The sheela-na-gig at Rattoo is not. Carved onto the inner face of a north-facing window inside a round tower, it occupies a position that requires both the right vantage point and some knowledge of where to look. A sheela-na-gig is a type of medieval stone carving, found across Ireland and Britain, typically depicting a female figure in an explicit pose, the hands drawing attention to the genitalia. Their purpose remains debated, with interpretations ranging from fertility symbols to apotropaic figures intended to ward off evil. The Rattoo example sits high up in the corner of that window opening, largely out of casual sight.

The figure itself is an arresting piece of work, even at a remove. Writing in 2004, the scholar Barbara Freitag described it as flat, with a large head, a pronounced forehead, and ears that are strangely formed and almost rectangular. There are depressions for eyes and mouth but no nose, and the chin comes to a point. The neck is thin, the shoulders angular, and the figure has no breasts. The left arm is flexed with the hand resting on the thigh, the right arm held at a right angle, the extension of each arm directed toward the pudenda. The thighs and calves are described as well rounded, both feet pointing outwards. A plaster cast of the figure is held in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, which gives some sense of the carving's detail even for those who cannot get close to the original. The round tower at Rattoo, one of the better-preserved examples in Munster, provides an unusual setting for the figure, raising the question of whether its concealed placement was always intentional or whether the window's orientation simply left it overlooked across the centuries.