- SKIBBEREEN - Famine Story Walking Trail App
and use it offline.Interactive multimedia guided tours on the go. Learn more
a) Introduction to the Skibberean Famine Story and b) the Courthouse inquests.
5 minThe site of a riot in September 1846.
3 minRecords from the Cathedral show how the Famine progressed.
2 minThis was one of the poorest places in Skibbereen during the Famine.
2 minTwo visiting Oxford students describe the awful conditions they witnessed.
3 min"A green and ghastly corpse that had been for five days dead."
3 minThis road leads to one of 3 burial grounds used during famine times.
1 min"The miserable shed had served as a grave where the dying could bury themselves."
3 minRossa's father died from Famine fever - this had a profound effect on his life.
2 minThis was the site of an auxiliary workhouse - where you exchanged labour for food.
3 minTwo Famine memorials are to be seen at this stop.
4 min"Deaths in the workhouse and town average at the present twenty-five per day."
2 minThis mill was one of the first large-scale soup kitchens to open in the country.
2 minHere you can view the Great Famine Commemoration Exhibition.
8 minBetween 8,000 and 10,000 victims are buried in the Famine pits in this cemetery.
Skibbereen is synonymous with the Great Famine (1845-52) as it was one of the worst affected areas in all of Ireland. At least a million people died during this catastrophe and double that number fled the country within a decade.
This audio tour brings the Skibbereen Famine Story to life to give an insight into the worst humanitarian crisis of nineteenth century Europe.
Skibbereen Heritage Centre also hosts an extensive presentation on this tragic period, the Great Famine Commemoration Exhibition.