Shaen Castle, Co. Laois
All that remains of this castle is one corner of the ground floor fortifications. After the castle was brought down, this area was turned into a walled garden and now, even that has fallen into neglect. There is no record locally of a sheela here now and given that the hand (and the sword) of Cromwell passed here in 1650, there’s probably no one left alive to tell.
However a figure of hideous character was mentioned in the Ordnance Survey Letters of 1840.
Shaen=Sidhean=a fairy hill.
There is another Shanes Castle in Randalstown, Co. Antrim in Randalstown but it too has lost it’s sheela. Known as the luck stone of the O’Neills (1932).
| Last modified | 1 November 2015 |
|---|---|
| Condition | Missing |
| County | Laois |
| Lat/Long | 53.0767288,-7.2486911 |