Osborne extols Kilkee's scenic beauty: "Kilkee, a small sea-bathing place about eight miles . . . [from Kilrush. No traveller through this part of Ireland, should omit a visit to this little town; there is a very comfortable hotel, and within a walk of it, some scenery, which in its own way, can hardly be surpassed. I do not know that I ever saw a sea-view, that struck me more for its wild beauty, than that which is to be seen from the cliffs, which command the entrance to the bay, on which Kilkee is situated. The rocks are of a very dark stone; in places, quite perpendicular, and of great depth; the waves of the Atlantic rolling in huge breakers upon them, throwing up vast clouds of white spray against and over them, had a most magnificent effect" (Osborne, 1850, p. 20).