Skibbereen Heritage Centre
Skibbereen Heritage Centre houses two permanent exhibitions - one on the Great Famine and one on Lough Hyne.
The Great Famine Exhibition commemorates this tragic period of Irish history and serves as a tribute to the suffering of the local community. Skibbereen was one of the worst affected areas in Ireland, losing a third of its people to hunger and disease. The Exhibition portrays the Great Famine through the primary source accounts of the time, giving an overview of government policies and how they impacted on the ground. Reports from the relief committee in their attempts to alleviate the suffering of local people are shown alongside reports of how the international community responded to the crisis. The story unfolds in an interactive way through the dramatisation by actors, including Jeremy Irons, of actual events and people of the time.
Lough Hyne is a salt-water lake 5km from Skibbereen. This small marine lake was designated as Europe's first Marine Nature Reserve in 1981 and is now one of the most-studied marine sites in the world. This unique lake and its surrounds are home to a rich and varied range of plants and animals, including many rare and beautiful species.
