Qualla: Portlaoise https://qualla.com/portlaoise en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Portlaoise https://qualla.com/portlaoise Portlaoise: Introduction https://qualla.com/portlaoise/ Portlaoise is two towns living in the same place. The first is the historical Maryborough, named after Queen Mary in 1557, anchored on Fort Protector - a Tudor garrison built in 1547-48 to defend English colonists from the O'More clan whose territory the settlers had just taken. The second is the modern commuter town, the fastest-growing of Ireland's twenty largest urban areas between 2011 and 2016, an hour by train to Dublin Heuston and forty minutes by motorway. The same streets carry both. The Tudor fort and the M7 motorway are five minutes apart on foot.

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/v/portlaoise-wp/gc6v-portlaoise-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Portlaoise: Fort Protector https://qualla.com/portlaoise/ In the mid-1540s, the English Crown decided that the O'More clan of Loígis needed to be contained. Edward Bellingham, Lord Justice of Ireland under the boy-king Edward VI, ordered the construction of a fortification on a small ridge in the middle of the O'More territory. Fort Pro...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/v/portlaoise-wp/gc6v-portlaoise-fort-protector.mp3 0:06 2 full Portlaoise: Ireland's First Airplane https://qualla.com/portlaoise/ On 4 November 1909, a four-man team in Portlaoise made the first powered flight ever achieved in Ireland. Frank and Louis Aldritt, William Rogers, and John Conroy had built their own aircraft - a fragile monoplane of wood, wire, and canvas - inspired by reports of the Wright brot...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/v/portlaoise-wp/gc6v-portlaoise-irelands-first-airplane.mp3 0:06 3 full Portlaoise: The Prisons https://qualla.com/portlaoise/ Portlaoise is the location of two of Ireland's most important prisons. Portlaoise Prison, the country's maximum-security facility, houses the majority of Irish Republican prisoners sentenced in the Republic of Ireland - a list that includes IRA, INLA, and Continuity IRA members. ...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/v/portlaoise-wp/gc6v-portlaoise-the-prisons.mp3 0:06 4 full Portlaoise: The Inland Port https://qualla.com/portlaoise/ Portlaoise sits at a crossroads. The M7 motorway running west from Dublin to Limerick passes the town to the south. The M8 to Cork branches off here. The railway station is one of the busiest outside Dublin: 32 trains a day go to Heuston and 30 come back, with ten of each running...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/v/portlaoise-wp/gc6v-portlaoise-the-inland-port.mp3 0:06 5 full Portlaoise: The New Town https://qualla.com/portlaoise/ Between 2006 and 2011, Portlaoise's population grew by 37.9 percent - the fastest growth of any large town in Ireland. From 2011 to 2016 it was the fastest-growing in the top 20. By 2022 it had 23,494 residents. Most of the newcomers were young families: the town has a high perce...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/v/portlaoise-wp/gc6v-portlaoise-the-new-town.mp3 0:06 6 full