The Carroll Oak

The oldest tree at Birr Castle carries the name of the family that lost the place. The O'Carroll clan held Birr until the 1620s, and the estate says this oak was certainly planted before the Parsons family arrived in 1620. Who put it in the ground, the estate does not say. In 2005 the Irish Times reckoned it had been planted about 455 years earlier, around 1550, and that it was set to last roughly as long again. The national heritage tree register gave it 300 to 500 years in 2009. Taken together, the honest answer is more than four centuries, possibly closer to five. Nobody has counted its rings, so the range stays a range. The register records it as a maiden oak, meaning a single trunk that was never cut back for timber, and notes the evidence of significant wildlife habitat in it. In 2005 a carefully trimmed circle was kept clear around its base. Of all the trees on these 120 acres, it is the one the estate names as its oldest, the only one it places before the Parsons. No girth or height for it has been published. If you have measured it, tell us. Birr Castle Demesne is ticketed and open all year, with about ten kilometres of paths. Dogs are welcome on leads. The castle itself is a private home.