Many thanks to all of the people in my life who have given me information on these great figures, allowed me to trespass on their property, driven me all over Ireland, planned their vacations around my obsession with these figures, and/or politely listened to sheela-na-gig stories until their eyes glazed over.
Thanks to Dr. Eamonn Kelly, Keeper of Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland for welcoming Seamus and myself early that November morning to show us the many wonderful sheelas stored in the basement of the museum.
Thanks to Starr Goode for kindly making slides of my sheela-na-gig prints that had no negatives, for giving me a gorgeous cast of the Ballylarkin sheela, and for sharing her enthusiasm on these figures from clear across the country.
Special thanks to my auntiepatico and uncleronico for taking a special interest in the figures, and for immediately buying and shipping to me any sheela-related book that is published in the UK.
I am grateful to Elizabeth Buchan-Higgins and Joanne Fincham for their help with my first sheela page, and to Don Lupo, Ron Thomas and Rufus Camphausen for their advice on these pages.
Many thanks to my beloved Seamus Rua, who centered our vacation in 1998 around these figures, when I'm sure he would have rather been doing just about anything else (Flying? Sailing? Visiting his own relatives? Tripping over Ogham stones? Doing Loch Derg?)
Last but not least, thanks to the drivers (in alphabetical order): Robert Durrell, Donal Feehan, James "Seamus Rua" Garvin, Matt McLoughlin, Colleen Nugent, and Ron Thomas.
My sheela-na-gig pages are dedicated to my mother Eilis McLoughlin, who gave me life, and who has supported my fascination with sheela-na-gigs as well as many other strange hobbies throughout my life...
© copyright 2000 Tara McLoughlin