What is recorded here

Crudely carved in limestone south of Ballyportry tower house, the figure still yawns with broken nose and wide-open thighs, her fingers tearing the vulva around a balloon-shaped sac. Sheela-na-gig was not made to comfort; she was made to be seen, remembered, and feared at the edge of a place where birth, death and knowledge all collide. Now in Clare Museum, Ennis, she continues doing what she has always done: forcing the world to look at what it would rather ignore.

On display in Clare Museum, Ennis. A sheela-na-gig found S of Ballyportry castle (CL017-084002-). This carving was discovered in the area S of Ballyportry tower house (CL017-084002-). It is described by Freitag (2004, 124) as a figure ‘crudely carved in limestone. The huge head is neckless with big jug ears; deep- set round eyes raised in sockets; nose broken off. Teeth showing in slightly opened mouth. No breasts, but an over-large round navel. Hands pass behind wide open thighs; fingers tear open long deep vulva from which amniotic sac protrudes. The latter is shaped like a balloon, filling gap between widely splayed legs. The knees are bent with the feet turning outwards and the left half foot broken off.’ For the original location see CL017-084005-. (Andersen 1977, 145, No. 54) CL033-191----_01.jpg attached. Updated by: Mary Tunney Date of revised upload: 28 October 2014

Dateable to the medieval period, likely 12th to 16th centuries, the Sheela-na-gig is thought to have had a symbolic or ritual function, possibly linked to fertility or the life cycle, though its precise meaning remains uncertain. Such figures appear across Ireland and Britain, often associated with sites of religious or ceremonial significance.

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