19th century water pump, Mallow, Co.Cork,Ireland

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In the early 18th century, the curative power of the mineral waters of the spa wells in Mallow, Co. Cork was discovered. Referred to as the ‘Irish Bath’ the water of the spa has a mean temperature of 70° of Fahrenheit, rising in summer to 72° and falling in winter to 68°. However by the 19th century the popularity of the spa wells began to waver and in an attempt to revive it, the local landlord Charles Denham Jephson commissioned a Spa house to be designed over the original well. Despite his best efforts, the Spa house was closed down by 1850. In 1857, Jephson had the Spa water piped to a specifically constructed water place some 150 yards away on the far side of the road for benefit of the people of the town - this rare example survives today as a water pump, incorporating a trough with three carved limestone lions’ heads spouts still extant on the wall above the trough.