Features of the Demesne

Rated with five stars in the official list of Gardens of Outstanding Historic Interest in the Republic of Ireland, and double-starred in the Good Gardens Guide, the Birr Castle Demesne has won both Bord Failte's Special Award and Property of the Year Award.

Among its outstanding features are:

• Formal Gardens

• Tallest Box hedges in the world

• Hornbeam Cloisters

• Over 1,000 different species of trees and shrubs scientifically numbered and catalogued

• Lake, rivers and waterfalls

• Victorian Fernery

• Famed Spring Magnolias

• Terraces filled with summer flowers

The demesne is full of surprises, hidden gardens and wonderful vistas. A continuous programme of replanting, development and restoration ensures that the Birr gardens will continue to evolve

At Birr today shrubs and trees are growing from seed that was collected as far away as Chile, Mexico or Guatemala, the Caucasus or the Himalayas. Lord Rosse himself even collected some from the Temple of Confucius in Peking. Some of these trees are still so rare that seeds have in turn been taken from them for the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, where the species were not yet presented.

The catalogue of Lord Rosse's collection has recently been up-dated and is available at the gate, together with an educational guide to the fifty trees of greatest distinction, known as the "Red Tree Trail". Special mention may also briefly be made of plants in the gardens actually named after the sixth Earl and Countess of Rosse. These comprise a pair of magnolias, which are the real pride of the gardens when they are out in the spring, and the famous peony, 'Anne Rosse', which won an Award of Merit and the Cory Cup. This last was a pollinated cross between a peony discovered on one of the Chinese expeditions in 1937, and another, discovered the year before in the Tsangpo Gorge in South Eastern Tibet.

Thus international significance is still maintained botanically, as it was established astronomically a century before.

The Plant Collection

The plants, trees and shrubs in the demesne, come from a variety of sources. Some trees and plants are indigenous whilst others represent introductions from the 17th to the 20th century.

The most important material comes from the collections of the great 20th century plant hunters such as Kingdon Ward, Roy Lancaster and T.T. Yu, as well as from other famous gardens such as Nymans (the home of Anne, Countess of Rosse).

The Sixth Earl and present Earl have also included seeds and introduced plants from all over the world including Nepal Tibet and Western China.

Hybrid forms and cultivars such as the Paeonia 'Anne Rosse' are also an important element in the planting of the demesne.

Management of the Demesne

The development and care of Birr Castle Estate over the centuries was a very labour intensive task and required an army of gardeners and labourers. The construction of the present lake in the 1830's employed over 500 labourers. The famine relief scheme devised by the Third Earl and Countess in 1845 also supported hundreds of people over a period of three years. All of the work was manual, aided by horse drawn equipment. The glass-houses were heated by turf from the local bogs which had to be cut by hand and transported to the gardens. In the 1800's, over 30 gardeners were employed, whereas today there are only 5. Mechanised equipment has the lightened the arduous physical effort involved, but the demands of maintaining a commercial garden which is now open all year round has added to the work load. The present gardeners are assisted by an Irish government employment scheme (known as FAS) by botanical and horticultural students from Ireland and overseas.

Animal Habitats

The gardens of Birr Castle Demesne provide a wonderful habitats for a variety of animals. The lake and rivers play host to the otter in summer and to herons, swans and mallard duck. The grounds also provide refuge for the fox and badger. The gray squirrel population is controlled by the garden staff. The red squirrel, a very visible occupant, has become a symbol of the fauna of the demesne. The wildflower meadows, woodlands and lake provide support for a host of small animals, including insects and aquatic life. Butterflies such as the tortoise shell, brimstone, orange tip, ringed meadow, brown and red admiral flit about the wild flowers and herbaceous borders. The trees and shrubs are home to birds such as tree creepers, willow warblers, gold crests, finches and blackbirds. In addition, robins, wrens, thrushes, magpies, rooks, jackdaws, pigeon and wood pigeon are all well established with the demesne.

Water Features within the Demesne

The demesne has an abundant source of water which has been put to both ornamental and practical use.

The Camcor river flows through the demesne. In the 18th century a lake was created by diverting and placing a dam across the Camcor but it was difficult to maintain and was drained by 1826. To the west the Little Brosna river forms the county boundary between Tipperary and Offaly.

The new lake created in 1839-1842 by the Third Earl was smaller and narrower than the on mentioned above, though it followed the original outline of the older lake. It was, and still is, fed by a race taken from the river and controlled by a sluice gate.

A new embankment was built in the late 1840s to separate the river from the lake. New walks were laid out and bridges were built over the river. Also around this time an elaborate fernery and an artificial waterfall were created nearby, in keeping with the romantic fashion of the time.

Water Engineering

During the middle 19th century, a water wheel was established to facilitate the drainage of low lying areas of the estate. A complex system of canals and sluice gates brought the excess water to the north west of the lake where the water wheel pumped it into the Little Brosna river.

In 1879 a turbine was installed on the river Camcor, feeding electricity to the battery house beside the castle, which in turn supplied the castle and town. The supply was controlled by a switch panel from the castle. The Fourth Earl later invented a leaf arrester to prevent leaves from clogging up the flow of water into the turbine house and was granted patents for this in 1901.

In the 1880's the Fourth Earl developed a balanced sluice gate which was extremely simple to operate and has been used ever since in the demesne to control water levels. The sluice was a hinged water trough balanced by the weight of water and controlled by opening or closing inlet and outlet valves, designed in such a way that, as when one opened, the other closed. In its final form the water level in the river opened a float, which in turn regulated the valves, making the device automatic.

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©The Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation
Ireland's Historic Science Centre   Birr Co Offaly Ireland