It once had the biggest telescope in the world... but Birr has other stories
THE MAP: OSI historic maps 6-inch colour series (1829-41); Scale 6 inches to 1 mile (not shown to scale)
The story: The Leviathan
Birr was the stronghold of the O’Carroll family, but their castle was granted to Lawrence Parsons in 1620 when O’Carroll was outlawed – hence the name of Parsonstown for the settlement that grew up outside the planter’s demesne. In 1899, the town’s name reverted to Birr (‘biorra’ means having springs or streams).
The town was planned outside the walls of the castle with the formal Duke Square in the centre, named after the Duke of Cumberland who had been victorious at the Battle of Culloden of 1746.
His statue stood on top of a column in the square but was removed more than a century ago because of its dangerous condition. The column remains but the square was renamed Emmet Square.
There are many fine Georgian houses about the town, particularly on Oxmantown Mall and St John’s Mall.
The Parsons family have been in occupation of Birr Castle since 1620 and were ennobled as the Earls of Rosse. Charles Parsons was a successful nautical steam turbine designer while his father William, the third Earl of Rosse, was a well-known astronomer.
In 1845, he erected the largest telescope in the world, the Leviathan. It has been refurbished and can be seen in the castle grounds. Ordnance Survey Ireland makes maps – lots of maps.
For almost 200 years, they have been mapping every river, stream, mountain, town, city and village in Ireland. Using the latest technologies, they have recorded every physical feature and then created a variety of maps to suit every need.
The OSi was established in 1824 to carry out a survey of the entire island of Ireland in order to record land valuations for tax purposes.
The original survey, at a scale of six inches to a mile, was completed in 1846 under Major General Thomas Colby. Ireland became the first place in the world to be entirely mapped at such a detailed scale. Today, OSi employs 235 people and is still making maps.
These puzzles, set around both historical and contemporary maps, are the source of a huge amount of information about our history, place names, buildings and our geography.
The puzzles are set by writer Jo O’Donoghue, architect Enda MacMahon and data analyst Jamie
Wright. They range from the easy to the fiendishly difficult and bring you from the mountains of Kerry to the early settlements of Glendalough. They’ll test your wits but above all, they’ll hopefully encourage you (with OSi maps in hand) to visit one of the myriad great places on this island.