This is a sheela-na-gig, a category of medieval carving found on churches and castles across Ireland and Britain, typically depicting a female figure with exaggerated or explicit anatomy. Their precise function remains debated; theories range from apotropaic symbols meant to ward off evil, to fertility figures, to moral warnings. Whatever their original purpose, they tend to attract attention, and this one is no exception.

The figure sits within a recessed frame on a roughly rectangular slab, modest in scale but densely worked. Scholar Barbara Freitag, writing in 2004, described it in close detail: a skull-shaped head with jug ears, thick ovoid eyes, a flat wedge nose, and deep striations cut into both cheeks. The mouth is open, displaying two rows of gritted teeth. The ribs are clearly marked, the breasts flat and pointed at shoulder level, and the arms extend downward with both hands reaching toward the vulva. The legs are widely splayed, feet turned outward, and a plait-like band hangs from the left ear before disappearing behind the shoulder. It is an unusually complete and expressive example of the type. As for where it came from, nobody knows for certain. The most likely candidates are Balleen Castle, roughly one hundred metres to the east, or Balleen church, about two hundred metres to the southeast, both on land associated with the farmyard where the figure now rests. At some point it was relocated, built into a wall, and there it has stayed. It is protected under a preservation order made in 1992 under the National Monuments Acts.