Carved Stone Heart

"It's a Greenschist stone heart – that's what I think it is. I was rebuilding a wall in Valentia, we were working on a house. When you build a wall you pick up bits of shards and you tap them into place. I picked up this stone, I was just about to tap it into the wall when I looked at it and thought 'hold on a minute'. The proportions of it are perfect and you can see on the back where it's been napped away there. I wondered if it had been made by somebody for a true love. Since then I've wondered if it could be a religious icon. You know every house would have the sacred heart on the wall. Where I am in Valentia, the town is known as Lower Ballymanagh, 'the Townland of the Monks'. Now I wonder if there could be a connection with the Monks there or in Ballinskellig. "