A letter written in late 1846, which had a profound effect on the outcome of the Great Famine, is now returned to Skibbereen, the epicentre of that crisis, thanks to the family of the late Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth. “At Skibbereen, the Dispensary Doctor found seven wretches lying unable to move under the same cloak. […]

Skibbereen Heritage Centre is housed in the historic and beautiful Old Gasworks Building, on the banks of the River Ilen, and we are truly blessed to work in this special building.       The genesis of the building dates back to December 1866 when a group of local businessmen set up the the Skibbereen […]

There is always a great sense of nostalgia about railways and the part they played in providing an economic and social lifeline, in particular to rural parts of the country. Visitors to Skibbereen Heritage Centre often ask for information about the railway line in this part of the world. It is almost sixty years since […]

Three of the most imposing buildings on Ilen Street are the Steam Mill, the West Cork Hotel and the offices of the Southern Star newspaper, all very important to the story and history of Skibbereen. Also on Ilen Street we have two bridges that span the Ilen River, the Kennedy Bridge and the old Railway […]

We are delighted to say that Skibbereen Heritage Centre will reopen to the public on Tuesday the 30th of June. Due to the necessary social distancing restrictions, however, there will be limited capacity in our exhibitions so we are asking that visits be pre-booked by giving us a ring on 028 40900. Full details are […]

As part of our ongoing series of video tours of local historic graveyards, click here to see a short film on Augahdown Graveyard. Aughadown Graveyard is one of the most beautiful medieval graveyards in West Cork. Located on the banks of the River Ilen, west of Skibbereen town, it contains burials from the Roman Catholic, […]

One of the most beautiful places in Skibbereen town is what is known locally as the Church Meadow. The site of Abbeystrewry Church and Parochial Hall is not a meadow at all of course but it is an oasis of tranquility right in the centre of town. There has been a church on this site […]

Skibbereen had a large and active Methodist community from early in the 1800s. However, that community dwindled substantially in the latter decades of the twentieth century. John Bredin, a Methodist Preacher stationed in Cork City, is credited with bringing Methodism to Skibbereen. In 1779 he literally rode into town and announced that he intended to […]

Market Street is a relatively new street in the town of Skibbereen and was constructed in the late 1850s, after the Famine. A building adjacent to what is now Connolly’s Electrical Shop at the Square was demolished to allow access to area behind it. In 1853 Table Lane, which runs from High Street to Market […]

  The Famine mass graves at Abbeystrowry Graveyard in Skibbereen are one of the most poignant Famine sites in Ireland. The ‘pits’, as they were known contemporaneously, are the final resting place of up to 10,000 victims of Ireland’s Great Hunger. Click here to see a short film which gives the background of these mass […]

The beautiful old graveyard at Caheragh is one of the burial grounds which has been surveyed in recent years by Skibbereen Heritage Centre. A short video about Caheragh Old Graveyard, which was made by Skibbereen Heritage Centre, was published recently and generated quite an amount of interest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB8nNdjiT68&fbclid=IwAR1NSwV1Jtg21QZVRggZnjIY81PR8vTuN_falgxGQAsqhcSWf24DsCJGbKs Among the graves highlighted in the video […]

CLICK HERE for our latest ‘Graveyard Video Tour’ – this time of Abbeymahon Graveyard in Skibbereen. Abbeymahon Graveyard is the final resting place of many interesting people from the Protestant community in the Skibbereen area. These include Frederick Peel Eldon Potter, the proprietor of the ‘Skibbereen Eagle’ newspaper who became famous for ‘keeping its eye […]

In the mid-nineteenth century, Ireland was mostly a rural based peasant society. Out of a population of over 8.5 million people, 86 per cent lived in rural Ireland and the vast majority of those struggled to eke out a meagre subsistence. The fundamental problem in pre-Famine Ireland was poverty. Much of the illness and disease […]

As far back as 1890 the Skibbereen Town Commissioners were discussing a site for a new Crown Post Office in the town. However, it took nearly fifteen years before the ambition was realised and a new Post Office opened in 1904. Like most things in the town, the process was far from straight-forward and business […]

The Town Hall is one of those places that holds some memories for everyone who has lived in or near Skibbereen over the past one hundred and fifty years or more. Since the late 1850s the Town Hall has been the most prominent building in the Town Square, the focal point of Skibbereen, right in […]

Over 15,000 previously unavailable genealogy records relating to the greater West Cork area are now added to our Graveyard Database. Skibbereen Heritage Centre has been digitising Cork County Council burial registers for a number of graveyards in West Cork for some time now and the results of this work are now available on this site.  […]

The town of Skibbereen is built in the low-lying Ilen Valley and is mostly surround by hills. One of the best vantage points to view Skibbereen town is Windmill Rock, which rises behind North Street and slopes up from High Street. This was obviously the site of a windmill at one time, but we have […]

In Slater’s Director of 1846, Skibbereen is listed as having two hotels, both of them in North Street. The Becher Arms Hotel was run by Mary Hegarty, and the Mountjoy Hotel was run by Tomas Mountjoy. The Becher Arms Hotel opened in January 1838 at North Street, with Mrs Mary Hegarty as proprietor, and traded […]

In its almost two-hundred-year history, we think this may be the first time that there will be no Easter Week ceremonies at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Skibbereen. The ceremonies throughout the week leading up to Easter Sunday are the highlight of the religious year for Christians all over the world, but at this extraordinary time […]