In his 1732 book "A natural history of the parish of Killesher", the local rector Rev. Wiliam Henry wrote that at the spa in Swanlinbar the local peasantry joined in the festivities with the visiting gentry. He described an idyllic picture of ""the fine beau and the country girl with her hair plaited behind, the nice lady and the ploughman tilting most merrily together in a country dance by five o'clock in a morning, with the bagpiper playing tunes such as 'The Black Joke' or "Westmeath Election'"".