In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish High Court judges went on assizes to each county several times a year to hear cases, often being met by brass bands, the town mayor etc. on their arrival. It was customary for the judge at the start of the Assize sitting to give a general speech about the condition of crime etc. in the county.

In this clipping from the Leinster Leader, 2 July 1887, we find Carlow Town Commissioners discussing whether the streets should be cleaned for the impending arrival of Richard Dowse, Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer, having regard to the fact that Dowse had made what one Commissioner, Mr Byrne, described as ‘very uncalled for remarks’ about the condition of the town in the past.

Byrne and Dowse had some previous history deriving from an 1876 action against the Commissioners; it seems that, all those years later, hurt feelings still rankled. There was to be no cleaning of Carlow’s streets for that summer’s Assizes!