Architectural fragment, Killinaboy, Co. Clare

Co. Clare |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Architectural fragment, Killinaboy, Co. Clare

Killinaboy, a small parish in the Burren uplands of County Clare, holds a quiet reputation among those who pay attention to early medieval stonework.

Somewhere within it sits a classified architectural fragment, recorded and assigned a monument number, but not yet accompanied by any publicly available description of what it actually is. The fragment could be a carved door jamb, a section of decorative moulding, a piece of a Romanesque arch, or something altogether harder to categorise. Its presence in the record without further detail makes it, in a small way, more intriguing than a fully documented carving might be.

Killinaboy itself has form when it comes to unusual stonework. The ruined church there is well known for bearing a sheela-na-gig above its doorway, one of those carved figures of ambiguous meaning found on a number of Irish and British medieval buildings, sometimes interpreted as apotropaic symbols intended to ward off evil. The parish also contains the remains of a two-storey tower house and a number of other early Christian and medieval features scattered across the limestone landscape. An architectural fragment recorded separately from these better-known monuments suggests something that either came loose from a structure over time, was reused in later building work, or was noted in situ but not yet fully contextualised in the public record.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Architectural fragment, Killinaboy, Co. Clare. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement