Birr Community Online

On the international front 1906 seems to have been a peaceful and tranquil year. The disastrous earthquake and fire in San Francisco is still spoken about and the election of the Liberal Party in Britain gives the Irish renewed hope that Home Rule is within reach. The Irish Parlimentary Party with eighty-four seats, now dominates the Irish political scene. In Birr the Midland Tribune promoted the newly-formed Gaelic League and introduced a supplement in Autumn with the aim of encouraging all things Irish while the King’s County Chronicle kept people informed of happenings across the Empire and the United Kingdom.

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Mother Anastasia Beckett

In April, Mother Anastasia Beckett, a distinguished member of the Sisters of Mercy died at the age of ninety-nine. Born Marianne Beckett in Staffordshire, she entered the community of St. John in Birr in 1842 and for the next sixty years had a profound influence on the educational and social scene in Birr and on other towns in the diocese of Killaloe. Her acquaintance with architect Augustus Welby Pugin led to a request that he design a convent for Birr and his son-in-law George Ashlin later designed the adjoining orphanage building. Interestingly, one hundred years after Mother Anastasia's death, these Pugin-designed buildings are being renovated and in the near future will be home to Birr Town Library, Birr Town Council and other civic offices. These beautiful structures have stood the test of time and found an appropriate use when no longer practical for convent and educational use.

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The year 1904 threw up very few controversial or contentious matters. Birr Urban District Council, always a good source for controversy contented itself with mundane matters such as town sewerage, gas lighting and artisan dwellings.

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Somewhere in Birr about 1200 years ago the monk Macregol had assembled the cured hides of over 90 calves, a supply of large wing feathers to write with, a few containers of paint and the materials for ink which was probably made from soot. It was not that Macregol was leading an easy and peaceful life.The Irish Annals of the time record plague, recurrent famine, cattle diseases, drought, bad summers and plundering raids both by the Irish themselves and by the Vikings. Birr was then in a critical border area and Macregol, appointed Abbot of Birr in 804 AD needed the skills of the politician, the diplomat and the army general to supplement his spiritual and managerial responsibilities. To make matters worse, Irish monasteries were perceived as corrupt at the time and austere reform movements were very much in the news, as near to Birr as Terryglass and Monaincha. When Macregol died in 821 AD, the Irish Annals recorded him as Abbot, Bishop and Scribe at Birr.

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Artizans’ dwellings
Much debate took place at Birr Urban District Council concerning artizans’ dwellings. These houses, now such an attractive feature of the town, were designed in 1901 but due to bureaucracy and much red tape they were slow to get off the ground.The Midland Tribune cried out for progress and noted that people were living in wretched conditions which in no small way contributed to the swelling of emigration from the country. The paper claimed that the rights of the people were being trampled on and the sooner the ‘fortresses of officialdom were stormed’ the better. The Local Government Board granted a loan of £1,600 in 1903 and estimated the cost per house at £164.

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St. Brendan is reputed to be the son of Luaigne and a descendant of Corb who lived in the Decies, now a part of modern Co.Waterford. It is believed he studied under St. Finian of the famous Clonard Monastery. He is numbered among the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. These were 12 holy Men who studied under St. Finian and were esteemed for their sanctity. Indeed, in the Acts of St. Finian, Brendan is mentioned as a prophet.

In Latin he was known as Brendanus Biorra , translated to Brendan of Birr in the English version. This distinguishes our patron saint from St. Brendan of Clonfert (also known as Brendan the Navigator).

There is no certain date for the foundation of St. Brendan’s Birr Monastery. Historians speculate with some accuracy that he established his monastery in the Territory of Ely between the year s 549A.D. and 565A.D.

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The Crotty church located in Castle street, is a building of significant local historical interest. The site was provided by the Earl of Rosse and it’s foundation stone was laid in 1836 by Father Michael Crotty who had the support of approximately 6,000 people in Birr due to a Schism in the Catholic Church.

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Broadly speaking there were three types of dwelling in the above period. Georgian houses were the first to catch the eye- large imposing edifices with ornate fanlights, attractive cornices and decorative ceiling roses. When first constructed, each had a well or fountain in the back yard. When piped water came on tap, some of the aesthetic beauty was lost but restored on reconstruction of some houses.

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On September 3rd (2006), over 80,000 people crammed into one of the finest stadia in Europe to witness arguably the Irish sporting and social occasion of the year – the All Ireland Hurling Final. The majority of the population tuned into Croker to watch the match live on television or through the lilting radio tones of the poet/commentator, Micheal O’Muircheartaigh.

Across the United States in the early hours, Irishmen and women, both real and imaginary paid to get into bars showing the match live by satellite, supping on breakfast pints and the odd chicken wing. In China, Thailand, all over Asia, from Egypt to Nigeria to Kenya and Malawi expats followed the occasion over the internet, though many a Cork and Kilkenny supporter feeling the view from the Hogan Stand was better than over the world wide web had dashed home from Australia for the match along with a bag full of washing for the Mammy.

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Out of Tipperary, 1605

Four hundred years ago this year, Birr and neighbouring areas, then called tile or Ely O'Carroll were detached from Munster and therefore from County Tipperary. One has to think, `What if?' The background to this momentous event is sufficiently complicated to require dedicated background study and then several volumes in explanation. The `ordinary people' of the day can hardly have understood it either or had any say, being mostly illiterate long¬suffering folk expected to work hard and be ever ready to produce strong men for the wars when required.What a pity that hurling does not seem to have been quite as important.

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Birr has been referred to as Umbilicus Hiberniae, the navel or centre of Ireland. For many years it was also known as Parsonstown taking that name from its proprietors, the Parsons family, earls of Rosse. That it is the centre of Ireland is often disputed but few will deny the accuracy of yet another appellation that of the ‘model town’.

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1902 was an interesting time to be alive in Birr. Several controversies arose during the year with the Midland Tribune giving the nationalist slant while its rival the King’s County Chronicle upheld the conservative or unionist viewpoint.

Selection of candidates for the Birr Urban Council elections held in January 1902 caused much controversy. At a noisy meeting, the nationalists held their convention in the Young Men’s Society Rooms. When a proposal was made to reserve seven seats on the council for the conservatives. a voice from the back recommended seven cells in Kilmainham Jail instead. Mr. James Byrne reminded the meeting that three years previously Archdeacon Phelan had arranged that four seats be given to four honest conservatives. However, this proposal had not been acted upon and the town had returned twenty-one nationalists.

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