Shandon and the Northside: Bells, Butter and the Old City

The northside hill of Shandon is where Cork keeps its oldest stories. From the flat city centre you cross the north channel of the Lee and climb, and within ten minutes you are among narrow streets, a famous church tower, and the buildings of what was once the largest butter market in the world. This is a short walk, perhaps an hour and a half at a steady pace, but it carries more history per step than anywhere else in the city.

The climb to St Anne's

Start at St Anne's Church, the landmark you will already have seen on the skyline. It was built in the 1720s on a rise above the river, and its name comes from the Irish Seandún, meaning old fort, which tells you people have held this high ground for a very long time. The tower carries a clock on all four faces, and because the faces rarely agree, Cork calls it the Four-Faced Liar.

The reason to come is the bells. You climb the tower, and on the way up you can ring the eight Shandon bells yourself, hauling the ropes in the ringing chamber before you carry on past them. The bells were first rung in 1752 and were made famous by the poem The Bells of Shandon. Above them, 132 steps from the door, an open balcony gives you a view across the whole city, the flat centre below and the hills opposite. Pick a clear day and the climb pays for itself.

Butter and the Exchange

Step out of the church and you are in the old butter quarter. For most of the 18th and 19th centuries, Cork butter was a global standard. The Cork Butter Exchange, established by a committee of merchants in 1769, graded and sold salted butter that went out in wooden firkin casks to ports across the British Empire. At its height in the 1850s it handled hundreds of thousands of firkins a year. The trade finally closed in 1924, but the buildings remain.

The round building beside the church is the Firkin Crane, built in 1855 as the weigh-house where the casks were checked; a firkin was a quarter-barrel holding around eighty pounds of butter. Today it is a dance and performance centre. Next to it, the Cork Butter Museum tells the full story of the trade, from the Exchange to the rise of Kerrygold, in a small and well-judged exhibition. It is the best place in the city to understand why Cork eats the way it does.

The streets around

Shandon Street itself runs downhill from here and was once the medieval Mallow Lane, the road out of the old walled city to the north. The lanes off it are worth a slow wander for the painted shopfronts and the sense of a working quarter that tourism has not smoothed over. There are a few good cafés and craft shops, and the whole area has been the subject of a long restoration effort.

Practical notes

St Anne's charges admission for the bell-ringing and tower climb; check the current rate on the church's own site before you go. The climb is up a narrow winding stair and is not suitable for anyone unsteady on steps or uncomfortable in tight spaces. The Cork Butter Museum keeps seasonal hours, with reduced opening in winter, so confirm before a special trip.

Wear shoes you can climb in, and allow time at the top; the view rewards a few minutes rather than a glance. From Shandon it is a ten-minute downhill walk back across the river to the English Market and the city centre, which makes this an easy morning to pair with lunch on the gallery at the Farmgate Café.