The clock on the St Anne's Church was one of the first public clocks in Cork City. The idea for the clock was proposed by Councillor Delay at a meeting of Cork Corporation in 1843. He spoke of the hardship imposed on many working class people who were unable to tell the time, as many of them did not own watches or clocks. He was supported by some of the medical profession in the city as they argued that many poor people were in danger of poisoning themselves by not knowing the times when prescribed medicines should be taken.

At a metting of Cork Corporation on the 23rd May 1843 it was agreed that a grant of £250.00 be provided for the design and construction of a clock. James Mangan, a Cork architect and clockmaker won the public competition to design the clock. He was assisted in the work by his son Richard.

Cork Corporation determined that the clock should stay in public ownership rather than being the property of the Church of Ireland. To this end they appointed 4 men, at an annual cost of £13.00 to maintain the clock. A local craftsman, Daniel Thresher, built the clock at a cost of £18.00 Thresher was also responsible for replacing one of the bells in the church in 1869. In 1847, at the height of the Irish Famine, the clock was installed in the church.

A very interesting account of the clock, shortly after its erection was given by John Francis Dwyer in his book,'The Industrial Movement of Ireland' published in Cork in 1853, in which the writer gives the following details of the Shandon Clock:

"The dials four in number are 15 feet, 8 inches in diameter. The four sets of hands with their works weigh 5 cwt. The frame of the clock which contains the works is 14 feet, 6 inches long, 4 feet wide and 5 feet high and weigh with the machinery two tons and a half. The striking hammer weighs 100 lb and falls through a space of 12 inches - which shows the great power of the mechanical force exerted in the striking part of the clock; and the chime hammers, four in number, weight each 26 lb...The pendulum is 14 feet long, the ball weiging 3 cwt. That this is a work of extraordinary magnitude, these dimensions are a sufficient proof; but that the whole machinery is of the very highest order, I have had the opiion of those whose judgement, to say the least, was not biased by over partiality"

Cork Corporation carried out an assessment of the clock in the 1980's. Part of the report stated:

In 1986 the City Architect arranged to have the clock and mechanism surveyed. It was decided that it would be renovated in five distinct and seperate phases, these being:

1. To synchronise all the four sets of dial work; to repair damaged dial motion drive rods; to fit a new rod and expansion joints to one dial and to dismantle and clean the clock as a time - piece only.

2. To dismantle and renovate the striking and quarter trains of the clock together with the overhaul of the six clock hammers which chime upon the bells and return them to full working order.

3. To throughly clean down the clock frame and restore in best quality enamel paints the cast iron and wrought iron parts of the frame.

4. To repair the dial supporting rings on the outside of the tower and secure, as necessary, the large Roman numerals to these supporting rings, then to carry out the full restoration of the dial by restoring in finest quality, double thickness, 23 ct.gold leaf to the hands, numerals and other highlights against a background of black gloss paint

5. To convert the clock from manual winding to automatic electric operation by fitment of specially designed units that will wind the weigh automatically, leaving the operation of the clock as a mechanical unit.