40 Days, 40 Churches

Day 21: Church of St. Ann Shandon, Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland

On our day in Cork we did not actually visit this church, but saw it as part of our bus tour as its steeple is one of the city's major landmarks. Two sides are clad in red sandstone, the other two in white limestone; red and white are prominently used by the city and its athletic teams (which is something we could identify with, being BU alums and all). The tower is topped with a weather vane featuring an 11 foot gilded salmon. Coming from the home of the Sacred Cod, I could identify with that, too.

The clock on the steeple has the nickname of the Four-Faced Liar, as winds off the river and the varying thickness of numerals on each face will cause each clock face to be a little off from the other three. I can attest that when we were there, the two clock faces that we could see told different times. Though the story could cover for a habitually drunk clock keeper. Not that would ever happen in Ireland. No siree.