Skibbereen, meaning “little boat harbour”, is a town on the River Ilen runs in West Cork.
Following the sack of Baltimore in 1631, when Algerian pirates kidnapped locals into slavery, the survivors moved to the area that is now Skibbereen and settled there.
Previous to this, the lands in the area were owned the MacCarthy clan, who were the overlords of the locality.
Skibbereen was one of the country’s worst-affected areas during the Great Famine, with up to 10,000 victims of the famine buried in Abbeystrowry Cemetery.
Gearóid O’Sullivan, the man who raised the Tricolour over the General Post Office in Dublin on Easter Monday in 1916, was a teacher from Skibbereen and a second cousin of Michael Collins.
There are a number of megalithic sites in the area, with a stone fort, a ring fort, and multiple stone circles to be explored.
The Skibbereen Arts Festival takes place annually at the end of July, with an Arts Centre in the town since 1985, while there is a vibrant music scene in the town.
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