Kilrush across the creek
It was highly gratifying to witness the animation that prevailed in Kilrush — the neatness of the little shops, the flagged pathway, and the absence of accumulated dirt, so prominent and offensive a peculiarity of most small towns in Ireland. The people about Kilrush (whose population is 5000) are handsome, and appear considerably more intelligent than in many other places.
Jonathan Binns The Miseries and Beauties of Ireland Vol II Longman, Orme, Brown and Co, London 1837
Irish waterways history 