What is recorded here

No one knows which chamber held the sheela-na-gig or whether she watched a doorway, a stair or a forgotten room. The tower house fell in the 1950s, taking its stones and meaning with it. Thomas Cooke drew her in 1870, but even that drawing has vanished. Sheela-na-gig in Lemanaghan is now a absence with a name, perhaps waiting for someone to remember what she guarded.

No evidence of any sheela-na-gig listed by Andersen (1977, 92) in the vicinity of the destroyed tower house (OF015-004001-) that was mostly demolished in the 1950s (OF015-004001-) (Weir 1980, 62). This sheela-na-gig was drawn in 1870 by Thomas Cooke of Birr, neither drawing nor stone can now be found (Freitag 2004, 145). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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