Church of St Anne, Shandon

Shandon Bells

Shandon is the neighbourhood climbing the hill along the old road to Mallow. This Church of Ireland (Anglican) church was built in 1722; the famously inaccurate clock on its tower became known as "the four-faced liar". The church is best known for the eight "bells of Shandon that sound so grand on / the pleasant waters of the River Lee" as the 19th century ballad has it. (Who but Francis Mahony aka "Father Prout" would have dared rhyme Moscow with kiosk-o?) St Anne's bells are hung "dead" and rung by an Ellacombe apparatus. The most sonorous peel of bells is from change-ringing, which rotates them through 360°, but this demands skill and is sometimes impractical to build. It also incites scandalous behaviour, according to the Rev Henry Thomas Ellacombe of Gloucestershire, who in 1821 devised a mechanism whereby hammers struck stationary bells as resolutely as they would strike down temptation to sin. St Anne's is one of the two dozen churches in Britain and Ireland that still have functioning apparatus, and visitors can ding the bells from the tower first floor. There are 132 steps to the tower balcony, with a narrow squeeze as you clamber through the belfry, hoping that the group below doesn't choose that moment to start chiming.

• outdoors

Address

Church St T23 YN88

Hours

Mar-May Oct: Mon-Sat 10AM-4PM, Sun 11:30AM-4PM; Jun-Sep: Mon-Sat 10AM-5PM, Sun 11:30AM-4:30PM; Nov-Feb: daily 11AM-3PM

Price

Church free, tower adult €5, child €2, conc €4

Website

shandonbells.ie (opens in a new tab)