PORTLAOISE, IRELAND—A survey of Portlaoise, the capital of County Laois, has identified English sixteenth-century garrison walls in many of the town’s buildings, according to a report in the Leinster Express. “It’s surprisingly intact,” said Laois Heritage Officer Catherine Casey. “Seventy-five percent of the walls are still there. They form the front of the vocational school, they run down the back of Main Street, as some backyard walls, and some are inside O’Loughlin’s Hotel.” A school sits on top of the original main garrison building. The team of researchers is laser scanning the garrison’s stone walls and taking high-resolution photographs of them in order to create a digital model for the new Portlaoise library. To read about a surprising discovery in Ireland, go to “Irish Roots.”
