Architectural fragment

The National Monuments Service's description

When visited in September 1992, this architectural fragment was embedded into the E concrete pillar of a modern gateway that marked the entrance to a private house. It consisted of a finely carved corbel stone (Wth 0.22m), probably of 15th-century date, with a very well-carved human head on its lower curving face. A plaque on the N face of the pillar, dated 1986, named the landowner. This area was subsequently planted with trees by Coillte. In advance of proposed tree-harvesting and the construction of a forestry access road that would have required the widening of the gateway, it was decided that the pillar should be moved to a safer location within the same field. The monitoring of this move was undertaken in June 2020 when the pillar was moved to its present location (Taylor and McCarthy 2020). Photographs taken in 1992 showed that the main features of the carved head, lentoid eyes, damaged tapering triangular nose, large ears and flat cap, were all still intact.

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 16 September 2020

References

Taylor, K. and McCarthy, D. 2020 Lissadulta, Peterswell, Co. Galway. Final archaeological monitoring report for Coillte. GY11-FL00163. J18/43. August 2020. TVAS Ireland Ltd.