Parsonstown, or BIRR, a market-town in King's County, Ireland, on the river Brosna, 89 miles by rail W. of Dublin. The castle, anciently the seat of the O'Carrolls, was granted by James I. to Laurence Parsons, ancestor of the present proprietor, the Earl of Rosse. Parsonstown is a handsome, well-built town, with a statue of the Duke of Cumberland, the victor of Culloden, and a bronze statue (1876) by Foley of the Earl of Rosse, the astronomer. Pop. 4355.
Parsonstown
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 7: Maltebrun to Pearson, p. 786
Source scan(s): p. 0801