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Research on the Town Park House - Birr Castle, Co. Offaly (Parish of Birr, Barony of Ballybritt). County Inventory Registration: 967.
Contains field sheet with a sketch of site plan (after Birr Town Council Development Plan 1990), a written report over two pages and 117 photographs.

[Birr] Castle gardens ledger.

Box containing annual sets of estate and farm accounts, audited by Stokes Bros. & Pirn of Dublin [see also Q/393].

‘Forestry account timber sales ledger.’

Box containing bundles of weekly returns of income and expenditure (mainly on labour) for Birr Castle, gardens, pleasure grounds, forestry, farm, etc, [sampled from a vast quantity of similar material in order to show how the accounting system then in operation worked.]

Minutes recording proceedings of meetings of the Hospital and Homes Committee containing various reports such as Superintendent's Report from the County Home; Superintendent's Report from County Hospital; and Sub-committee reports from Birr Rural District, Edenderry Rural District, Tullamore Rural District, and Roscrea No 2 Rural District on matters relating to dispensaries and hospitals in their respective areas. Also contains lists of 'Letters and Sanctions' from the Ministry of Local Government.

Issues covered by the various reports are concerned with the appointment and salaries of employees; the arrest and detention of members of the committee during the Civil War (see p5, 10 April 1923); building works at dispensaries and hospitals; compensation and pension claims arising from the winding-up of the poor law unions; matters arising with the TB hospital in Birr; commandeering of Dr Woods house at Kinnitty Dispensary by the military (p 43, 8 May 1923); tenders for the supply of provisions to the county home; details of patients at the hospital; proposal from Ministry of Local Government relating to the abolition of Hospital and Homes Committee and Substitution of the County Board of Health therefor under the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1923 (p59, 17 May 1923); remaining furniture from Birr Union being taken to Birr Castle on its requisition by Free State Army (pp62-63, 17 May 1923); the condition of Birr workhouse following evacuation by Free State Army (p 64, 2 June 1923); financial issues arising from failure to return 'inmates' in county homes to their counties of origin on amalgamation in 1921; and a proposal by the Ministry of Local Government relating to the appointments of Home Assistance Officers.

Includes report by the Visiting Committee (James O'Connor, J. Scally and Teresa Wyer) on condition of county home (p71, 10 July 1923) and remarks on unfulfilled recommendations from the previous year's report. Also includes extracts from the report of Dr Florence Dillon, medical inspector with the Department of Local Government on the condition of the hospitals at Tullamore, Birr and Edenderry, recommending the closure of the latter (p76, 22 June 1923) .

Contains lists of boarded out children, their foster parents and details of their accommodation, general health and condition in a report of the inspector of boarded out children. (p.87, 10 July 1923)

Letters to the Viscountess de Vesci, mother of the sixth earl, to her brother-in-law, the Hon. Geoffrey L. Parsons, and to the agent for the Rosse estates, Toler R. Garvey Junior, (the only person permanently on the spot at Birr during the minority of the sixth earl), concerning the Civil War as it affected Birr Castle and other places; and also including a letter from the Countess of Bandon about the destruction of Castle Bernard, Co. Cork, and the kidnapping of her husband, Lord Bandon, 1921. The principal topic however, is the Free State government’s responsibility to the Rosse family for loss and damage incurred as a result of the Free State army’s occupation of Birr Castle from 1922 to 1924, which the shrewd and resourceful Garvey construes as extending to the cost of Lord and Lady de Vesci’s London house, No. 1 Hyde Park Street. Included in the bundle is a copy of a letter from Garvey to the Irish Land Commission arguing that compulsory acquisition of any more of the home farm at Birr would serve as a major disincentive to the sixth earl’s taking up residence and therefore giving widespread employment there on his coming-of-age, 1926.

Includes quotation for removal of six vans of furniture from Birr Castle to London by John Dooly, & Sons, Birr (April 1923)

Includes list of goods taken over by the National Army 28th September 1923, Property of the Trustees of the Earl of Rosse. Value of £235.16.0

Includes draft claim against Free State Government seeking rent and remedy £3000 and rent of Hyde Park (£600).

Includes letter from Office of Public Works settling claim for £3502.2.11 (7 August 1925)

Includes letter from Captain J.F. Hollins, Quartermaster No 2 Brigade, Athlon to Toler Garvey: ‘I wish to inform you that the Troops presently in occupation of the castle will evacuate same as from the 28th inst. In accordance with our regulations it will be necessary for a representative of the Owner, a representative from the Board of Works and of the Military Authorities to examine the premises after evacuation and compile a report as to its condition in comparison to that in which it was taken over by the Military (12 August 1924)

Includes a list by A. Panton Watkinson, painter and decorator, Stephens Green, Dublin, of wear and tear and damage in Birr Castle due to the military occupation. (July 1923)

Includes list of articles missing from Birr Castle May 1927.

Also includes letter from the Committee involved in arranging a plaque to be erected at the archway to the front of Birr Castle in memory of the three young men executed by Free State Troops in 1923. Appends text of the address given by Margaret Hogan, local historian, on the events of 1923. (2003)

Small bound notebook, ruled for tracking wages of casual labourers. Lists names of workmen, the number of days per week (out of six days) worked, rate of wages and amount earned. Also includes notes on pay increases or bonuses earned. Although there is no mention of the type of work, all employees are male.

Box containing annual sets of estate and farm accounts, audited by Stokes Bros. & Pirn of Dublin [see also Q/393].

Preprinted acknowledgment postcards sent by return by prisoners-of-war in German camps on receipt of relief parcels organised by the Birr Castle scheme. Personal details recorded include name, rank and internment camp.