Time for Cork's iconic Shandon clock to ‘shine’

It is the picture-postcard image of Cork city and, although the clock tower at St Anne’s Shandon has been under scaffolding since last summer, its priest-in-charge promises it will soon be unveiled looking better than it has in years.

The scaffolding that went up around the tower last July was to facilitate the refurbishment of the support beams, the clock-face windows, and the clock mechanism.

The work was necessitated by long-term wear-and-tear and structural damage to what has been known to generations as “the four-faced liar”.

Three of the clock faces have been telling the wrong time since May 2024, while its eastern face has been completely stopped for all of that time.

The clock tower is the property of the Church of Ireland, while the clock mechanism, which was installed in 1847 by the then Cork Corporation, is the responsibility of Cork City Council.

Further works

The scaffolding had initially been expected to come down before Christmas, once the repairs were complete, but the decision was made to leave it in place so further works could be carried out.

Last week, Lord Mayor of Cork Fergal Dennehy said it was “very prudent” to carry out the works while the scaffolding was already in place.

The Reverend Meghan Farr, priest-in-charge at St Anne’s Shandon, told The Echo that the scaffolding was “mostly for the city’s work” on the clock.

“There have been two projects happening at the same time — the city’s work to the clock, including the faces and the mechanism and hands, and then there has been our work to the beams that support the bells,” she said.

“There are things that overlap because the clock chimes with the bells, separately from our mechanism that rings the bells with the tourists.”

Rev Farr said she was hopeful that the works would be complete and the scaffolding removed in time for “the big reveal of everything all clean and shiny and hopefully working” by early March.