Birr Vintage Week Art Exhibitions Trail

Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival runs a self-guided trail of visual art exhibitions through the town every year, spread across roughly ten venues and open daily from Sunday 2 to Sunday 9 August 2026.

What to Expect

Around 17 separate shows make up this year’s trail, nearly all open daily from 1pm to 6pm through the festival week. The Masonic Hall and the Old Cinema on Brendan Street each host several exhibitions: the Old Cinema foyer alone carries Ten, a collaboration between ten local artists and Limerick Printmakers, a children’s showcase called Young Voices in Print from Killeen and Dromakeenan national schools, and an audio-visual piece on Brendan Mooney, a master sign writer, called Memories of a Sign Writer. Oxmantown National School holds an open submission exhibition curated by the Project Twins alongside the Press Photographers Association of Ireland’s sponsored national touring show, and Birr Theatre and Arts Centre shows Emma Barone’s Orb, a body of paintings built around the sphere as a recurring form. Smaller and more unusual stops round out the trail: Tin Jug Studio on St Brendan’s Street turns into a set of mini museums combining sketches, wood carving and curiosities, the Courthouse Yard hosts the Birr Crafters’ hands-on collage and textile project alongside an outdoor display of old Birr shopfronts submitted by the community, and the Copper Tree Gallery at Birr Castle shows historic astronomical drawings by the 3rd Earl of Rosse, made at the eyepiece of his own telescope in the 1840s and 1850s. Louise Reid, winner of the festival’s 2025 Solo Exhibition Award, shows new photography at The Space Above on Main Street, and a group of recent graduates exhibit at a Main Street restaurant under the title The Secret Language of Stuff. Because every venue runs on the same free, drop-in basis, the trail suits an unhurried wander through Birr over one or several afternoons rather than a single scheduled visit.

Good to Know

• Dates: Sunday 2 to Sunday 9 August 2026, daily
• Times: most venues open 1pm to 6pm; Tin Jug Studio keeps variable hours, check its noticeboard or social media
• Price: free entry to every exhibition on the trail
• Venues: The Masonic Hall, The Old Cinema and foyer (Brendan Street), Oxmantown National School, Birr Theatre and Arts Centre, Birr Castle’s Copper Tree Gallery, Tin Jug Studio (St Brendan’s Street), The Courthouse Yard, St Brendan’s Hall and The Space Above (Main Street)
• Access note: the Masonic Hall is not wheelchair accessible
• Full trail map and listings: birrvintageweek.com/art-exhibitions

Getting There

All the trail venues are within a few minutes’ walk of each other around Birr town centre, close to Main Street and Oxmantown Mall. Birr sits about 25km east of Tullamore and roughly an hour and a half from Dublin via the M6 and N52, with street parking available across the town.

While You’re in Birr

The trail is a good reason to spend a full day in Birr, a Georgian town built around the castle demesne, alongside the rest of Vintage Week’s music, theatre and street entertainment. There is more to see across Co. Offaly.