The Long Room

THE Clock House occupies the site of an earlier building, the Long Room, which was erected by Colonel Anthony Jephson of Mallow Castle, the great-great grandfather of Sir Charles Denham Jephson-Norreys.

Opened in 1738 the Long Room was built to provide a place of entertainment for those visiting the nearby Spa.

Leased by Mr Mort Murphy the building, according to Pue’s Occurrences, provided ‘ teas, coffee, chocolate and other things necessary, and also some of the best Dublin newspapers twice a week’.

It was also the venue for public breakfast and balls, often frequented by the legendary Rakes of Mallow.

After the popularity of the Spa declined, the Long Room fell into disrepair as evidenced by a letter to the Cork Examiner in 1842. The writer, while prising the town commissioners for their work in improving the state of the town, laments the condition of the building - ‘you have removed nuisances, yet the longest nuisance, the Long Room, stands in all its hideous deformity.’

By the early 1850’s a new road was under construction from Spa Walk to Bridge Street, which necessitated the removal of at least part of Long Room which extend into the Main Street.

While it had been thought the entire building had been demolished, recent research by Liam Mannix suggests this may not have been the case and part of the building obstructing the new road into Spa Square was removed, with the remainder of the building incorporated into the new Clock House building.

Another part of the Long Room was converted into a primary school for boys, with two of its most notable pupils being Canon Sheehan and William Smith O’Brien.