placenamesTimahoe
Tigh Mochua
Timahoe’s round tower preserves elaborate Romanesque carving beside the remains of a long-lived monastic site.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Tigh Mochua · Irish · main form · validated name
- Timahoe · English · main form
Place & story
The monastic site
Timahoe’s monastery is associated with St Mochua. A recorded fire damaged it in 919, and an abbey under the O’More family followed in the medieval period. The site changed again when its fifteenth-century church was remodelled in the sixteenth century. A substantial arch survives from that later building history. [2]
The carved doorway
The sandstone-and-limestone round tower stands 29.6 metres high, with six internal storeys whose floors have disappeared. Its entrance sits about five metres above the ground. Romanesque carving surrounds the arch: geometric patterns accompany human faces on the capitals, while a small male exhibitionist figure appears at the doorway’s base. An ornamented upper window adds another point of distinction. [2]
Mochua’s three helpers
Local tradition gives Mochua three animal companions who helped maintain his devotions. A rooster called him to the night office, a mouse roused him when he became drowsy, and a fly kept his place in the psalter. The Office of Public Works presents this as folklore associated with the saint. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Laois
- Barony
- Cullenagh
- Civil parish
- Fossy or Timahoe
- Coordinates
- 52.96709, -7.19620 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1413864 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Timahoe. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Timahoe Round Tower and Church · Office of Public Works / Heritage Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.