian,

Geraldus Cambrensis Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He w ...

, referred to it as ''Umbilicus Hiberniae'' or the "Navel of Ireland", while Archbishop

James Ussher James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific Irish scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his ...

claimed that it marked the "Centre of Ireland". The building was used as a meeting place by Birr Urban District Council until 2002, and then as the meeting place of the successor town council, with the council offices located behind the main building, but it ceased to be the local seat of government when the council relocated to Saint John's Convent of Mercy in Wilmer Road in summer 2006. John's Hall, which has always remained in the ownership of the Birr Castle Estate, was leased to the Irish Heritage School, established in 2010, as their lecturing and exhibition venue, in 2019.

References

{{City and town halls in Ireland, state=collapsed City and town halls in the Republic of Ireland Government buildings completed in 1833 Buildings and structures in Birr, County Offaly