‘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. But the harbour is now quite choked up with sand. A small river discharges itself here, called the Arigideen, or the Little silver Stream; it runs at the foot of an hill, formerly clothed with an oak grove for about a mile, in a picturesque serpentine manner. It passes by O’Shagnessey’s castle, the church-yard, and the walls of the Franciscan abbey. This venerable monastic edifice, whose ruins we have exhibited, was founded by William Barry, Lord of Ibawn ; the 17th December 1373 he died, and was interred in it. In 1400, it was given to Franciscans of the strict observance. John de Courcy, a Monk of this house, and afterwards Bishop of Clogher, with the assistance of James Lord Kinsale, his nephew, built the library, belfry, dormitory, and infirmary, and bequeathed liberally to it. He died in 15 18, and was buried in the church…’
‘Provincial chapters were held in this abbey in 1552 and 1563. Here are several tombs of ancient Irish families j as M’Carthy-righ’s, in the middle of the choir. West of it is an old broken Monument of the O’Cullanes, and on the right hand, that of the Lords de Courcy. The O’Donovans, O’Heas, and others, were interred here. By an inquisition taken, four acres and an half of land were found to belong to the abbey, which were then possessed by Lord Inchiquin, but now by Lord Barrymore. A considerable part of the tithes were granted to the college of Dublin. Near the church is a well, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, celebrated for miraculous cures. St. Molaga is patron of the parish, and it receives its name from an old monastic Cell dedicated to him, called Tea Molaga, or St. Molaga’s house…’
‘The building, though unroofed, is intire, for it was thoroughly repaired in 1604, It consists of a large choir with an aisle : one side of the said aisle is a square cloister arcaded, with a platform in the middle; this leads to several large rooms, one of which is said to have been a chapel, another a chapter-house, the third the refectory, besides a spacious apartment for the Guardian of the house, with kitchen, cellars, &c. the whole forming a large pile of building. There is an handsome Gothic tower, seventy feet high, between the choir and the aisle.’
From Francis Grose’s The Antiquities of Ireland, vol.II, published 1791.