Clonmel Sheela-na-gig, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Late medieval period

On a recent trip to Ireland with my son, we found the Clonmel Sheela-na-gig seated in Dublin’s National Museum of Ireland. Visualizing Birth has for years posted about Sheela-na-gigs. The first real post of the site beyond its introduction post was in fact about the Sheela-na-gig (see “Calmness and Strength in the Birthing Figure of the Sheela-na-gig” November 6, 2010). And yet suddenly I was faced with the very first sheela I had ever seen in person. It is called the Clonmel Sheela-na-gig because it was found in Clonmel, the largest town in County Tipperary.

The National Museum of Ireland has a Digital Heritage Library in which 3D versions of the sheelas it owns (the museum owns 17) can be seen, and the Clonmel Sheela is one of them. Like all of her sisters, the Clonmel Sheela is a powerful stone figure that depicts a woman with her vulva outstretched. As written in numerous posts here, as well as in other academic and popular texts, the stance of the sheela could be connected to a representation depicting the birthing process and the physiological capabilities of the vulva during birth. There are other interpretations of the figure, but the interpretation of sheelas as birthing figures is both popular and potent for those who are pregnant. There is often a worry during pregnancy that the birthing mother will be unable to birth the baby due to its size. Objects such as the Clonmel Sheela encourage women and anyone who is pregnant to understand that the physiology of the body is transformative during birth, and indeed an infant can be born from the vulva.

I am currently researching details on the Clonmel Sheela and have learned from the “Documenting The Sheela-Na-Gigs of Ireland” page (Ireland’s Síla na Giġ) that the Clonmel Sheela was found during renovations in the wall of a bank at Blue Anchor Lane in Clonmel. I will post more information about this Sheela when I have it.

For Visualizing Birth’s other posts on the Sheela-na-gig, see also: Calmness and Strength in the Birthing Figure of the Sheela-na-gig (2010); Visualizing Birth through the Sheela-na-gig (2014); Revisiting the Sheela-na-gig (2020); Visualizing Birth through Project Sheela (2022); Visualizing Birth through the image of a Sheela-na-gig/Celtic Knot convergence (2025).