The Birr castle
3.53/5 (17 votes)Visiter Birr.
Tourist attractions
Birr : the map
Tourist attractions 
Restaurants, irish pubs 
Where to sleep 
Campings
3.53/5 (17 votes)
Tourist attractions Restaurants, irish pubs Where to sleep Campings
3.53/5 (17 votes)Find a comfortable place to stay and make the most of your trip to Ireland.
Birr, also known as Biorra in Irish, is an Irish town in County Offaly. An ancient medieval town, it boasts a superb 12th-century castle (Birr Castle) and a large 19th-century telescope. The town has also won numerous awards for the preservation of its Georgian-style architectural heritage…
Birr’s origins can be traced back to a monastery founded by Saint Brennan de Birr in the 8th century. The monastery was one of the major centres of religious song production at the time. Over the centuries, a veritable town developed, and by the 17th century, it was home to important military garrisons, heavily involved in the Anglo-Irish conflict…
In 1800, William Parson acquired Birr Castle. A keen astronomer, he renovated it with the aim of turning it into an astronomical observatory. He launched the construction of a telescope, with the ambition of making it the most powerful telescope of its time. Faced with such a profusion of resources, the town took the temporary name of Parsonstown, which it reverted to in the early 1900s…
Birr’s town center has a unique architectural heritage. Deeply Georgian in style, the center of Birr is a rather pleasant place… The pubs are quaint and warm, the food good and the welcome exemplary. Don’t miss Emmet Square, one of the town’s main squares. Here you’ll find a monument to Irish nationalist Robert Emmet.
