Skibbereen & District Historical Society

SKIBBEREEN and District Historical Society launched its 2017 Journal at the very successful inaugural West Cork History Festival this summer.

Volume 13 of the journal comprises a diverse selection of articles, sixteen in all, covering a wide range of topics. Some are written with a specific local dimension but each piece has a broad appeal that will be of interest to the general reader.

2017 is the 150^th anniversary of the Fenian Rising of 1867. Two articles, ‘Mortimer Moynahan: the forgotten Fenian leader’, by William Casey, and ‘James Gilbert Cunningham: Tracking the Transnational History of a West Cork Dynamiter’, by Patrick J. Mahoney, tell the stories of two prominent Fenians from West Cork.

Moyhahan, ‘the forgotten Fenian leader’, was one of the founders of the Phoenix Society in Skibbereen in 1856 and played a big part in the spread of the Fenian movement. He was a close confidant of James Stephens, and Moynahan became, for a brief time, leader of the Fenian Brotherhood in America. O’Donovan Rossa said of Moynahan that: ‘Few men I met in the movement were truer to Ireland or more devoted to her cause than Morty Moynahan: to write of that cause and to forget him and his work would be treason.’

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Heritage Week (August 19 – 27) in Skibbereen this year features walks, talks, art and nature exploration. All of the events are free of charge but booking is necessary as places are limited so call Skibbereen Heritage Centre on 028 40900 to secure your place.

Historical Walk of Lough Hyne, Saturday 19^th August at 2pm

Join historian Terri Kearney on a walk through 4,000 years of Lough Hyne’s history. Author of 2 books on the lough, Terri is well versed in the history, archaeology and folklore of the area. Meet at the base of Knockomagh Hill, road walk with hills. Event free of charge to celebrate Heritage Week but please give us a call on 028 40900 to reserve your place.

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 Cillíní of West Cork (more…)

The launch of the 2017 Journal of the Skibbereen & District Historical Society took place on Saturday July 29^th. The Journal was launched by Simon Kingston, organiser of the West Cork History Festival, which was such an outstanding success over the weekend July 28^th – 30^th.

Vol 13 of Skibbereen & District Historical Society Journal contains 16 articles covering a diverse and very varied mix of subjects.

The articles included in the 2017 Journal are –

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This year’s edition of the Journal, Volume 13, will be launched at 1:00pm on 29th July at the West Cork History Festival.

The venue is the beautiful and itself historical “Rosebank” Lissard, Russagh, Skibbereen.

Admission to the launch is free and all are welcome.

We thank the organisers of the West Cork History Festival for their kindness in including our launch in the busy programme for the festival which runs on Friday 28th, Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th July.

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We’re really looking forward to the inaugural West Cork History Festival which will be held in Skibbereen on the weekend of July 28-30^th.

The Festival opens on Friday evening, July 28^th, at 6.30. A keynote address will be delivered by Roy Foster at 7.30. Foster, the authorised biographer of Yeats, is the leading Irish historian of his generation, and should get the weekend off to a very auspicious start.

Activities will be based in and around Rosebank, the former Dower House of the Liss Ard estate, which is situated about a mile outside Skibbereen. Over the course of the weekend, there will be a programme of events which will run concurrently in two or three venues at Rosebank. There’s a fantastic schedule of speakers lined up for what should be a most interesting weekend.

The 2017 issue of the Skibbereen & District Historical Society Journal is also being launched during the West Cork History Festival, on Saturday July 29^th, at 1 o’clock.

To see the full programme or to buy a ticket for the weekend see http://www.westcorkhistoryfestival.org

Among the speakers for the weekend is our own William Casey, who has contributed very generously to the Skibbereen Journal over the years. William is speaking on ‘Early Fenianism in Skibbereen’, a subject he has studied in great depth over the past number of years.

William’s talk is on Sunday July 30^th at 12 noon, and it will be well worth attending.

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