B I R 



449 



B I R 



base of the other, and it is always the shortest that is en- 

 veloped. 



Birostrites inccquilobus is the only species which La/r 

 marck records. 



The reader who wishes to follow the steps by which na- 

 turalists have arrived at their conclusions as to the true 

 structure of these fossils may consult the ' Description de 

 plusieurs nouvelles Especes d'Orthocfiratites, par M. Picot 

 de Lapeyrouse,' (Erlang, 1781, folio) ; the elaborate ' Essai 

 sur les Spherulites,' by M. Charles Des Moulins, in the 

 first volume of the 'Bulletin d'Histoire Naturelle de la So- 

 ci<:te Lineenne de Bordeaux' (1826), where he proves that 

 the genera Spheerulites, Radiolites, and Birostrites, are 

 identical ; and above all, the acute ' Observations sur la Fa- 

 mille des Rudistes,' by M. Deshayes, in the ' Annales des 

 Sciences Naturelles,' (1828). M. Deshayes, admitting the 

 soundness of the views of M. Des Moulins as to the identity 

 of the three last-mentioned genera, rejects the theory of 

 that naturalist, who proposes to place them as a class inter- 

 mediate betw.een the Tunicatti and Acephala ; brings for- 

 ward additional evidence to show, that Birostrites is iden- 

 tical with Sph&rulitcs (its nucleus in fact), and that there 

 are two very large and lateral muscular impressions, a pow- 

 erful hinge, and a ligament of a force equivalent to the 

 thickness and extent of the valves. M. Deshayes concludes 

 by declaring his opinion of the inutility of Rudistes as a 

 family, characterized and placed as it was, and adds that of 

 the three genera which remain, the Spherulites and the 

 Hippurites approach very closely to the Chame?, in which 

 situation they will form a well characterized small family 

 or group. Calceola, he observes, having a greater relation- 

 ship to Crania than to any other genus, might be without 

 inconvenience comprehended in the family to which the 

 latter belongs, viz. the Palliobranchians of Blainville, or 

 the Brachiopods of Lamarck and Cuvier. 



BIRR, or PARSONSTOWN, in the King's County 

 in Ireland, situated in the parish of Birr and barony of 

 Ballybritt, on the Birr or Comcor river, close to its con- 

 fluence with the Little Brusna, a considerable stream 

 flowing westward from the Slieve Bloom mountains to the 

 Shannon. It lies in 53 7' N. lat., and 7 51' W. long. ; sixty- 

 eight Irish, or eighty-seven English, miles from Dublin. The 

 parish contains, according to the Down Survey, 4995 acres, 

 3 roods. Birr is not a borough town : the only parliament in 

 which it has ever been represented was that of James II. in 

 1689. From its central situation it has been distinguished 

 by the title of Umbilicus HibernicE, or navel of Ireland ; 

 and a hollowed stone used to be shown here as the identical 

 spot referred to by the appellation, which is as old as the 

 time of Girald Cambrensis. Parsonstown is at present the 

 authorised name of the place, and seems to have been re- 

 cognised as such occasionally since 1621 ; it has, however, 

 been known as Birr since the middle of the sixth century, 

 when Brendan, a disciple of Finian of Clonard, founded the 

 monastery here, which first distinguished it from its sur- 

 rounding localities. Birr is also the name most commonly 

 in use, as well as that best known in history. During the 

 ninth century, the most disastrous in early Irish annals, 

 Birr was considerable enough to afford frequent spoils, both 

 to the contending native factions, and to their common in- 

 vaders the Danes. In 1 162 it was burned down, and before 

 the beginning of the next century was granted by Henry II. 

 to Theobald Fitzwalter, Pincerna Hiberniee, ancestor of the 

 great Irish house of Butler. Its original possessors had 

 been the chiefs of Ely O'Carrol, in which territory it is 

 situated, and they disputed the tenure so successfully with 

 the new proprietors and their lessees, that, after frequently 

 changing hands, as the forces of either party prevailed, 

 Birr, along with the surrounding district, came at length by 

 royal patent into the possession of William O'Carrol, chief 

 of Ely O'Carrol. in 1557. But the native owners soon for- 

 feited their hardly-vindicated title ; and in 1G12, Ely O'Car- 

 rol, being confiscated anew, was made shire-ground, and 

 -cd of to British undertakers by James I. Sir Lau- 

 rence Parsons, a gentleman of good family from Norfolk, 

 became the new proprietor in 1620. The castle was then 

 standing, as also the neighbouring hold of Ballybritt ; both 

 of which had probably been erected by the early conquerors. 

 On the first plantation of Leix and Ofaly, Birr had been 

 considered as lying in Munster, nor does it seem to have 

 been included in the King's County until after 1G04. In 

 the hands of Sir Laurence Parsons, however, it soon attained 

 to the eminence of a county town, and became important as a 



. 



stronghold of British interest thenceforth to the Revolution, 

 of 1G88. Many new streets were built during his time ; he 

 added Hankers and a barbican to the castle ; and it appears by 

 inquisition that at his death there were in the town five water- 

 mills. When the civil wars broke out in 1641, Birr Was held 

 for the English by its proprietor and governor, Captain Wil- 

 liam Parsons, but after a rather severe siege he was obliged 

 to surrender to General Preston for the Catholic Confe- 

 derates in 1642, and they in turn were dispossessed by 

 Ireton for the Parliamentarians in 1650. Captain Parsons, 

 having ultimately sided with the popular party, was restored 

 to his wasted estates two years after, and the town of Bin- 

 seems to have recovered so rapidly from its disasters as to 

 have become a place of some note again before the restoration. 

 Some of the merchants issued their own coinage during 

 these times ; and in 1682 the woollen manufacture, which 

 was for a long time afterwards the staple trade of the 

 town, was introduced. In the succeeding wars of 1689, Sir 

 Laurence Parsons, being suspected of disaffection, was 

 directed by the government of James II. to render his castlo 

 of Birr to his own agent, one Oxburgh, who had raised a 

 royalist troop of horse, as it is said, out of the rents of his 

 employer, and now enjoyed the rank of colonel in the army. 

 Sir Laurence, standing upon terms, was adjudged guilty off 

 high treason, and condemned accordingly ; but successive 

 reprieves delayed the execution of the sentence until the 

 next year, when the battle of the Boyne gave him his liberty, 

 and restored him once more to the possession of his estates. 

 Birr castle had still tb endure another siege by Sarsfield, 

 but was so well defended by Sir Laurence's lieutenants in 

 his absence, that the Irish broke up their batteries after the 

 first day's cannonade. The town and castle were then 

 occupied by William's army, and by them surrounded with 

 earthen ramparts. 



The quarter-sessions of the peace are held here, and in the 

 sessions-house is also held on the first Monday in every 

 month the Court Baron of the manor, before a seneschal 

 nominated by the Earl of Rosse. Five officers of health 

 are appointed annually, whose province extends as well 

 to the cleansing of the streets and general purification of 

 the town as to the superintendence of its establishments 

 for the relief of the sick. The chief object of architectural 

 interest in Birr is the castle, the residence of the Earl of 

 Rosse, built upon the site of the old tower held by tho 

 O'Carrols, and still embracing some of the walls battered 

 by Sarsfield's cannon : here are some curious tapestries, and 

 a few good pictures ; but Birr Castle is mainly distin- 

 guished by an observatory, amply furnished with the best 

 astronomical apparatus, added by the present Lord Oxman- 

 town, eldest son of the proprietor. The great telescope is 

 said to be larger than the famous one of Herschel.- The 

 new church is a rather fine-looking building, in the Gothic 

 style, with a tower 100 feet high: the whole cost was 

 about 8000/. The old church has gone to ruin, and in 

 1826 was quite dismantled; the old chapel is also in a very 

 decayed state, but the new Roman Catholic chapel is a hand- 

 some Gothic structure of cut stone, with a spire 124 feet in 

 height : the first stone of the foundation was laid by Lord 

 Oxmantown in 1817, and Catholics and Protestants sub- 

 scribed with equal liberality to the erection : the chapel is 

 dedicated to Saint Brendan. The court-house, jail, and ex- 

 cise-office are in the chief street ; Duke Square, in their 

 vicinity, is ornamented with a column about fifty feet high, 

 supporting a statue of the Duke of Cumberland, raised by 

 subscription in 1747 to commemorate the battle of Culloden. 

 Here are a mendicity-house, a fever- hospital, and a dis- 

 pensary, supported by voluntary subscriptions and county 

 presentments. There is also a charitable association for 

 the relief of distressed housekeepers. Birr contains from 

 thirty to forty streets and lanes, and has three bridges over 

 the Birr and Brusna rivers. Its population in 1821 was 

 5106 persons, and in 1831 amounted to 6594 : but, as tho 

 adjoining villages of Seffin, Crinkle, Ballindam, and Bally- 

 loughnane lie so close as almost to constitute suburbs, the 

 place at large is in reality much more populous. Birr was 

 formerly a town of some manufacturing importance, but 

 the woollen trade has yielded to distillation, which has la 

 terly been its chief support as a commercial town. The 

 linen trade has also been encouraged, but the situation of 

 Birr is not likely to admit of much commercial prosperity, 

 as it lies too far from the Shannon to benefit by water- 

 carriage, and is still so near other towns possessing that 

 advantage, as to prevent its becoming an independent inland 



NO. 2G1. 



[THE PENNY CYCLOPEDIA.] 



Vol. IV.-3 M 



