Birr, County Offaly

Birr (Irish: Biorra, meaning “plain of water”) is situated near the meeting of the Camcor and Little Brosna rivers in County Offaly. Between 1620 and 1899 the town was called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. Today, Birr is a designated Irish Heritage Town with a carefully preserved Georgian heart and graced with 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 best known for the castle and    garden demesne, 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 alongside rare trees and flowers, wonderful wildlife and walks along peaceful rivers and the lake.