What is recorded here

Kells Upper Bay lost a staring Sheela-na-gig that W. R. Wilde still placed inside the local church in 1857. Her name is gone from the visible town, but the mention preserves her sudden appearance: a woman carved in stone, exposing what polite life prefers to cover. She may have watched children running past, lovers arguing or officials pretending the church was ordinary. That is the danger of these figures. They do not ask permission to be seen.

Sheela-na-gig now lost that was described in 1857 by W. R. Wilde in the Royal Irish Academy Museum Catalogue as being in situ, ‘in the church (ME017-044031-) of Kells’ (Wilde 1857, 141; Guest 1936, 118; Freitag 2004, 144). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 22 May 2012

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.