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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, airy streets and finely detailed, fan-lit houses. After decades of neglect the potential of Birr's heritage has been realized, and 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 unwarranted and the town is highly recommended as a base for exploring the wetlands of the Shannon and the Slieve Bloom Mountains or simply as a stopover to break up a journey south or west. Habitation at Birr dates back to the sixth century, when there was a monastery here; an Anglo-Norman castle was succeeded by an Irish stronghold of the O'Carrolls and then, after the place was granted to Sir Laurence Parsons in 1619, it became an English garrison town. The development of the Georgian town dates from the time of another Laurence, who succeeded to the title in 1740 and immediately began to "improve" the town, fired by the architectural enthusiasm he'd gained on his Grand Tour.
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