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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Sheela-na-gig (present location)

Kildare, County Kildare, Ireland

The record

Townland
Kildare
County
Kildare
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
53.15784, -6.91150
SMR number
KD022-029075-

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

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (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

A Sheela-na-gig carved on the underside of a capital on the tomb of Bishop Wellesley (d. 1539) (KD022-029034-) which was originally located (KD023-016002-), at Great Connell Priory (KD023-016----), and has since been re-erected in Kildare Cathedral (KD022-029005-)(Freitag 2004, 134). This Sheela-na-gig was described by Freitag (op. cit.) as being ‘carved on slab; head cut off; arms splayed out with hands joining over pudenda; legs widely splayed, knees bent’.

See attached screenshot of 3D model of Sheela-na-gig created by Digital Heritage Age. 3D model can be accessed on the Sketchfab website at: https://skfb.ly/6tEGq

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 24 May 2012

Freitag, B. 2004 Sheela-na-gigs: unravelling an enigma. London. Routledge.

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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