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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Stone head

Killaspuglonane, County Clare, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Stone head, Killaspuglonane, County Clare, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Killaspuglonane
County
Clare
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
52.95678, -9.34241
SMR number
CL015-059004-

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1753 map "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1753 · Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

This record is for the original location of a carved stone head found in 1971 beside Tobarlonane holy well (CL015-059005-) adjacent to a large ecclesiastical enclosure (CL015-059001-). The head was carved in relief on one side of a trapezoidal limestone block. The face is oval with eyes, ears, eyebrows, mouth, nose, and hairline depicted. Swan (1987, 165) has drawn comparisons with Irish Romanesque stone heads, suggesting a 12th century date. He argues that the stone originated as an architectural element, probably a voussoir. Its location at the holy well was secondary and it was probably taken there from the rubble of the adjacent medieval church (CL015-059002-) as an object of veneration. The present location is in the National Museum of Ireland (DU018-160----) and a replica has been placed at the well.

Reference:
Swan, L 1987 A carved stone head from Killaspuglonane, Co. Clare. In Rynne, E. (ed.) Figures from the past: studies on figurative art in Christian Ireland, 159-67. Glendale Press. Dublin.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell

Date of upload: 11 July 2023

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
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