Cork In 50 Artworks, No 22: The Goldie Fish on St Anne’s Church, Shandon

The famous salmon has gazed down on Cork since the the 18th century, and still needs to be re-gilded every couple of decades 

The Goldie Fish on top of Shandon. 

The Goldie Fish on St Anne’s Church, Shandon – a salmon-shaped weathervane, eleven feet three inches long and gilded in gold leaf - is one of the most familiar sights on the northside skyline of Cork city.

The Goldie Fish has featured in story and song; in the 1990s, Conal Creedon gave the title Under the Goldie Fish to his long-running series on RTÉ radio, while local cult band Five Go Down to the Sea featured a track called There’s a Fish on Top of Shandon (Swears He’s Elvis) on their 1983 Knot a Fish EP, which also featured an image of the church on its cover.