This year marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of Skibbereen Heritage Centre and a lot has happened since it opened.
The Centre has brought hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area and, in addition to generating much-needed tourism revenue, it has created a series of heritage assets for the town and raised its profile internationally.
It has provided a venue for cultural events, brought US colleges to Skibbereen to work and study and has helped thousands of the Diaspora to find their ‘homeplace’ in West Cork.
The Old Gasworks building was in ruins for many years before it was renovated for use as the new Heritage Centre. The restoration involved incorporating key elements of the original structure into the new building which subsequently was the winner of an RIAI award.
The Centre was established by of a variety of organisations who had been in discussions since the early 1980s about a proposed interpretive centre with Cork County Council driving the process.
Work finally began on the project in 1999 with the building costs covered by European Regional Development Funding through Dúchas, while the Office of Public Works oversaw the works and provided the architectural expertise.
Cork County Council contributed the Old Gasworks site for the project and has owned and operated the Centre since its opening in 2000.
Skibbereen Heritage Centre, offi cially opened by Minister Síle deValera on the 28 of July, 2000.
After its opening, it soon became apparent that the main attraction for visitors to the newly-opened Skibbereen Heritage Centre was the Great Famine exhibition, alongside genealogy enquiries. Centre staff began to offer a genealogy service, and have also used visitor feedback to update the Famine exhibition many times over the years, augmented by a walking trail app and Famine Story book.
When the Irish Government announced in January 2009 that Skibbereen was the chosen location for the first National Famine Commemoration ever to be held in Ireland, Skibbereen Heritage Centre was appointed as the events co-ordinator and started to work with local organisations and individuals to create a programme of local events in the lead up to the National Commemoration.
The National Famine Commemoration was hosted by Minister Éamon Ó Cuív and was attended by ambassadors from all over the world.
The response locally was extraordinary, with 28 events staged in the town in the week before the National Commemoration.
Almost every organisation in the town organised one or more events, the majority of which were free of charge.
The Centre has also provided a venue over the years to a variety of local organisations, including Skibbereen Theatre Society, Skibbereen Gaelscoil, St Fachtna’s Silver Band and Comhaltas Ceolteoiri Eireann, the latter performing annually in the Courtyard on Culture Night. Comhaltas also hosted the 2001 and 2003 Munster Fleadh Cheoil, with both launches taking place at Skibbereen Heritage Centre.
Members of the Skibbereen branch of Comhaltas Ceolteoiri Eireann at the 2001 Launch of the Munster Fleadh Cheoil. Left; Scituate Town Twinning Agreement signed at Skibbereen Heritage Centre.
Skibbereen Heritage Centre’s genealogist, Margaret Murphy, has helped thousands of visitors to find their West Cork ancestry over the years, including David Cornell (AKA John Le Carré).
The Centre has also created local genealogical resources, including a database of almost 100,000 previously-unavailable Cork County Council burial register records and a series of genealogy podcasts and graveyard video tours.
Professor Rob McAllen of UCC and Terri Kearney of Skibbereen Heritage Centre with the Heritage Council award in 2024.
Skibbereen Heritage Centre has been the recipient of numerous awards over the years, including the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award which places it in the top 10% of visitor attractions worldwide annually since 2018.
Skibbereen Heritage Centre received a Commendation at the Chambers Excellence Awards in 2018 and was shortlisted again for this award in 2020.
Over the years, Skibbereen Heritage Centre has featured on many media channels internationally, including BBC, RTE, UTV, Channel 4, PBS and the Discovery Channel as well as featuring on many radio stations and podcasts.
BBC1 programme on the Famine
Over 850 local children participated in the Skibbereen Heritage Centre Centenary of Commemorations project, the Stories of the Revolution.
This project invited children from 48 local schools to record folklore from the 1916-23 period – the only such project carried out in Ireland.
The results of this project are catalogued on the Skibbereen Heritage Centre website and were also published in book format.
Skibbereen Heritage Centre staff support three US colleges who come to Skibbereen every year on extended ‘study abroad’ programmes.
Staff and students from the University of Maryland, College of Charleston and Defiance College Ohio all come to Skibbereen annually as a result.
Staff and students from the College of Charleston have come to Skibbereen on an annual ‘Maymester’ trip since 2016.
Defiance College Ohio have been coming to Skibbereen on a study abroad programmesince 2023 and are carrying out a research programme in co-operation with Skibbereen Heritage Centre.
