Emmett Square is the centre of Birr's Georgian townscape. The N52 bends through it, but the proportions still work: formal facades, branching streets, and Oxmantown Mall leading north toward the castle gates.
The square was once Cumberland Square, named for the Duke of Cumberland. It was later renamed for Robert Emmett, the Irish rebel executed in 1803. Use it as the start of a short walk through John's Place, Castle Street, and the older core of town.