Sheela from Edenderry, County Offaly

 A Sheela na Gig at Edenderry

Edenderry in County Offaly was a large midlands town. Today it's effectively a huge midlands town with a burgeoning commuter emphasis and large tracts of housing.

While not apparently obvious at first glance as a place of interest to visit there is in Edenderry a few antiquities of note that I came across on my brief visit.

It is also a town which has a still functioning branch of the Grand Canal and which terminates in a nice attractive harbour.

Unfortunately the Canal harbour at the time I visited seemed rather lacklustre and on its approach was just a clutter of old and beaten up boats and barges abandoned on the Canal side, which seemed a shame.

This once busy hub of local industry and commerce which would have seen working barges coming and going all day long seems ripe for investment, boating and water sports.

My main focus of interest was a Sheela na Gig, a grotesque figure that was located in the local library. 

These antiquities are very enigmatic and no one knows their exact origins nor significance.

The Sheela at Edenderry is sporting a head of hair and an oddly located vulva, its placement not too dissimilar to the Sheela na Gig at Doon, also in Offaly.

What's of particular interest with regards to the Edenderry Sheela is that it was found underwater in the Figile River near the village of Clonbullogue under a bridge.

Perhaps it was thrown here in a bid to be rid of it. 

It's believed by some that these figures may have played a part in "Folk" worship or ceremony in the early to medieval ecclesiastical period in Ireland as many were, and still are, found embedded in the walls of Churches as well as Castles.

 

As the Church progressed in Ireland it's quite likely that prudishness and a departure from folk traditions saw clerics smashing up, discarding or throwing away many of these supposed "folk deities" which previously once played an important role in ancient Irish Church traditions. That's a supposition and we will never know for sure.

Today, the largest collection of intact Sheela na Gigs anywhere in the world is to be found in Ireland dotted about the Countryside and located in and on, various types of buildings.

I also came across a medieval Font dating from 1290 in the grounds of Saint Mary's R.C. Church.

 

Here too I also discovered a lovely carved stone head. 

I don't know whether this is very old or not but I suspect it's quite modern which doesn't distract from its beauty or interest at all.

There's the ruins of some type of Castle that at one stage I saw on a slope in the town but I never got time to visit or check it out. From what I could see away in the distance it looked like it was surrounded with some type of security fencing anyway to keep people out.

The 3rd Marquess of Downshire is represented in Statue form and located along an avenue to the C of I Church of Castro Petre while imposing Stag Heads on pillars indicate the entrance from the main street.

There are several nice Cafe's in the town serving good Coffee and Homemade Cakes.

 

Please try to avoid Starrybucks, Costata Coffee or Insomniacs if you're looking for decent Coffee or Cakes while travelling around Ireland.

These serve defrosted generic bulk manufactured "muck" instead of Cakes and are greatly overpriced. 

The little local Cafe is generally a much better option and in greater need of your custom.

Keep the wheels turning.