West Cork: An architectural walk at abbey town

TIMOLEAGUE AND ARGIDEEN WALK

The village name is an Anglicisation of Tig Molaga, having been established on the site of a 7th century monastery founded by Saint Molaga, a holy man who devoted himself to the care of plague victims. The Annals of the Four Masters record that the foundations of the present abbey were laid by a McCarthy chieftain in 1240, the site having been a place of pilgrimage since Molaga’s time.

The village was a commercial centre long before Bandon town was founded. Quays and hostelries burgeoned with Spanish and French merchants. The friars conducted a thriving trade in wine.