PARSONSTOWN (anciently called Ram), a considerable inland t. on the river Brosua, in King's county, Ireland, 69 m. NV.S.W. from Dublin, with which city it is connected i by a branch-line issuing from the Great Southern and Western railway at Ballybrophy. Pop. '71, 4,939; of whom 4,049 were Boman Catholics, 725 Protestant Episcopalians, and the rest Protestants of other denominations. Birr had its origin at an early period in a monastery founded by St. Brendan, and was the scene of many important events, both in the Irish and in the post-invasion periods. The castle, which was anciently the seat of the O'Carrols, was granted by Henry II. to Philip de Worcmiter; but it frequently changed masters, and even alternated between English and Irish hands. By James I. it was granted to Lawrence Parsons, ancestor of the present proprietor, the earl of Bosse; but through the entire period of the civil wars, its possession was constantly disputed, until after 1690, when the Parsons family was finally established in possession. About
this time Birr returned two members to parliament, but the privilege was temporary. The castle has been rebuilt. Parsonstown is one of the handsomest and best built inland towns in Ireland, with several fine churches and chapels, a nunnery, a statue of the duke of Cumberland, a bronze statue (erected in 1876) of the third earl of Bosse, a town-hall, a library, literary institute, a model and other schools. But the great attractions of Parsonstown are the castle, the observatory, and the laboratory of the late earl of Bosse (q.v.). still maintained in active use by the presenn earl. Parsonstown is an important corn-market, a considerable center of inland commerce; but with the exception of a dis tillery and brewery, it is almost entirely without manufactures. It is a military staiion, and the seat of a union workhouse.