139i. Timoleague Friary

SCENES from the West of  IRELAND - County West Cork

Timoleague Friary, also known as Timoleague Abbey, is a ruined medieval Franciscan friary found in the village of Timoleague in County Cork, in the south-west of Ireland.

It was built on the site of an early Christian monastic site founded by Saint Molaga in the 6th or 7th century, from which the town of Timoleague gets its name and situated on the banks of the Argideen River overlooking Courtmacsherry Bay

The present ruins date from roughly the turn of the fourteenth century and unfortunately were burnt down by British forces in the mid-seventeenth century.

Timoleague Friary is the largest medieval ruin in West Cork and one of the few early Franciscan friaries in Ireland to have substantial ruins left.

See also 139i Village and harbour of Courtmacsherry 139k Churches of Timoleague 139lTimoleague to Courtmacsherry estuary walk

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A general view of Timoleague Friary from across the Argideen River.

St Molaga was born around Mitchelstown in North Cork, but his travels, education and preaching took him to Scotland and Wales - where he was a friend of St David. St Molaga returned to Ireland and built a church at Balbriggan near Dublin. Later St Molaga came to Timoleague and a church was built on the shoreline of Courtmacsherry Bay where the River Argideen flows in. Later, around 1300 the Franciscans arrived to set up Timoleague Friary (abbey, monastery) on the same site as St Molaga's monastery church.

The R601 road sweeps by Timoleague Friary at the head of Courtmacsherry Bay and no doubt an important coastal track from ancient times.

The founders of Timoleague Friary were the McCarthys and the Barrys, some of whom are buried with the ruins of the friary.

A brief history of Timoleague Friary, seized by the English Crown in 1568.

Diagram of the ruins of Timoleague Friary.

The R601 road view of Timoleague Friary.

Some of window styles of Timoleague Friary look 15th-16th century.

The ruins of Timoleague Friary have been used as a graveyard, both internally and externally.

External view of Timoleague Friary from the graveyard.

Nothing fancy about the stonework of windows and doorways of Timoleague Friary.

The 'smarter' restored windows looking on the cloisters of Timoleague Friary.

Looking out from the great east window of Timoleague Friary to Courtmacsherry Bay.

The tower of Timoleague Friary was added in 1495.

Details of various window styles of Timoleague Friary.

The tale of the honey bees and Timoleague Friary.

The seaport of Tymulagy: Timoleague was busy medieval seaport with trading involving Spanish and French merchants with exchanges of wines and Mediterranean goods for local butter, hides and other farm produce. This came to an end in 1755 when the harbours in Courtmacsherry Bay became silted up after the arrival of the tidal waves resulting from the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

The tale of the Timoleague estuary and the silting up of the port on the Timoleague estuary.

See also 139i Village and harbour of Courtmacsherry 139k Churches of Timoleague 139lTimoleague to Courtmacsherry estuary walk

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