Kilrush

Kilrush stands on the northern shore of the Shannon estuary in western Clare, looking across the water toward Scattery Island. The ruins of an older church recall a settlement predating the growth of the town. From the late seventeenth century the Vandeleurs became the leading landowners here; John Vandeleur arrived in 1688. His descendants helped develop Kilrush and its harbour, and John Ormsby Vandeleur built Kilrush House in 1808. The estuary gave the market town a connection to Limerick and the Atlantic beyond.