It is always nice to receive a present of a book. Even nicer, in our case, when that book is on history, and even better again when that book has a strong Cork connection in the narrative. I was recently given a copy of ‘A Diary and History of 1914-1918 World War 1: Four brothers […]

EXTRAORDINARY PUBLICATIONS BY ‘SKIBBEREEN’S MAGNIFICENT SEVEN’ At Skibbereen Heritage Centre we get people calling in all the time looking for information on our two exhibitions – the Great Irish Famine and Lough Hyne. We also get any number of enquiries on topics ranging from genealogy, the history of this area, queries on graveyards, people trying […]

We were delighted to join in the celebrations at the official opening of the new Spearline premises in the former St Fachtna’s De La Salle School building today. Skibbereen Heritage Centre manager, Terri Kearney gave a brief history of this iconic Skibbereen building at the official opening where the keynote speaker was Irish ambassador to […]

The best version of the song ‘Dear Old Skibbereen’ by our reckoning is the one recorded by Derry Moynihan which forms part of the Famine exhibition at Skibbereen Heritage Centre. Now, we would say that, wouldn’t we? Well, yes, we would. No two people sing ‘Skibbereen’ the same, Derry’s version is very beautiful and poignant, […]

Following their tour of the Famine exhibition at Skibbereen Heritage Centre, many visitors make their way to Abbeystrowry burial ground, the site of one of the most poignant and significant Famine memorials in Ireland. This is the location of the infamous ‘pits’ or mass graves where possibly between 8,000 and 10,000 Famine victims were buried […]

The second year of the excavation of the McCarthy home by the staff and students from the University of Maryland is coming to an end and and it’s been a fascinating process. We already told the story of last year’s excavation so we thought we’d give a round up of this year’s findings too. The […]

The ‘Stories of the Revolution’ is a school history and folklore project run by Skibbereen Heritage Centre.  Now in its third year, this very popular project invites primary school children from around West Cork  to collect stories relating to the 1916-1923 revolutionary period from their own locality.  The project aims to raise awareness of this […]

We are delighted that students and staff from the University of Maryland are returning next week to Skibbereen to carry out an archaeology excavation of a local site. This is their fourth year returning to the Skibbereen area and Skibbereen Heritage Centre staff have facilitated their work locally and have really enjoyed being a part […]

  Today is the 10th anniversary of the first National Famine Commemoration ever held in Ireland which took place in Skibbereen on the 17th of May 2009. It was a great honour that the town was chosen as the site for the inaugural Famine Commemoration and Skibbereen Heritage Centre coordinated a week of local events […]

We’ve alluded to it many times, just how beautiful it is to look out over the River Ilen from Skibbereen Heritage Centre in the historic old Gasworks building in Upper Bridge Street. On any given day, the variety of wildlife is quite amazing – the changing seasons bring colour and variety all of their own. […]

Almost directly across from the entrance to Skibbereen Heritage Centre car park at Upper Bridge Street is a little plaza that is beautifully maintained by Skibbereen Tidy Towns group. Set back off the footpath, the little oasis is quite easy to miss as you walk or drive to the Heritage Centre, but it is worth […]

Situated on the banks of the River Ilen, Creagh old graveyard contains the ruins of two churches now in ruins. The earliest record of a church in this lovely setting dates back to 1291 and the ruins of this ancient pre-Reformation church can still be seen in the older part of the graveyard. This church […]

Abbeymahon graveyard is a small burial ground situated in a quiet corner off Chapel Lane in Skibbereen. It appears to have come into use around 1830, and it was widely used for the next hundred years or so. It still used infrequently for burials for those whose families were traditionally laid to rest there. Some mystery […]

Chapel Lane, also known as Kilmahon or the ‘Chapel Yard’, is located on the site of a Mass House that served the town of Skibbereen from Penal times until the late 1820s. It’s a large graveyard which is the final resting place for many of the people of Skibbereen and its surrounds. Skibbereen Heritage Centre […]

Drinagh West is a beautiful medieval graveyard that overlooks Curraghlicky lake outside Drinagh village, north of Skibbereen. We are happy to report that is now a new sign at Drinagh West and also at Aughadown old graveyard, listing those known to be interred in these burial grounds as well as giving historical information on these medieval sites. […]

At Skibbereen Heritage Centre we ‘get’ graveyards. They are such interesting places and often quite peaceful and beautiful too. Over the years, we’ve spent a lot of time in them carrying out surveys etc but, have to say, it’s quite good to be able to leave a graveyard too when the work is done! We […]

We love our new ‘Wildlife of the River Ilen’ signs which feature the extraordinary photos of Sharron Franks. These panels show just some of the species we see from our windows here  in the Old Gasworks building on the banks of the River Ilen. Each stunning photograph is accompanied by a short piece of information […]

  We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of the distinguished local historian Pat Cleary. Pat was one of the pioneers of Famine studies in Skibbereen and much of what we now know is based on research that was originally carried out by him. Pat was a teacher at the local St Fachtna’s […]

  During Ireland’s Great Famine, many of the children in the workhouses were orphaned or abandoned. In 1848, a new international scheme was started which would provide ‘assisted emigration’ to some of the orphaned girls in the workhouses of Ireland. Proposed by Earl Grey, and named in his honour, this scheme would take young girls, […]

“Most of the houses are of the most miserable description, far surpassing in that respect what I have seen anywhere else – they have neither windows nor chimneys, and when you enter them, you are in almost complete darkness, with an atmosphere around you that you would not leave a pig in” This description of […]