Stone head in Gneevestown

Set high up in the wall just below the eaves of a single storey outbuilding is a voussoir with an oval-shaped stone head carved in relief. The carved head has almond-shaped bulbous eyes, a long elongated nose and a narrow slit mouth the ends of which are turned down. This voussoir with its carved head does not appear to be in its original location and has been incorporated into the E wall of an outhouse aligned on a N-S axis that forms the W range of outbuildings of a farmyard. Bullaun stone (WM025-033----) and font (WM025-034----) located 145m to the ENE, which originally came from the medieval church at Churchtown (WM025-011----). The farmhouse and its outbuildings containing the carved head were described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as a 'detached six-bay two-storey house, built c.1850, with projecting three-bay flat-roofed porch to the centre of the entrance façade (north), with crenellated parapet over, and a single and two-storey return to the rear (south). Formerly in use as a public house (west). Complex of single-storey rendered outbuildings to the northwest of house, running at a right angle to the house alignment. Further complex of outbuildings to the south. Early carved stone head inserted north end of outbuilding adjacent to road to the northeast. Set back from road to the west end of Loughanavally' (www.buildingsofireland.ie). Stone heads out of context like this carving are very difficult to date based on visual inspection alone as they can date from the Iron Age to the post-medieval period. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 14 August 2012

Likely dating to the early medieval period, the stone head may represent a stylized human or mythological figure, possibly linked to local folklore or religious symbolism. Similar carvings are often associated with protective or territorial functions in rural landscapes.