One of the most characteristic features in its architecture is the number of strong loopholed towers attached to the more ancient dwellings.
Its walls are lofty and supported by buttress bastions with loopholed turrets at intervals; the fortifications, however, are but of hard clay and are much out of repair.
The ancient fortifications, still extant in the beginning of the 19th century, have disappeared almost entirely, but of the four gateways one named after St Lawrence remains nearly perfect, consisting of two loopholed circular towers; and there are considerable ruins of another, the West or Butler Gate.
Like many of the native towns it is surrounded by a loopholed wall, with flank defences for the gates.
