PICTURES: Portarlington Market House renovated as community hub

Laois historic building unveiled after €2 million makeover

While some other 19th century market houses in Laois are sadly no more - including in Portlaoise and Mountrath, Portarlington's has just been given the renovation of its life, and is about to officially open to serve the community.

After a meticulous €2m State funded renovation, the ribbon will be cut on Port's Market House this February by the Minister for Rural Development Dara Calleary.

The new occupants will be volunteer group Portarlington Community Development Association (PCDA), who are signing a lease to move in this March.

The Leinster Express / Laois Live got a preview tour inside to see the big changes from what was once a market house, a jail, courthouse and in later years a motor garage.

Gavin Cobbe, Laois County Council engineer, Terry Higgins with his son Tony, Denise Rainey, Town Regeneration Officer for Laois, Karen O'Brien Braemar Construction and Dom Reddin, Economic Development Officer with Laois County Council. Photos: Leinster Express

It had lain vacant for a decade before restoration work began.

On the ground floor is the first surprise. The original foundation walls of a smaller market building dating to the 1700s was discovered during the archeological survey. A section has been lit up and covered in glass underfoot.

The ground floor arches would once have held gates, with animals and goods traded and weighed inside.

Now the arches are glazed in, to offer a warm welcoming 'tourist trailhead' office, manned by the PCDA offering a start and end point for guided town walks.

“This project ticks the 'regeneration of derelict' box, but we wanted it to have a specific purpose, in response to the needs of the community. So if a visitor comes to Portarlington, this will be their first port of call, there will be a reception desk and they can talk to someone and find out all that Port has to offer,” said Denise Rainey, Town Regeneration Officer with Laois County Council.

Final work underway on the stairs in Portarlington Market House.

A small kitchen with appliances neatly hidden behind dark timber panels, was once a gaol holding cell, with the bars still on the window facing Spa Street.

Its grim history includes two hangings by “a mob” on the street after the 1798 rebellion, explains local builder Terry Higgins of Braemar Construction.

The view up Portarlington Main Street from the meeting room.

He said it was a special opportunity to work on a building that he has lived close to all his life.

“Most of the craftsmen who worked on it are local. We used heritage materials like blue bangor slate and lime mortar. It's a fantastic change now, credit to Gerry Murphy before he retired from the council, he pushed it through,” he said.

The Market House has a fully accessible lift upstairs, where huge heritage grade sash windows give views up the streets, with dark timber woodwork creating a warm A rated interior.

Tony Higgins, 8, sits at a reinstated window in the first floor meeting room overlooking Frenchchurch Street.

The main room where once a judge presided over misfortunates, is to be a meeting room for the town, to fit up to fifty people seated.

“This room will be a valuable space for the community, for PCDA training courses and for public meetings. There will be two big televisions for training,” Ms Rainey said.

It is also expected to house some of the extensive historic Ronnie Mathews archive.

Upstairs also has two small offices, one for the PCDA and the other anchored by the council in the short term, in time to be used by other appropriate local services.

Dom Reddin, Economic Development Officer with the council said they took on the key heritage project to act on opinions gathered in public surveys for the Portarlington Regeneration Strategy 2030.

Locals wanted action on dereliction, and a public meeting space. He said the PCDA were chosen to use the building following a call for Expressions of Interest.

“They have a long established record, steering a lot of projects,” he said.

He thanks the owner of the building, Barry Ryan for signing a longterm 35 year lease that allowed the council to gain grant funding, that will keep the building in public ownership for all that time.

“We bought the old cinema from him but he wanted to hold onto this family link,” he explained.

After and (inset) before renovations pictured in 2023.

Even before the first stone market house, there was a timber market house on the site, senior council engineer Gavin Cobbe explained.

“It dated to the 1600s, probably built by the French Huguenots. All of market square would have been covered in stalls,” he said.

There is granite paving going in the square around the building, as part of the wider public realm upgrade of Portarlington's streets.

The project was overseen by Robin Lee Architects, Cora Construction Engineers and local archeologist Colm Flynn.

The first floor meeting room with its restored vaulted ceiling.

“Colm helped us locate the original window openings. When we started renovating, we didn't know what we'd find here. The research of John Rhys Powell, a local historian was a great help.

See a video tour inside the renovated Portarlington Market House.

“The town council sat upstairs, we voted in two MPs in this building, founders of the town,” said Terry, whose young son Tony aged 8 had the honour of “snagging” the building for final finish details.

A doorway with original timber lintel now cleared of concrete will be left permanently on show.

The project was jointly funded by the Rural Regeneration Fund and by Laois County Council, totalling over €2 million.

“It is a lot more expensive to go into an existing building with a preservation order than a greenfield site. We are very happy with the outcome, it's good value for money, the final result has really exceeded our expectations” Denise Rainey said.