This is one of the more ugly Sheela-na-Gigs, but it's somehow nicely haunting. Despite its rather terrifying appearance I was not at all bothered by seeing its image everytime I closed my eyes for the rest of the day - in fact I can still see her if I do it now some 11 hours later.
The figure is sitated above a window on the north wall of the current church. Above the nearby door is what appears to be a bishop's head and mounted into a quoin on the north-west corner is another very unusual head, which I suspect may have come from another Sheela. It has odd ears, one eye is closed and the other gouged out and there is some odd 'scarring' around the neck.
Back to the Sheela though. She is carved as if sitting down with her heel against her butt and with her hands holding her knees tight to her chest slightly apart so as to reveal the worn vulva. Her feet seem to be missing. Her face is contorted into a wide-mouthed grimace and she may have a small beard.
The church itself is quite interesting, but not of great antiquity. The tall tower is built like a castle keep and held the lodgings for the priest.
The site was first occupied in the 600s by St. Munna abd whenever you get a site this early I always have to wonder whether it was one of those instances where a pagan site was taken over. It didn't take long to realise that this is probably the case here. The site is in a small ampitheatre that opens to the north-west and through this gap, framed quite beautifully, you can see what I believe to be Corstown Hill at Loughcrew.
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_| John B from California |   |
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
 Skregg (Co. Roscommon) |  Abbeylara (Co. Longford) |  Doon Castle (Co. Offaly) |
 Cloghan Castle (Co. Roscommon) |  Garry Castle (Co. Offaly) |  Ballynacarriga (Co. Cork) |
