Timoleague Friary

Timoleague Friary

Mainistir Thigh Molaga
Monastery information
Order	Franciscans
Established	c.1240
Disestablished	1631
Diocese	Cork and Ross
People
Founder(s)	Domhnall Got MacCarthy or William de Barry
Architecture
Status	Inactive
Style	Early English Gothic
Site
Location	Timoleague, County Cork, Ireland
Coordinates	51°38′33″N 8°45′47″W / 51.64250°N 8.76306°W / 51.64250; -8.76306
Public access	Yes
National monument of Ireland
Official name	Timoleague Abbey
Reference no.	21

Timoleague Friary (Irish: Mainistir Thigh Molaga),^[1] also known as Timoleague Abbey, is a ruined medieval Franciscan friary in Timoleague, County Cork, Ireland, on the banks of the Argideen River overlooking Courtmacsherry Bay. It was built on the site of an early Christian monastic site founded by Saint Molaga, from whom the town of Timoleague derives its name. The present remains date from roughly the turn of the fourteenth century and were burnt down by British forces in the mid-seventeenth century, at which point it was an important ecclesiastical centre that engaged in significant trade with Spain.

The friary is the largest medieval ruin in West Cork and one of the few early Franciscan friaries in Ireland to have substantial ruins. It is claustral in layout, and built in the Early English Gothic architectural style. It contains several elements atypical of Franciscan architecture of the period, including wall passages and exterior access to its upper floor. It was significantly altered in the early 16th and early 17th centuries. Several historical artefacts are associated with the friary, and during the Romantic era it was depicted in several notable artworks.