A quiet morning then an afternoon trip to Birr Castle, the home of the Earls of Rosse.
However these were not your average aristocrats, the 3rd Earl had a great interest in astronomy and he spent the todays equivalent of £1,000,000 building a large 72 inch telescope in his back garden. For 72 years it was the largest telescope in Europe, scientists and astronomers flocked to use it with the Earls encouragement. He also used it himself and discovered the Whirlpool Nebula and made the first sketches, no photos for him as photography was only in its infancy in the 1840's.
Photography was the province of his wife, Mary who was a noted early experimenter of the photographic process and was awarded a medal by the Royal Photographic Society for her photographs.
The 4th Earl was also an able photographer and astronomer and carried on where his father and mother left off.
His brother, Sir Charles Parsons was the inventor of the steam turbine engine which was first used in his own boat, the Turbinia ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine ) and later in the Mauritania, which held the Blue Ribbon for the fastest Atlantic crossing for 25 years.
Here ends the lecture but it was a very interesting afternoon.
The Birr Telescope
The last photo shows a plaque to 3 young men who were executed for robbery in the gate house of Birr Castle during the Irish Civil War in 1923. They were soldiers in the Pro Agreement Army, the same Army as the famous Michael Collins, they were covicted by Court Martial and shot within 24 hours. No idea what they stole but shows that Irish Army discipline at that time was tough.