A carving of a medieval lady's head at Templechally Church and Graveyard in Ballina, Co. Tipperary

 

I visited the graveyard of Templechally on the edge of Ballina in Co. Tipperary and came across this carved stone head that had been revealed where the ivy on the Church appears to have died back. 

The carving looks very clean and in great condition and looks to be the head of a woman in a horned headress. This style of dress was in fashion among high-status ladies from the 13th to the 16th century in Ireland and across Europe. It is most probably a reproduction of a previous carved stone head that existed here. 

Antiquarian Maurice Lenihan drew this sketch in the 1860s of the same window and recorded that head was a "Sphynx". (Thanks to James Heenan for deciphering the handwriting). 

It states "on the exterior, is a head said to be that of the Sphynx". A Sphinx and a Horned Headress do look very similar, especially when eroded. 

See this link for a scan of the original here.

So it is likely that the current carved head is a reproduction of this carving that was in place, at least in the 1860s.

That leaves two questions to be resolved. 

One - who and when was this new reproduction installed and what happened to the old head that was there? 

Two - perhaps if we can answer one, we might be able to figure out or at least speculate as to who this carving was meant to be a likeness of?