#timoleague

Timoleague, Western Ireland. Day one of my Western Irish tour started in Clonakilty, birthplace of Micheal Collins (1890-1922), Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician who was a leading figure in the early-20th century struggle for Irish independence. Next stop was Timoleague, a small village where the ruins of a thirteenth century Franciscan abbey stands picturesquely at the waters…

Franciscan Friary, Timoleague

A Venerable Monastic Edifice

‘The village of Timoleague [County Cork] is situated on an arm of the ocean, which flows in between the hills, whose feet it washes. It is in the barony of Ibawn and Ballyroe, and eight miles S. W. of Kinsale. It was anciently a place of note, being much frequented by the Spaniards, who imported thither large quantities of wine, and tradition reports that it had fourteen taverns that sold Sack.…

From the exterior, the Church of the Ascension in Timolegue, County Cork looks a typically modest product of the early 19th century. The original place of worship here is first mentioned in 1291, and in the Middle Ages much of the land in this part of the country was under the control of the Barrys, subsequently Earls of Barrymore. The notoriously spendthrift habits of the final holders of this…