The Hotel offers 15 elegant bedrooms within the tranquillity of its own 3.5 acre gardens. The refinement extends throughout the whole house; have a drink in front of the open fire in the bar, take afternoon tea in the sumptuous Drawing Room or enjoy a delicious formal dinner in our restaurant.
Although, Raheen House Hotel has a countryside setting it is a mere five minute walk from the centre of the busy town of Clonmel with its shops, pubs, restaurants and other amenities. For outdoor enthusiasts the hotel is ideally situated for walkers and hill walkers, being at the foot of the Comeraghs. We have golf and tennis clubs next door and the hotel overlooks the River Suir, and is therefore perfect for seasonal fishing. A children’s playground is located immediately opposite the hotel in the public Denis Burke Park.
Clonmel is well situated with both Waterford and Cork airports just an hour away. The famous landsmarks of The Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle are a short 15 minute drive from the hotel. Clonmel Bus and Train Station are just five minutes by car.
At Raheen House Hotel our promise that “The Visitor is King” means we guarantee a warm welcome, and individual care and attention not to be surpassed. Truly a place where memories are made.
The tranquil atmosphere at present day Raheen House Hotel belies a turbulent and violent history that spans over nine centuries.The annals of the area stretches from the early thirteenth century to modern day times whilst the house can be chronicled to the middle of the 17th century.
The earliest grantee of the land was William Fitz Adelm, Lord Lieutenant under King Henry the Second, who was granted the “Golden Vale from Cashel to Limerick and the alluvial districts from Clonmel to Carrick in 1220. His property then passed to his son Baron de Burgh, who is largely responsible for founding the town of Clonmel and whose descendants retained commercial interests in the town for generations.
Political upheaval over the intervening years meant that by 1650 ownership of the land was with the Earl of Ormond. It is in connection with the Earl that we find one of the earliest mentions of the name Raheen, though it was spelled “Rahines” during this time. The name is thought to mean ” Little Fort” a combination of “Rath” being fort and the diminutive “een”.
As Ireland was a subject of Great Britain, any political changes there were reflected here, thus, when the monarchy was overthrown, with the execution of King Charles the First, and Cromwell came to power this had a dramatic affect on the history of Raheen. It is thought that it was during the rule of Cromwell that the original Raheen House was built. It is believed that Col Solomon Richards was the builder of the first house, which still stands today and shows many architectural features of that era. It is estimated that the house was built between 1652 -1654.
Col Richards was a prominent member in Cromwell’s army and sat on his War Council. He was appointed Commissioner of Revenue at Clonmel on December 25th 1652. By April 1655 he was appointed Governor of Clonmel. He operated out of Raheen House in his role of Revenue Commissioner. A daughter of Colonel Richards, Elizabeth, went on to marry Capt. Samuel Foley who had a registered interest in the property of the Revenue Commissioners. Indeed, one of his own grandchildren, Charles Blount held the office of Revenue Commissioner under the reign of King Charles the Second. The descendants of Colonel Solomon Richards produced branches of the Foley, Oliver and Dominick families. In fact his great, great, granddaughter, Elizabeth Dominick became Lady St. George, a peer of the Realm when her husband, St.George Ussher was named Baron St.George in 1773 by King George the Third. It is this king who purchased present day Buckingham Palace.
The Georgian addition to Raheen House was constructed in the early 1840’s and as was common practise at the time it was built adjoining the original Cromwellian structure. The 19th century owners of the house, the Greer family put the house for sale in 1878 for £55 when the legal owner, William Greer, was declared insane.
Another military element was again associated with Raheen House when Col E George Cobden took ownership of the house. As nobility, the Colonel was part of the ruling class in post-famine Clonmel and he was an Ex-Officio Guardian on the Board of Guardians for the Union (workhouse) as well as a Magistrate.
Trouble came to Raheen House in July 1914 due to Cobden’s connection with the house. His son George E Cobden, Jnr, was one of the officers at the Bachelors Walk massacre in Dublin where three people were killed and 38 injured. It is thought he was the officer who gave the order that resulted in these deaths. Nationwide outrage at the slaughter was mirrored locally and an angry mob descended on Raheen House, still home to Cobden Snr, where a violent riot erupted. Fortunately, there were no deaths as a result of the incident.
In more recent times Raheen House was the home of Clonmel senator, Denis E Burke, a Fine Gael politician who held two terms in the 1960’s. The public park opposite Raheen House was named after the late politician.
The current owners, Elizabeth and John Day, purchased the house in 1988 from the Burke family. After raising their three daughters, Catherine, Lois and Orla, in the house they decided, in 1996, to establish Raheen House as a hotel. The house, including the gate lodge at the entrance, opened its doors as a hotel to the delight of the public. The hotel underwent an extensive re-vamp of both the interior décor and the grounds in 2014, and rightly holds the position of one of the finest manor hotels in Ireland.
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