SKIBBEREEN  , a

market town of county Cork, Ireland, on the river Ilen about 3 M. from its estuary, 534 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 in . W . Skibbereen is governed by an urban district council .