Meeting the Tandragee Idol


My first encounter with the Tandragee stone idol was with a replica in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

Replica in Ulster Museum (author's photo, all rights reserved)


This curious little figure probably caught my eye because of its name, Tandragee being the village best known as the Northern Irish home of Tayto potato crisps. Peering at the figure a little more closely it seemed to be clutching its left arm (so I thought) with what looked like a smile, sitting beside another stone figure of a bear-like animal. I was astonished to discover that the original Tandragee idol wasn’t in another museum but had a much more unlikely home.

Beneath a plaque commemorating a late 19th century archbishop of Ireland, worshippers and visitors to St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh can see the Tandragee idol in all its glory sitting on a low stone plinth in a side aisle. The cathedral houses other pre-Christian idols in its crypt (from photos on Flickr, these have also been on display in the main Cathedral in the past).

The idol in Armagh Cathedral (author's photo, all rights reserved)
 

But what is the idol and how did it come to be sitting in a cathedral and not a museum?

Things I’ve subsequently read:
  • The Tandragee idol is possibly Iron Age, but this is only surmised, not actually proven
  • It's possibly made of granite
  • Correctly or not, it’s most often associated with the mythical king Nuadha of the Tuatha Dé Danann. 
  • Alternatively, it may be a female figure, potentially a fertility goddess
  • It's probably not holding its arm but an object
  • It may have found in a peat bog somewhere near Tandragee...or nearer Newry... or in the vicinity of Armagh Cathedral during restoration work in the 1830s.
  • Many carved idols have been found throughout Ireland, several in the Armagh area, and some have startling similarities with the Tandragee idol
We know that the idol and the other carved figures now in Armagh Cathedral were rounded up in the 1940s from various locations and placed in the cathedral. Those doing the rounding up had decided the origin story about the figures being found in the vicinity of the cathedral to be the correct one. Their reasoning being that the cathedral, though a largely 19th century building, was constructed on a site with long historical connections going back to Saint Patrick and beyond, so naturally it must be a good place to find ancient statues. The evidence for this was circumstantial at best though it's worth noting that the architect behind the 19th century cathedral reportedly took carvings back to his English home.

Armagh Cathedral
Image by JoLaw2009 taken in 2007

“On the head are unmistakable horns”

What is certain is that by 1912, the Tandragee Idol was in a garden rockery belonging to a Mrs McEndoo, widow of John McEndoo, the former rector of Ballymore Parish Church in Tandragee. Here it was apparently placed alongside other sculptural fragments said to have come from Armagh.

We know this because American historian Professor Arthur Kingsley Porter described his correspondence with Mrs McEndoo in an article for The Burlington magazine published in 1934 (actually produced from a draft he was working on before his death in 1933) and which contains photos of the sculpture which appear to be from the garden. The Tandragee stone is worthy of the closest examination and study, he wrote, but he could draw few conclusions as he pondered its peculiarities, its potential pre-Christian credentials and possible links to the horned Celtic god Cerunnos.

Kingsley Porter did say that "we search the entire field of Irish sculpture for analogies in vain". However one appears to have emerged later. In a 2006 article for the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, museum curator Richard B. Warner explores the ownership and origins of the Tandragee Idol and other carved figures. Among these is a two-headed figure, with one side bearing a remarkable resemblance to the Tandragee Idol and the other depicting what appears to be a dog. The sculpture's existence only appears to have been revealed to the public in the 21st century, having been in private ownership foe decades. The striking similarity between the human faces suggests a connection between the sculptures, possibly even hinting that they were crafted by the same individual.

So maybe there are other sculptures out there that will shed further light on their origin and meaning. Or perhaps really the only thing we can conclude is that more questions than answers will remain about the Tandragee idol and these other Armagh statues!

As a postscript, I noted that a small item on sale on ebay this year claimed to be an early Irish stone idol from County Armagh. (To be clear, there is no resemblance to the Tandragee Idol and to my eyes, it looks like a pregnant woman) It has been attached to a wooden base for some reason. Where and when it comes from is anyone's guess (unless you are the buyer who picked up a bargain) but perhaps it's worth casting a wide net for other stone idols!

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