We were excited about our visit to the home of Tom’s great-great grandmother. Unfortunately, we had very little information about where to start. On the west side of Birr, there are 1200 acres of beautiful gardens, a castle, and a humongous telescope. The property has been owned by the Parsons family since 1620, and today, the 7th Earl of Rosse, Brendan Parsons, resides in the castle.
Ready to get our day started, we headed to the dining room for breakfast. After being seated, the waitress poured our coffee and then pointed out the continental breakfast buffet and then asked if we would prefer to order off the menu. Tom’s eyes zoomed immediately to the menu and the words “Irish Oatmeal”! We both ordered the Oatmeal, but what followed next both surprised and made us smile. The young lady asked, “would you like honey or whiskey with your oatmeal”? Janet went with the honey and to this day Tom regrets getting his porridge without a shot of whiskey.
With our breakfast finished, and sober, we headed into the countryside of Offlay towards the town of Birr.
The town was just getting moving when we arrived, and we had no problem finding a parking place near the castle. We were one of the first to arrive at Birr Castle and we had the museum and gardens for the most part to ourselves. It is quite beautiful with lots of walking trails and plenty of things to see and learn.
Please indulge us on this off ramp, allowing us to introduce you to the history of the town and how it revolves around the Parsons family and Birr Castle.
The Parsons family made major contributions over the centuries to the fields of astronomy, engineering, photography, botany and engineering. The town of Birr was originally known as Parsonstown from the 1600s until 1903. Not long after, the region also had a name change from King’s County to, as we know it today, County Offlay.
The Parson family tree hangs on the wall of the museum. The Town of Birr is usually associated with William Parsons the 3rd Earl of Rosse, the builder of the Leviathan Telescope. It was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 to 1917 and is still standing on the castle grounds pointing to the heavens.
Charles, the youngest son of the 3rd Earl of Rosse, was the founder of Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company and invented the first steam turbine to be installed on a ship – The Turbinia. The boat had a maximum speed of 34.5 Knots which is crazy fast for the 1890s. The British Navy showed no interest in Turbina’s capability until the boat showed up uninvited to Queen Victoria’s Jubilee parade. The steam power turbine ship ran circles around the parading warships to the amazement and delight of all. Contracts for two destroyers followed shortly thereafter.
Charles’s older brother, Laurence the 4th Earl of Rosse, followed in his father’s footsteps as an astronomer. He used the Leviathan Telescope in the 1880s to calculate the surface temperature of the moon. The accuracy of his theory and calculation was not validated until Neil Armstrong took a reading in 1969. His finding was that Parsons measurement was within 20 degrees of the actual temperature. Armstrong, upon his return to earth, wrote a letter thanking the Parsons family for their contributions in providing technical data to his moon walk.
The sixth Earl of Rosse’s stepson was Anthony Armstrong Jones, who was the husband of the Countess of Snowdon. The countess was better known as Queen Elizabeth’s wild little sister Princess Margaret.
However, the one person on the family tree that caught Tom’s interest was Mary Feld Rosse, the 3rd Countess of Rosse. She was a pioneer in the field of photography. In fact, her dark room which has been moved to museum is the oldest one existing in the world.
Oops, we cannot forget William, the 5th Earl of Rosse. He was a major in the Irish Guard and was severely wounded in WWI. He died from his wounds in 1918 at Birr Castle.
We took our time checking out the exhibits in the museum. There was so much to see and learn about.
Here is the first turbine steam engine, with a model of the Turbinia, and a painting of the day the ship crashed Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebration.
A hologram told us of the work of Mary Feld Rosse in the original dark room she used over 175 years ago. It was while we were standing here that Tom had an epiphany. In the notes left behind by his great aunt there was one that came to mind… “somewhere there is a picture of the Rigney girls playing on the Birr castle grounds.” The picture would have had to have been before 1860 because they had emigrated to America by then. Could Mary Feld have taken the photo?
We left the castle museum and began walking in the gardens. Standing not far from the castle was the Great Leviathan Telescope. The structure is massive!
The beautiful gardens that surround the palace have primarily been the work of the 6th and 7th Earls of Rosse under the supervision of their wives. Because of the size of the property there are open fields, large trees, pockets of flower gardens, and many places just to sit and take it all in. The weather was marginal on our visit, but we remained dry, and the grey clouds did not encumber the beauty and peacefulness of the gardens.
Leaving the castle, we strolled downtown Birr to eat lunch and check out Emmet Square. The center of Birr square, as well as the street, had a name change in 1900 from Duke to Emmet.
The reason this was interesting to us was that Tom’s picture of his great-great-great grandmother Julia Kennedy Rigney has the photographer’s name and shop address on the back. Now standing on Duke Street at one of the corners of the square, we scanned the store fronts in search of the photographer’s sign with no luck. We really did not expect it, but our fingers were crossed. It was while we were standing on the corner, a nice gentleman asked if we needed help finding something. We relayed our story and said we were searching for Mister Castelli’s shop. He had grown up in Birr and never remembered the photographer, but he said there were a lot of Kennedys and some Rigneys still living in the Birr area. In fact, he said pointing to a beauty shop across the square, the proprietor of the shop is a Rigney. He also gave us a recommendation for lunch, and we thanked him and headed for the shop.
We walked into the Cut N Curl introducing ourselves to some puzzled looks and a little reluctance to speak. Showing the picture of Julia, the stylist said she was a Rigney, but her sister in the chair knew much more about the family history. She spun around in the chair and looking at the picture began asking a few questions about family names. Giving here the names of Julia’s children she said that there were three major families of Rigneys in the Birr area. From the names I gave her, she thought Tom’s relatives lived outside of Birr in the town of Banagher. Banagher was a 7-mile drive north of Birr, so we thanked the Rigney sisters and walked back across the square and grabbed lunch at the Emmet Restaurant and Bar in Dooly’s Hotel. Once again, the soup and brown bread lunch hit the spot. Before we departed Birr we located a post office and mailed post cards to the grandchildren back home. It is always a mystery of how long will it take for them to receive them.
The drive from Birr to Banagher went quick as green fields and hedges lined the road. Banagher appeared to be about the same size as Birr and the western city border was the River Shannon. We drove out to park next to the river to walk around and take in the beauty. It was then that Tom saw something that he knew would suck Janet to its’ edge.
Tom was correct and thankful Janet did not have a swimsuit because he knew the temptation would be too great for her to plunge into the 25-meter river pool and take a few laps.
Immediately, Tom had memories of Sicily in April with a water temperature in the low 60s and she swam back and forth until she turned blue in the hotel pool. Lap swimming is an addiction that Janet has never escaped.
Heading back into Banagher, we stopped at the Catholic Church in hopes the church office would be open. The church, the church office, and even the rectory were locked. After walking around the buildings, our hope of being able to check baptismal or wedding records for the Rigney and Kennedy families was not possible.
Striking out, we headed back to our castle retreat. During the drive back, we took the long way using back roads that once again allowed us to see the rural Ireland and the beauty of this country.
Back at Kinnitty Castle, we decided to enjoy the grounds with another walk. The woods in front of the castle are very special because it is the gateway to the land of fairies.
Back at Kinnitty Castle, we decided to enjoy the grounds with another walk. The woods in front of the castle are very special because it is the gateway to the land of fairies.
Heading down the path lined with moss covered trees, our eyes were in overdrive looking for the secrets of the forest. There were mushrooms, downed trees with magical holes, and homes that surely housed fairy families. We even bumped into our leprechaun friend visiting one of the fairies. Deep in the woods, we discovered a group of some of the strangest little homes. We knocked on the doors, but no one was home. A large tree stump began to laugh at us when we peaked in the windows at these cute little houses. As we exited the forest, there was a large gathering of deer in a green field. Our presence did not concern them one bit and they continued to chomp on some of the greenest grass we have ever seen. There is no doubt we were in Ireland.
On our way back to the castle, we passed a stone circle. Wrapped in Celtic mythology, the actual purpose of these manmade formations is unknown. However, the powers of the stones are plentiful in Irish folklore. This circle is thought to be a druid altar from pagan time. Since we were avid watchers of Outlander, we avoid touching them out of an abundance of caution.
Same as yesterday, we headed to the small bar for libations and to chat with the other guests about everyone’s adventures of the day. Dinner was fabulous and we retired early. Sadly, our stay in the castle was coming to end and we would head to our final destination in the morning, Dublin.
Good Night
No comments:
Post a Comment