There may be a lot of Dan Browne fans who are not aware that the Knights Templar were right here in Cooley, and Templetown is named after them. Although the church of Kilwirra dates from the 1400s, the first church there was built by the Templars. They were granted land there by Henry II (the one who got Cardinal Beckett done in Canterbury Cathedral) in the 1170s and 200 of them settled there.
The Templars were key to the establishment of the Camino de Santiago in Spain – Santiago means Saint James, the apostle whose bones were supposedly found there in the 11th century. According to a local legend, St James appeared in Cooley and knelt to pray on a slab of stone while the devil danced on the other end of the stone trying to distract him. The tracks of his knees and the devil’s cloven hooves can still be seen at St James’s well close to Kilwirra.
Have a look for yourself, and if you decide to walk the Camino from France to Santiago, you can get your Camino passport, known as the credencial, stamped at the church in Grange which was also Templar property.
