Sile na Gig

We tracked miles to find this beauty - probably dating from the Norman period she probably once graced the walls of the a nearby castle where she would probably have been used as a symbol to ward off the evil eye ( a lot of probables here as no one is really sure how old these carvings  are or what they were used for). Over the years she has been hacked at (probably by someone who found her offensive),  removed from the castle wall, stuck onto dovecot, taken off the dovecot and stuck into a wall and is now back on the dovecot. There are hardly any still in the wild in County Cork so she is really something special to see and is in fabulous condition, mainly I suspect because few people know she is there - so I'm not saying where she is!! Siles are grotesque carvings of females - often bald and scary looking, but almost all displaying their vulvas! This one is especially interesting as she has clearly marked ribs, little nodule son her wrists, is holding something that could be a knife and has large ears and a sort of benign expression. Her feet have been hacked away  but her femaleness remains!