1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Skibbereen

SKIBBEREEN, a market town of county Cork, Ireland, on the river Ilen about 3 m. from its estuary, 53¾ m. S.W. of Cork by the Cork, Bandon and South Coast railway. Pop. (1901) 3208. The river is navigable for small vessels to Skibbereen itself, and for larger ones to Old Court on the estuary; and the town is a flourishing fishing-station. Trade in corn and other agricultural produce is considerable. This district suffered terribly in the famine of 1847, and hundreds of victims were buried in pits in the graveyard adjoining the ruined Cistercian cell of Abbeystrowry, a mile west of the town. The Ilen offers fishing, late in the season, for brown and sea trout. The main railway continues south to Baltimore, and a light railway runs to the pleasant seaside village of Skull (or Schull), 15 m. W. Skibbereen is governed by an urban district council.