Tucked away off the main road between Cork and Clonakilty is the scenic village of Timoleague. Home to fewer than 400 people, it is virtually unspoiled. Bungalow blight hasn't visited here yet and Timoleague has managed to avoid the clutter of other west Cork villages.
But the tranquility of the village has been disturbed recently as Cork County Council considers the Fleming Construction Company's application to draw stone from a quarry in the village to assist two local projects.
Robert Travers, the owner of Timoleague Castle Gardens, is against the application and has called on Cork County Council "to respect the peace of holy places and turn down a planning application for quarrying near the historic village of Timoleague in west Cork".
According to Mr Travers, the movement of machinery, and the dust, noise and general inconvenience entailed in a quarrying operation would be damaging to the serenity of Timoleague. Mr Travers is particularly concerned about the possible effects on the ruins of Timoleague Abbey, the Franciscan friary founded in 1240 by Donal Glas MacCarthy on the site of St Molaga's cell.
Already, he says, the east end of the abbey is under threat from the heavy traffic on the road beneath it. The Church of the Ascension, with its mosaic interior funded by the Maharajah of Gwalior and fine stained glass windows due to be restored with help from the Heritage Council later this year, could also be affected, he believes.
The maharajah came to help out the small Church of Ireland community in west Cork after a local-born doctor working in India saved the life of his son when the boy fell seriously ill.
Mr Travers also wishes to protect The Hiberno-Romanesque Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Virgin, which has a stained glass window by Harry Clarke.
Then, directly opposite the quarry site are the Timoleague Castle Gardens, owned by Mr Travers. Open to the public for the West Cork Garden Trail in June for three weeks each year and for occasional charity events, the gardens, he says, have been described as the "quintessential west Cork garden - subtropical and a little wild".
They include species plants on eight acres, and Mr Travers does not think a quarry nearby would make a good neighbour. He has other concerns. The Clooncalla Mor salt marshes are within earshot of the quarry.
Species such as egret, curlew and snipe are to be found there, and the Courtmacsherry Bay mudflats, designated as an area of special scientific interest, are nearby. Upstream of the quarry is Argideen Vale Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, founded in 1878, the only surviving allgrass club in the State, and there is the Argideen river itself, known as a salmon and sea trout fishery That's one side of the story. The other is that the stone from the quarry would be used only for the benefit of the local community, according to Fleming Construction's general manager Mr Vincent O'Donovan.
He points out that there will be no commercial gain from the quarry if the application is granted and that the stone will be given free of charge for use in two important local projects.
The quarry would be open only for a matter of weeks while the stone was being extracted, he says. The projects are the coastal erosion measures at Dunworly Beach, one of the loveliest beaches in west Cork, and the completion of the Seven Heads Millennium Walk from Timoleague through Courtmacsherry to Travarra Beach.
Paddy Murphy is secretary to both the Seven Heads Walks Committee and the Dunworly Beach Committee. He says there is serious and threatening coastal erosion on the cliffs that sweep down to Dunworly. John Fleming, of Fleming Construction, is also a supporter of the two committees and is a well-known local benefactor.
Mr Murphy says the committees would gratefully accept Mr Fleming's offer to make stone available for use as "rock armour" against erosion of the cliffs and to complete a final section of the walk.
"These two projects are important to us as a community, both in terms of our own amenities and of their tourism potential, and without the help we have been offered it would be difficult to see them through," says Paddy Murphy.
So far, £100,000 has been raised towards the projects. This has been done through the Leader Programme, Cork County Council and local fund-raisinfg endeavours.
Two-thirds of the work has now been carried out on the Dunworly cliffs. The cost of purchasing the necessary stone would be prohibitive and if the planning application is successful, the cliffs will be made safe again at no cost and the remaining section of the 11-mile walk will be paved with stone from the quarry.
The Seven Heads Walk Committee has just published a beautifully-illustrated brochure on the walk, which links various habitats and trails.
On Sunday next, the second Music Amongst the Mosaics festival will begin at the Church of the Ascension in the village and continue until the last Sunday of the month. Mr Travers believes classical music is more at home in Timoleague than quarrying. He is asking whether one part of the environment should be degraded, as he sees it, to benefit another and wonders if Cork County Council should have to depend on the charity of a developer to protect the coastline under its care.