The eighteenth-century church tower above the Shandon district is the most recognisable building in Cork: a red sandstone and white limestone tower topped with a copper salmon weathervane and four clock faces that famously tell four different times. The lower section is built from the limestone of an earlier church on the site; the upper section is the local red sandstone, giving the tower its mismatched two-tone look.
Visitors can climb the 132 steps and ring the eight bells of St Anne's themselves — the only church in Ireland where this is encouraged. Bell-ringers are given a card with tunes (Danny Boy, Amazing Grace, Happy Birthday) and the numbers of the notes to pull. The view from the open top, after a steep last flight, takes in the whole of central Cork.