Birr, Ireland Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

BIRR is a perfect example of a mid-sized town planned round a great house – in this case, Birr Castle, home of the Parsons family (the town used to be known as Parsonstown), later elevated to the Earls of Rosse. Here, eighteenth-century urban planning has resulted in a truly delightful Georgian town, with wide streets and finely detailed, fan-lit houses. After decades of neglect, the potential of Birr's heritage has been realized, but although it has enjoyed some cosmetic pampering, it still retains the earthy vitality of a busy county town. Birr's claim to be the centre-point of the country is not … more »