The tower is over 170 feet high with 13 feet thick walls and a copper dome with a vane in the form of a golden fish.Nine feet high the "fish of Shandon" has long remained one of the most familiar features on the Cork Landscape.Beneath the fish is the pepper pot shaped lantern surmounded by a lead dohme and four points on the compass. The square tower itself is 120 feet high.

The tower is unique in that two of its faces are of white limestone and two of red sandstone. The limestone faces South and West to the limestone country while the sandstone faces North and East to the sandstone country. Tradition has it that the limestone came from the ruins of Shandon castle and the limestone from the Franciscian Abbey on the North Mall.

The Fish

The fish is painted in gold leaf and is approximately 13 feet in length.It represents the Lord,in that,in the old days the Lords name was signified by the sign of a fish. It also represents the salmon fishing on the local river Lee. Also, in Irish mythology, the salmon was known as the "fish of knowledge" Today, it is used as a weather vane. It is called "De Goldie Fish" by Corkonians.