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The town prospered with the arrival of rich merchants,
pirates, tradesmen, religious orders, and merchant bankers. However, in 1265
the citizens found it necessary to build a wall around the town for protection
against attack by the native Irish and feuding Norman families. The building of
the wall was a community effort with towers and gates added to its defence. The
wall can be still spotted on Jones' Hill, Goat Hill, The Three Bullet Gate,
fragments in the Bullaun and also in Lidlcar park. It is sorely neglected and
desperately needs conservation measures to prevent its final decline. A portion
of a gate survives at fair gate or maiden's gate at the bottom of the
Irish town.
The town was the target for attack in the 13th and 14th
centuries by Irish chieftains, particularly the McMurrough-Kavanagh clan and
for many years the town was forced to pay the clan for protection.
The town was fought over in the Irish Confederate
Wars of the 1640s. In 1643, the town resisted the siege by James
Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, who fought a battle near the town with
an Irish army under Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara. However it was
