Corraghy Heads

Lore & Background

The Corraghy Head was uncovered by the local farmer James Longmore c. 1855 in the townland of Drumeague, County Cavan, during the excavation of a cairn or hillside near Corleck hill. The head was found alongside the Corleck Head, another janiform sculpture which is less complex but in its simplicity more artistically refined. The head's age and significance were not understood until the 1940s, when they were seen by the local historian Thomas J. Barron, who recognised them as prehistoric. According to reports from locals, the Corraghy and Corleck heads were displayed together on a wall in front of a house, with the Corleck head built into the wall, not placed on top of the Corraghy heads. The ram's head was destroyed after 1865 when the Longmores sold the lease on the farm to Thomas Hall. According to Hall, his sons accidentally smashed a significant portion of the sculpture while trying to separate the two heads. The human head was thought lost until it was rediscovered by Barron in 1969, who found it embedded in the wall of a farmyard barn in the townland of Corraghy.

Reader's Guide

The Corraghy Heads are significant as rare examples of late Iron Age stone sculpture from Ireland, notable for their unusual naturalism compared to most contemporary insular stone idols. The human head features ears, well-defined hair strands, a beard, and a large neck, while most other idols are typically hairless, earless, and have rounded eyes. The wide, long neck is unnaturally out of proportion and more reminiscent of a pedestal, a feature also seen in the assumed contemporary head found in Muirton, near Perth, Scotland, and the janus figure found in Leichlingen, Germany. The sculpture's original janus form—a human and ram's head linked by a cross-piece—and its association with the Corleck Head suggest a ritual function, likely part of a larger shrine on Drumeague Hill tied to a Celtic head cult and later used during Lughnasadh harvest festivals. The site, known in Irish as Sliabh na Trí nDée ('Hill of the Three Gods'), preserves the memory of multiple stone idols. The heads were buried perhaps to hide them from early Christians keen to eradicate pagan worship. The human head's rediscovery in 1969 after being embedded in a barn wall underscores the fragile survival of such artifacts.

Did You Know?

• The Corraghy Head is a single human head; the ram's head is a separate fragment, and there is no definitive evidence they were joined by a cross-piece in a janus form.
• The ram's head was destroyed after 1865 when the sons of the new leaseholder Thomas Hall accidentally smashed it while trying to separate the two heads.
• The human head was rediscovered in 1969 by local historian Thomas J. Barron, embedded in the wall of a farmyard barn in the townland of Corraghy.
• The site of discovery, Sliabh na Trí nDée ('Hill of the Three Gods'), is believed to preserve the memory of multiple stone idols including the Corraghy and Corleck heads.