Around the 1820s, a paddle steamer service from Limerick to Kilrush made Kilkee more accessible as a tourist destination, particularly the Anglo-Irish aristocracy.

plies the one bathing machine which the decent liberality of Lady Chatterton presented to this Clare Herne Bay; and if you don't choose to wade a quarter of a mile among a hundred fellow-bathers over the said sands, you must do as I did, look out for some cranny among the black rocks, and trust to the mercifulness of the Atlantic waves, or to your own strength and skill, to avoid being knocked up against those scarifiers of sides and shins: may you fare better than I did this morning!

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 effectIn the 1890s, Kilkee experienced a population boom when the West Clare Railway opened, which was a route that facilitated the transportation of goods and people.

[12] The entertainer Percy French was a regular performer in the town and an incident on the West Clare Railway on the way to Kilkee prompted him to write the song "Are Ye Right There Michael".

On 30 January 1836, the Intrinsic, a ship from Liverpool bound for New Orleans, was blown into a bay near Bishops Island in Kilkee.

The ship was a cargo vessel transporting coal from Troon in Scotland to Limerick, but never reached its destination.

At the time of the disappearance, the ship was transporting a consignment of coal from Glasgow to Limerick but never reached its intended destination.

The Pollock Holes, also known as Duggerna Reef, are three natural rock-enclosed pools with water that change with every tide.

The main trophy, the Tivoli cup, was first competed for in Kilkee in 1935; racquetball in its current form was not codified internationally until 1950.

Richard Harris, who would go on to become an internationally known actor, won the cup four years in a row, from 1948 to 1951, a record surpassed by no one to this day.

[23] Before the West Clare Railway opened in 1887, the only way to get to the town was by paddle steamer from Limerick to Kilrush and then by horse and cart from there.