Weekend Novelist
I HAVE BEEN WRITING SINCE FIRST GRADE, THOUGH NEVER IN CURSIVE. I LOVE READING HISTORICAL FICTION, AND NO PERIOD CAPTIVATES ME MORE THAN THE WARS OF THE ROSES.

imageSource: Remains of Timoleague Friary; photo obtained from Wikipedia.

The priory at Stony Heath was largely inspired by the remains of Timoleague Friary, a thirteenth-century Fransiscan monastery located in Timoleague, County Cork, Ireland. It was founded by the Fransiscans in 1240 on the site of a settlement founded by Saint Molaga in the 6th century.

For The Second Great Mortality, I wanted to model the priory after a monastery from the correct period in order to provide a sense of historical accuracy. Although Timoleague was started in 1240, most of its surviving structures were completed--according to the friary's floor plan--by the 1400s. The courtyard, which I chose to leave in the story, was the only significant addition in the first decade of the 1600s. The friary was sacked by the English in 1612 and later burnt along with the village in 1642.

For additional information on Timoleague Friary, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoleague.

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