Skibbereen An Sciobairín
From Wiki - Skibbereen is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the N71 national secondary road. The name "Skibbereen" (sometimes shortened to "Skibb") means "little boat harbour." The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. As of the Census of Ireland 2011, the population of the town (not including the rural hinterland) was 2,568.
Prior to 1600 most of the land in the area belonged to the native McCarthy tribe - today McCarthy remains the town's most common surname. The town charter dates back to 1657 and a copy can be seen in the town council Chambers. In 1631 it received an influx of refugees fleeing from the Sack of Baltimore. The "Phoenix Society" was founded in Skibbereen in 1856 and was a precursor to the Fenian movement.Famine
500 years after the Black Death, the region was again plagued with a significant famine in the years 1845-52, a time referred to as 'an Gorta Mór' (The Great Hunger). The Skibbereen Heritage Centre estimates that 8,000 to 10,000 victims of 'The Great Famine' are buried in the Famine Burial Pits of Abbeystrewery Cemetery close to the town. While there is some question on the accuracy of census data from the famine era, records indicate a drop of population from 58,335 in 1841 to 32,412 in 1861.
Site of Famine Burial Pits at Abbeystrowery Skibbereen is also the name of a song about the Famine, and the impact it and the British Government had on the people of Ireland. The song, known as Dear Old Skibbereen, takes the form of a conversation between a father and a son, in which the son asks his father why he fled the land he loved so well. The father relates to his son how the famine ruined his farm in Skibbereen, killed his wife, and how the landlord evicted them. In the final verse the son swears he will return to Skibbereen to take vengeance on the government that he holds accountable. A version is found on the soundtrack to the PBS mini-series, "The Long Journey Home," performed by Sinéad O'Connor. In the film Michael Collins, Michael Collins, played by Liam Neeson, sings the song. There are also versions by The Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones.
A permanent exhibition to commemorate the memory of the victims of the Great Famine is sited at the Skibbereen Heritage Centre. Skibbereen was also the focal point of Ireland's first National Famine Memorial Day on 17 May 2009. The town was selected as it was in one of the areas worst affected by the Great Famine, as evidenced by the mass graves at Abbeystrewery. The National Famine Commemoration Committee agreed that the centerpiece of the memorial day would rotate between the Four Provinces on an annual basis.