400 Years of the Telescope

Yesterday morning was a true Irish adventure story - making our way through the “scenic routes” of the Irish countryside on our way to Birr Castle in the middle of Ireland. We started out by eating a wonderful buffet-style breakfast at the Shannon Bunratty Shamrock Hotel’s PJs Restaurant and preparing ourselves for a long shooting day ahead. We checked out of the hotel and began our long journey towards the center of the country. We consulted our maps, under the helpful guidance of Mr. Donald Goldsmith, and even one very helpful gasoline station attendant who we decided would be great for films due to his wonderful accent in order to find our way across Ireland to Birr. After about 2 hours or so of driving among the narrow two-lane country roads (and after maybe 25 round-abouts), we finally scooted our little ford subcompact vehicle into the city of Birr in Offaly County. As we drove through the city of Birr, we saw many merchant shops resembling the cities we had passed through on our way there. Suddenly, we came upon the great cast-iron gate of Birr Castle grounds – we knew we had found the right place.

We stumbled into the Birr Scientific and Historical Center around 10am yesterday morning to meet John, one of the center’s tour guides and one of the most knowledgeable employees, who greeted us with a smile. He showed us around the giftshop and invited us to look at the historical archives of the center before we were to be led out to the Great Telescope on the castle grounds. We interviewed John on the history and the significance of the Great Telescope and the third Earl of Rosse’s discoveries made by the telescope. We were granted access behind the main gate of the barrier around the telescope and were able to use the telescope as a wonderful background for the interview. John told us that the Telescope was built in the mid 1800s and has been since renovated recently. In 1997, the Great Telescope was made more functional and up to date which gave the public a chance to finally view what Lord Rosse did in the mid-1800s when the telescope was first operational. According to John, the telescope was once again shut down in 2002 due to wear and tear of the piping on the telescope and since has not been moved and cannot be touched by the general public.

We were lucky enough yesterday to get to meet the seventh Earl of Rosse, Brendan Parsons. He currently lives in Birr Castle as his ancestors have for centuries and he let us in on some of the family’s treasured and cherished information. For example, Mary Rosse, the wife of the third earl of Rosse (builder of the Great Telescope) was one of the first photographers in history and possibly the first professional female photographer. Birr Castle has kept intact the darkroom that Mary used to develop her photographs. Her photography dates back to the mid-1800s to some of the earliest recorded photographs in history. Also, Lord Rosse showed us the metal and blue sash awarded to the third Earl of Rosse by Ireland for his scientific achievements. Finally, we were given a tour of the wonderfully interactive Birr science center’s science and history museum where some of the third Earl’s notes and drawings were on display. We were able to gain access to these documents in order to get digital recordings of their contents – what a treat!

We left the castle grounds around 2:40pm, bound once again for the Shannon Airport. Our flight back to London departed at 9:30pm last night, so we enjoyed the few hours of downtime to get a good meal and to relax before the long morning today at Stonehenge.