What is recorded here

Red sandstone still holds the squat frame at the chancel corner, though lichen is swallowing the cut edge and the exposed vulva. The stone was trimmed and reset, so the church wears a borrowed guard rather than its own finished birth. A worshipper may have faced that drooping mouth and understood the building as a body, not a box.

A sheela na-gig is built into quoin at the NE angle of the chancel of the medieval Church (DU012-031001-) (Hartnett 1954, 179). According to Freitag this sheela-na-gig is not in its original location as the lower part of the quoin has been cut off to fit the stone into its current position (Freitag 2004, 137). Described by Freitag as a ‘figure carved in false relief on red sandstone and set within frame. Big, earless head, flat face with downcast eyes, drooping gash of a mouth; short neck; squat body. No ribs or breasts, but navel clearly indicated. Only left arm discernible, held straight with hand resting on thigh. Long vertical slit-vulva hanging between straight legs. No feet, presumably cut off together with lower edge’ (Freitag 2004, 138). Lichen growth is beginning to obscure the sheela-na-gig and although not as weathered as that on the eastern gable (DU012-031001-) the description above is difficult to discern. See attached screenshots of 3D model of Sheela-na-gig created by Digital Heritage Age. 3D model can be accessed on the Sketchfab website at: https://skfb.ly/6vH9r Compiled and revised by: Geraldine Stout and Caimin O'Brien Updated by: Christine Baker Date of revised upload: 1 February 2018

The sheela na-gig at Malahide Demesne likely dates to the medieval period and may have originally served a symbolic or protective function, often associated with fertility or warding off evil. Such figures are commonly found in ecclesiastical contexts and their meaning remains the subject of scholarly debate.

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