Note on a Carved Figure on the Wall of Oalarn C'/iitrch. 157 



of niche, in which the figure stands out in relief. It is a good deal 

 weathered, but it is evident that its execution is of the rudest 

 character, and it has, so far as style is concerned, nothing in com- 

 mon with the intentional grotesques, such as occur so frequently 

 in the gargoyles and other work of the later Middle Ages. 



Eudeness of execution is not, of course, in itself necessarily an 

 evidence of early date, and there is nothing in this figure, so far 

 as its workmanship is concerned, which would lead one to assign 

 it to any particular period, though it may be of very early date. 



There can, I think, be no doubt that it represents a nude female 

 figure, of a character quite unlike anything else now existing in 

 Wiltshire, and for the explanation of which we must go to the 

 early Churches of Ireland. 



In Payne Knight's " Account of the Remains of the Worship of 

 Priapus, &c." (reprint 1865), illustrations of seven examples 

 (Plates xxix. and xxx.) of the remarkable figures found built into 

 the walls of ancient Churches in Ireland, and known in that 

 country under the name of " Shelah-na-Gig," are given. Two of 

 these (Fir/s. 2 and 3 of Plate xxx.), one, in the Dublin Museum, 

 from an old Church pulled down by the Ecclesiastical Com- 

 missioners,^ and the other, from the ruins, apparently of an 

 ancient Church, at Chloran, are almost reproductions of the Oaksey 

 figure. No one comparing the Wiltshire with the Irish examples 

 can help coming to the conclusion that they are of the same 

 character and were intended to serve the same purpose. This 

 purpose in Ireland is believed to have been that of a talisman, or 

 charm, which should afford protection to the buildings, in which 

 it is supposed they formed in some cases the keystones of the 

 doorway, by attracting the gaze of all who entered the Church, 

 and so averting the danger of " the Evil Eye." In some cases — as 

 at Tara — these figures are found sculptured on standing stones in 

 the churchyards. In the work above-mentioned it is stated that 

 no examples of the kind are known to exist in England, though 

 one was vaguely reported to exist in a Devonshire Church, the 



' Payne Knight, p. 133. 



