This was a bit of an opportunist stop really. The weather was awful and we were heading towards home and picking up a few sites along the way. The tower house itself is in fairly good condition, but not that spectacular. What is of great interest here is the Sheela-na-gig mounted high on the south wall, above and to the right of the main entrance.
The figure is extremely clear. She stands with her legs apart displaying a large haning vulva. Her right hand passes behind her right leg and grips one side of the vulva and the left hand passes in front of the left leg to grip the other side. Her stomach seems drawn as if she is emaciated, her facial feature are quite clear and she has one ear larger that the other.
The stone that she is carved on warrants further study. Some castle bourne sheelas seem to have been carved for that purpose, but this one definitely seems to have been moved from elsewhere. The righthand and bottom edges are straight and square, but the top and right hand side definitely seem to have been roughly cut. The brickwork around these uneven sides is not at all tidy - perhaps indicating that it was inserted after the castle was built.
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| Uwe H. from Leinfelden-Echterdingen (Germany) |   |
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
 St. Munna's Church (Co. Westmeath) |  Fethard Abbey (Co. Tipperary) |  Skregg (Co. Roscommon) |
 Abbeylara (Co. Longford) |  Balgeeth (Co. Meath) |  Ballinderry (Co. Galway) |
