This is a rare find, and it comes with a nice story.
Here, in Inchydoney, it is called the Virgin Mary shell, and the locals have a special devotion for it, dating back at least to the 16th century. The shape is said to be like the Holy Heart of Jesus pierced by a spear (as seen from the left of the photo), and the other side of the shell has perforated markings that can look like the Virgin Mary in a shrine, with the letters V and M.
This object is actually the thin and fragile test of a sea urchin that lives buried into the sea bottom. In the not many places where it is found, there is a mass mortality once or twice year, usually after a storm, and then shells are washed away on the sand, most of them broken into pieces. Not many of them make it intact like the one I found this week. It is the only one I have found intact over the last 12 months.
There are many local legends associated to the Virgin Mary shell in Inchydoney. One says that if you keep one of these shells at home, somebody is going to die in your house within a year. So, I am going to bring this one back to the beach, you never know if the old legend might be true....
