Birr (; , meaning "plain of water") is a town in

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

, Ireland. Between 1620 and 1899 it was called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. The town is in a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of the same name. 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 A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

windows of the Georgian period. The town is known for

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 ...

and Gardens: the home of the Parsons family and the site of the

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-f ...

, which was the largest

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

in the world for over 70 years.

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 The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

near Victoria Lock. The Ormond Flying Club has been in operation at Birr Airfield for over 30 years. Birr lies on the N52 and N62

national secondary road A national secondary road () is a category of road in Republic of Ireland, 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. Nat ...

s. The routes are combined as they pass through Birr. The R439, R440 and R489 regional roads also terminate in the town.

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...

provide public transport services to the town. The

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

service regularly passes through the town daily. Kearns privately owned bus service provides a number of direct bus services to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

from Birr, as well as a weekend service connecting the town with the city of Galway via Portumna, Killimor, and, Loughrea. Birr railway station, the terminus of a branch from the Limerick–Ballybrophy line at

Roscrea Roscrea () is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland. In 2022 it had a population of 5,542. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Crónán of Roscrea, Saint Crónán of Roscrea, p ...

, opened on 8 March 1858 and closed on 1 January 1963.

History

Ancient history

A monastery was founded here by St Brendan of Birr. It produced the MacRegol Gospels, named after the abbot at the turn of the 8th/9th century and now to be seen in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. The

Synod of Birr The Synod of Birr, held at Birr in modern County Offaly, Ireland in 697 was a meeting of churchmen and secular notables. Best remembered as the occasion on which the Cáin Adomnáin—the Law of Innocents—was guaranteed, the survival o ...

, held in

697 __NOTOC__ Year 697 ( DCXCVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 697 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europ ...

, was the occasion on which the

Cáin Adomnáin The ''Cáin Adomnáin'' (, , "Law of Adomnán"), also known as the ''Lex Innocentium'' (Law of Innocents), was promulgated amongst a gathering of Gaels, Gaelic and Picts, Pictish notables at the Synod of Birr in 697 in Ireland, 697. It is named ...

, or law of innocents, was pronounced. In

Gaelic Ireland Gaelic Ireland () was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late Prehistory of Ireland, prehistoric era until the 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Norman invasi ...

, Birr was located in the O'Carroll territory of

Éile Éile (; , ), commonly anglicised as Ely, was a medieval petty kingdom in the southern part of the modern county of Offaly and parts of North Tipperary in Ireland. The historic barony of Eliogarty was once a significant portion of the kingdom. ...

. This

petty kingdom A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into t ...

() formed an area that now forms the south of

and the northeast of

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

. The Tuatha was subject to the overkingdom () of

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

and formed a border with the

Kingdom of Meath Meath ( ; ; ) was a kingdom in Ireland from the 1st to the 12th century AD. Its name means "middle," denoting its location in the middle of the island. At its greatest extent, it included all of County Meath (which takes its name from the k ...

to the east. The boundary between Ely O'Carroll and the ancient Meath is co-terminous with the present boundary between the

Diocese of Killaloe The Diocese of Killaloe ( ) may refer either to a Roman Catholic or a Church of Ireland (Anglican) diocese, in Ireland. Roman Catholic diocese The Diocese of Killaloe is the second largest Roman Catholic diocese in Ireland. It comprises the ...

and the

Diocese of Meath The Diocese of Meath () is an Irish diocese which took its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it still exists as a separate diocese, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other dioceses. Histor ...

. The O'Carroll family had a castle located at the present site of

. Following the

Plantations of Ireland Plantation (settlement or colony), Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland () involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the Kingdom of England, English The Crown, Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Br ...

, Birr was located in the Barony of Ballybritt following the formation of King's County (now County Offaly) in 1556. The town itself is an old market and former

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

town dating to the 1620s.

Crotty Schism

The town was also the location of the Crotty Schism, one of the few

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

s to affect the Catholic Church in Ireland in the 19th century. The church on Castle Street were the result of the Crotty Schism and were allowed to fall into a derelict condition after disuse following the end of the schism. The church is known locally as Crotty's Church. In the early 2020s it was restored externally and converted into a private residence contrary to the wishes of the Town's residents. This is all the more puzzling when the Birr Georgian Society were refused the opportunity to restore the building into a Museum following minor interior damage during preliminary works some years ago.

Birr Barracks

Birr Barracks became the depot of the

Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foo ...

from 1881. The barracks at Birr was burned down in 1922 during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

and the outer perimeter wall is all that remains. Outside the old Barracks Wall, there is a monument erected in memory of the soldiers of the Leinster Regiment who were killed during their service. A wreath-laying ceremony takes place annually. Much of the Barracks' historical footprint is now occupied by the Grant Engineering factory.

Annalistic references

See

Annals of Inisfallen The ''Annals of Inisfallen'' () are a chronicle of the medieval history of Ireland. Overview There are more than 2,500 entries spanning the years between 433 and 1450. The manuscript is thought to have been compiled in 1092, as the chronic ...

. * ''AI664.1 Kl. Death of Cúcen Máthair, and of Diarmait, son of Aed Slaine. U 665 Fighting in Birra.'' * ''AI822.1 Kl. Mac Riaguil, abbot of Birra, rested.''

Features

Georgian Birr

Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town due to the preservation and wealth of

Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Han ...

in the town. The earliest Georgian-style buildings dating from the 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 Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British royal family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom w ...

, known as the Bloody Duke and the victor of the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...

. 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

gates to the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

. 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 met here in a building known as John's Hall built in the style of a Greek Temple. The Seffin Stone is said to mark the centre of Ireland. Mentioned by

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 ...

, who referred to it as ''Umbilicus Hiberniae'', the indentations on the stone are as old as megalithic sites, such as

Newgrange Newgrange () is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, placed on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, west of the town of Drogheda. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period, around 3100 BC, makin ...

. Myths claim that the indentations are from the hand of Fionn MacCuthaill, hence the origin of the name as ''Suigh Finn'' (pronounced "See-Finn"), the Seat of Fionn. It is located to the left of the gates to John's Hall, on John's Mall, close to Emmet Square. The Stone is accompanied by a decommissioned cannon, The Crimean Gun, which was presented to the Parsons family and the people of Birr following its capture during the Siege of Sevastopol in 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 ...

. The Cannon was originally displayed inside the Castle Demesne before being placed outside John's Hall. In Emmet Square stands ''Dooly's Hotel'': one of the oldest

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

s in Ireland, dating from 1747. The name of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

Blazers was given to the

Hunt after a celebration held in the hotel in 1809 resulted in the premises being set on fire. Film director

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

was latterly a member of the Galway Blazers. Australian soprano Dame

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the f ...

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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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 John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

in the late 18th century in Birr. The

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

on Wilmer Road beside the Catholic church is also a gothic-styled building. Most of the convent was converted by

Offaly County Council Offaly County Council () is the local authority of County Offaly, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and ...

to civic offices and a public library.

Birr Castle

In the 16th century, the

O'Carroll O'Carroll (), also known as simply Carroll, Carrol or Carrell, is a Gaelic Irish clan which is the most prominent sept of the Ciannachta (also known as Clan Cian). Their genealogies claim that they are kindred with the Eóganachta (themsel ...

s of

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 on the site of the original castle's Gatehouse. 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 Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan ( 1655 – 21 August 1693) was an Irish army officer. Killed at Landen in 1693 while serving in the French Royal Army, he is now best remembered as an Irish patriot and military hero. Born into a wealthy C ...

, who tried unsuccessfully to take it. The castle remains the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

of the Earls of Rosse and is home to the current peer, Brendan Parsons, 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 five reception rooms can be visited, by guided tour only, through the demesne's visitor centre. The castle's

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

, however, is open to tourists every day of the year, and the gardens comprise a landscaped park with waterfalls, rivers and a lake, as well as the large reflecting telescope, the

, and the modern radio-telescope, I-

LOFAR LOFAR may refer to: * Low-Frequency Array, a large radio telescope system based in the Netherlands * Low Frequency Analyzer and Recorder and Low Frequency Analysis and Recording, for low-frequency sounds {{disambiguation ...

. Below the South face of the Castle proper, St. Brendan's Well can be found. It is a set of steps descending below ground level covered by a small gated grotto. The bottom step is submerged in well water.

Birr Telescope – The 'Leviathan of Parsonstown'

The main feature on the grounds of the castle is the great

, an

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

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 The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

(USA) documentary, 'Telescope – Hunting the Edge of Space Part 1: The Mystery of the Milky Way' (2011). Astronomy broadcaster

Sir Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore's early interest in astro ...

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 The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

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".

Local government

In local government, Birr is a municipal district within

. The district itself covers the entire west and south of Offaly. The district returns 6 elected representatives to Offaly County Hall in Tullamore. The area was administered by Birr Urban District Council until 2002, and subsequently by Birr Town Council until 2014, when the council was dissolved and administration of the town was amalgamated with

in accordance with the

Local Government Reform Act 2014 The Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1) is an Act of Parliament, act of the Oireachtas which provided for a major restructuring of local government in the Republic of Ireland, local government in Ireland with effect from the 2014 Irish loca ...

Birr Court House

Birr Court House, built c1830, is a detached five-bay two-storey castellated courthouse 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. The Courthouse was used to host Creative Arts events during Vintage Week 2023 and is hoped to be developed as part of the Creative Court project into a more permanent arts venue.

Services and amenities

The town is served by three primary schools (St Brendan's Boys school, Mercy Primary School and the Model Primary School) and one secondary school ( St. Brendan's Community School).

Sport

Hurling

Birr's hurling team,

Birr GAA Birr GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland. The club is affiliated to the Offaly Cork Board and is primarily concerned with the game of hurling, but also fields teams in Gaelic football. History Located in ...

, has won the All-Ireland championship four times. Several of Birr's hurlers, including

Brian Whelahan Brian Whelahan (born 23 August 1971) is an Irish former hurler who played as a left wing-back at senior level for the Offaly county team. Born in Banagher, County Offaly, Whelahan first played competitive hurling whilst at school in St Brend ...

, attended St. Brendan's Community School. The first ever All-Ireland hurling final was played in Hoare's field (currently the location of a

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

store) in Birr on

Easter Sunday Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...

, 1 April 1888, between Tipperary and Galway. The match was won by Tipperary on a score line of 1 goal, 1 point and 1 forfeit point to Galway's no score. A forfeit point was given against a player carrying the sliotar over his own goal line. The remarkably low score, albeit under different rules to the modern game, is recorded as the lowest score ever in a hurling match in the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

Rugby

Founded in 1887,

Birr RFC Birr RFC is an Irish rugby team based in Birr, County Offaly, playing in Division 2B of the Leinster League The Leinster League is the second tier of Rugby union, rugby in Leinster Rugby, Leinster, behind the Leinster Senior League (rugby), ...

has lapsed on several occasions, particularly during the two world wars and again in the mid-1950s. It was reformed in 1963 and has been in continuous existence since.

Golf

Birr Golf Club is an 18-hole golf course which was founded in 1893. The course was founded originally at Barrone Court, moving to its present location at the Glenns, north of Birr, in 1909.

Events and festivals

The annual Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival takes place in the town in August. The festival is run over one week, and includes a vintage parade, markets, and music and theatre events. Birr is also home to Birr Festival of Music, OFFline Film Festival, Scripts Ireland's Playwriting Festival and Hullabaloo! Offaly's Children's Arts Festival. Birr Theatre and Arts Centre, located in the Oxmantown Mall, is a local cultural and social amenity for the arts, dance, film, music and theatre. The theatre has a 220 seating capacity. The building dates from January 1889 and is a Victorian period style structure within the surrounds of the tree lined Oxmantown Mall. Birr Stage Guild also stage plays in the theatre.

People

Luka Bloom Luka Bloom (born Kevin Barry Moore; 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer-songwriter. He is the younger brother of folk singer Christy Moore. Early life Kevin Barry Moore was born on 23 May 1955 in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. His p ...

, singer, wrote most of his 1998 album 'Salty Heaven' while resident in the town and described Birr as having the best trees in Ireland in the album's liner notes * Eamon Bulfin, Irish republican activist during the 1916

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

, raised the

Irish Tricolour The national flag of Ireland (), frequently referred to in Ireland as 'the tricolour' () and elsewhere as the Irish tricolour, is a vertical tricolour of green (at the hoist), white and orange. The proportions of the flag are 1:2 (that is t ...

over the GPO during the rising * William Bulfin, early 20th-century author *

John Caffrey Lance Corporal John Joseph Caffrey VC (23 October 1891 – 22 February 1953), was a British Army soldier and an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that is awarded to British an ...

, recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

Joseph Stirling Coyne Joseph Stirling Coyne (1803–1868) was a humorist and satirist in the tradition of Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. One of the most prolific British playwrights of the mid-nineteenth century, he wrote more than sixty plays; his twenty-seven far ...

(1803–1868), playwright, journalist, and one of the first editors of

Punch magazine ''Punch, or The London Charivari'' was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coi ...

* Brenda Dolphin (born 1945), psychologist and postulator for the beatification of

Catherine McAuley Catherine McAuley, RSM (29 September 1778 – 11 November 1841) was an Irish Catholic religious sister who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831.Austin, Mary Stanislas"Sisters of Mercy."''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Ap ...

Olwyn Enright Olwyn Enright (born 1 July 1974) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency from 2002 to 2011. Early life and education Born in Birr, County Offaly, she is the daughter of ...

, former

Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...

TD for Laois–Offaly *

Tom Enright Thomas W. Enright (born 26 July 1940) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Laois–Offaly constituency from 1969 to 1992 and 1997 to 2002. He also served as a Senator for the Administrative Panel fr ...

, former

TD for Laois–Offaly *

Barry Glendenning Barry Glendenning (born 12 March 1973) is an Irish sports journalist who holds the position of deputy sports editor on the ''guardian.co.uk'' website run by UK newspaper ''The Guardian''. Glendenning was born in Birr, County Offaly and atte ...

, journalist *

Des Keogh Desmond Keogh (born 27 February 1935) is an Irish actor. He was born in Birr, County Offaly. He was trained as a lawyer before entering the theatre in his twenties. He has toured widely in a one-man show called ''The Love-Hungry Farmer'', an ...

, actor, born in Birr in 1935 *

Mundy Edmond Enright (born 19 May 1975), known professionally as Mundy, is an Irish singer-songwriter and founder of the independent record label Camcor Records. Biography He released his debut album ''Jelly Legs'' in 1996 on the Epic Records lab ...

, musician * John Murray, recipient of the Victoria Cross *

Bernadette O'Farrell Bernadette Mary O'Farrell (30 January 1924 – 26 September 1999) was an Irish actress in film and television, best known for playing Maid Marian in the 1950s. Early years O'Farrell was born in Birr, County Offaly, Irish Free State. Her mother ...

actress best known for playing

Maid Marian Maid Marian is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore, often taken to be his lover. She is not mentioned in the early, medieval versions of the legend, but was the subject of at least two plays by 1600. Her history and circums ...

in the 1950s TV version of ''

The Adventures of Robin Hood ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' is a 1938 American Epic film, epic swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and written by Norman Reilly Ra ...

'' *

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 ...

, astronomer * William Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse, businessman and current owner of

* Johnny Pilkington, hurler *

Aidan Quinn Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an Irish-American actor. He made his film debut in '' Reckless'' (1984), and has starred in over 80 feature films, including ''Desperately Seeking Susan'' (1985), '' The Mission'' (1986), '' Stakeout'' (1987) ...

, actor * Roesy, musician *

George Johnstone Stoney George Johnstone Stoney (15 February 1826 – 5 July 1911) was an Irish physicist known for introducing the term ''electron'' as the "fundamental unit quantity of electricity". He initially named it ''electrolion'' in 1881, and later named it ...

, physicist *

Mary Helena Synge Mary Helena Synge (8 July 1840 – 5 February 1917) was an Irish composer, pianist, and singer who spent many years in England, where she died. Synge was born in Parsonstown to Margaret Jemima Saunders, Edward Synge, and a family of musicians and ...

, composer * Mary Ward, first person to die in a car accident, 1869 *

, hurler, 2009

candidate for Offaly County Council

Climate

Birr, classified as an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

, has cool winters, mild summers and adequate rainfall year-round.Climate Summary for Birr
. Weatherbase.com.

References

External links

Birr Castle Demesne

Birr Theatre & Arts Centre

Birr Leisure Centre

Birr Town Council
{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Offaly Civil parishes of County Offaly Planned communities in the Republic of Ireland Parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe Former urban districts in the Republic of Ireland