Antique hand-colored engraving.

" Kilkee "
" County Clare "

Drawn by William Henry Bartlett (1809 - 1854).
Bartlett was a British traveler and artist.

Engraved by Joseph Clayton Bentley ( 1809 - 1851), a British engraver and painter.
Bentley was born at Bradford, Yorkshire. He began his artistic career as a landscape painter , but in 1832 he went to London where he studied engraving under Robert Brandard. He was exceptionally prolific , engraving plates after paintings by Thomas Gainsborough , John Constable , and many others.
Bentley continued to paint in parallel with his career as an engraver , occasionally exhibited landscapes , mainly views in Yorkshire, at the Royal Academy , etc.

Published by Geo. Virtue , 26 Ivy Lane , London , England.
Undated however this engraving was published in 1841.

A view of the coastal town of Kilkee , County Clare , Ireland , as it was in the early 1800s.
The horseshoe bay , rocky cliffs , sea birds , rolling waves , the town of Kilkee and its sandy beach in the distance.
Several figures and row boats in the foreground.

Attractively colored by hand with watercolor paints.

Mat size is 11" x 14"
Engraving sheet size is about 8" x 10 1/2"
Image size is about 4 11/16" x 7 1/16"

The engraving is over 180 years old.

Nice condition.
Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer.


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Kilkee : some history.

Up to the early part of the 19th century, Kilkee was a very small, quiet fishing village with just a few houses, however in the 1820s when paddle steamship service from Limerick to Kilrush was launched, it began to attract visitors. It quickly grew into a resort and was soon featured on the front page of The Illustrated London News as the premier bathing spot in what was then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The town grew as the demand for holiday homes by the sea increased, resulting in a building boom in the 1830s. Several hotels were built, and three churches.

A description of Kilkee during the period of the Irish Famine can be found in John Manners's travel narrative " Notes of an Irish Tour ," in 1846. Manners emphasises Kilkee's popularity as a seaside resort and commented on its crowded beach and dangerous waves :
" Kilkee itself is the quaintest collection of little whitewashed cottages, some distinguished by the name of ' lodges ,' that ever aspired to the dignity of a bathing-place. The lodges are built round a little sandy creek. 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 ( the rocks )."

Sidney Godolphin Osborne's " Gleanings in the West of Ireland ", published in 1850, extols Kilkee's scenic beauty :
"Kilkee, is 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."

On January 30, 1836 the " Intrinsic ," a ship from Liverpool bound for New Orleans ( Louisiana , United States ) was blown into a bay near Bishops Island in Kilkee. The ship was dashed repeatedly against the cliffs and sank along with her crew of 14, of whom none survived. The shipwreck site is now called " Intrinsic Bay ".

A chartered passenger sailing vessel named the Edmond sank at Edmond Point on November 19, 1850. The ship was sailing from Limerick to New York City but was driven into Kilkee Bay by a storm. As the tide was very high, the ship was driven all the way to Edmond Point, where it split in two.
Of the 216 on board, 98 drowned in the disaster.

Exactly 50 years to the day after the Intrinsic sank, on January 30, 1886, the Fulmar sank just north of Kilkee in an area known as Farrihy Bay. The ship was a cargo vessel transporting coal from Troon in Scotland to Limerick, but never reached its destination.
Of the 17 crew members aboard only one body was ever recovered.

At some point during 28 and 29 in December, 1894, the Inishtrahull went missing somewhere near the Kilkee coast. 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 ship was only confirmed to have sunk on January 3, 1985, when a section of a port bow from a ship with a brass plate marked " Glasgow " was picked up by the Kilkee coastguards.

In the 1890s, Kilkee had yet again another boom, when the West Clare Railway opened up to goods transport, improving commercial life in the area, as well as providing a relatively fast means of travel to and from the town. Many prominent people in society travelled to Kilkee including Sir Aubrey de Vere, Charlotte Bronte (who spent her honeymoon here), Sir Henry Rider Haggard , and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
In 1896, the Crown Princess of Austria visited the town.
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".

Although it has become more developed and modern in recent years, the town retains some of its 19th-century Victorian feel.
Kilkee is the longest established seaside resort in Ireland and is still one of the most popular with a loyal following going back many generations.
In addition to the excellent beach, regarded as one of the safest beaches in Ireland, especially for children, there many other things to do in Kilkee. Many people from all over the world come to Kilkee to dive and see the abundant fish life and wondrous rock formations.

There is a very active Scuba Diving Club.
Kilkee has a reputation as a place to enjoy diving. Jacques Cousteau declared that it was one of the best places in Europe for diving.
The public walks are famous and the actor Russell Crowe stated the famous cliff walk was the finest public walk in the world.

Along with bathing on the strand, beachgoers can choose from the Pollock Holes , New Found Out and Byrnes Cove.
The Pollock Holes, which is also known as Duggerna Reef, are three natural rock-enclosed pools, with water that is changed by every tide. This not only brings in fresh water, but replenishes the marine life in the many rock pools surrounding it. The diving boards at New Found Out allow for dives of up to 45 feet into the open sea. The annual diving competition is held at these boards.

The Strand Races are horse races contested annually on the Kilkee strand. They first began in the 19th century on the sand-hills where the golf club is now.
The races are normally held over two days in September, when the summer season is drawing to a close. The course is made by placing poles on the beach and when the tide goes out the races begin.
Traditionally it was a celebration for farmers when the harvesting season is over.