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 […]

The Irish revolutionary Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa’s fire and his fight against injustice was forged by Famine. As a child, he led a comfortable life in Rosscarbery and Reenascreena until the arrival of the Famine that changed his life. His father lost his business and died from ‘famine fever’ in 1847 when Rossa was just 15 […]

While our exhibitions are closed to the public, we can still share the story of the Great Famine in Skibbereen with you …. ‘The Great Irish Famine: Remember Skibbereen’ TV documentary was made by the award-winning film-maker Pat Collins of Harvest Films. It features interviews with Professor Joe Lee, Gary White Deer, Fr Paddy Hickey […]

As far back as 1850 a site for a convent had been established in Skibbereen when Sir William Wrixon Becher donated eight acres of ‘good land’ adjacent to what is now St Patrick’s Cathedral. The land was acquired by Rev. John Fitzpatrick and a 200-year lease was obtained by Dr William Keane, who was consecrated […]

In terms of Famine heritage, Skibbereen is almost certainly one of the most important towns in Ireland. Many buildings and areas in the town have a link to the Great Irish Famine (1845-52) and because so much was written and documented about that time in Skibbereen, we know a lot about these sites. In January […]

A recent visitor to our exhibitions, David Charles Hutchins, came to Skibbereen because his two grandfathers once both had businesses in the town. And what a fascinating story he had to tell! One of his grandfathers, Walter Charles Kindred, first came to Skibbereen to work as a chauffeur for Captain Morgan of Hollybrook House.   […]

On this day, 14 October 1800, the sculptor John Hogan was born in Tallow, Co Waterford. John Hogan was Ireland’s most noted neoclassical sculptor, a very gifted man. In Skibbereen we’re lucky to have a work of art by Hogan in St Patrick’s Cathedral, a piece sculpted most likely in 1833. The marble relief, dedicated […]

On Wednesday, 4 October 1944, Micheál O’Sullivan, then a medical student at University College Cork, delivered a lecture in the Town Hall, Skibbereen, under the auspices of the Skibbereen Historical and Archaeological Society. The lecture, delivered in Irish and English, was on the life of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa and especially his association with the Fenian […]

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 […]