Wednesday, 3 April 2019

Skibbereen Heritage Centre relaunches website

The website of Skibbereen Heritage Centre, one of the Irish Family History Foundation's island-wide network of heritage and genealogy centres, has been redesigned and re-organised.

https://skibbheritage.com/While I'd not say the old website was difficult to navigate, nor particularly flawed, it was starting to look a little dated. The new look is much more cheerful and appealing and the signposting is more in keeping with the way Internet users now navigate sites. Regarding the latter, there appears to be more content on the site than previously, but this may be because its simply easier to find.

Certainly, access to the Centre's own free databases – of loan, tithe, school and tenant (Wrixon-Becher Estate) records – plus finding aids and the West Cork Graveyards database are quickly to hand via the Genealogy menu on each page.

And while mentioning the West Cork Graveyards database, I should note that two more burial registers – those for Sherkin Island and Kilheangul (near Schull) have been added. Check them out via the home page or go direct here.

The Centre's databases are all essential resources for researchers with connections to this most southerly part of Ireland, but the entire site is definitely work exploring for additional information about the Skibbereen area, its history and heritage, stories of its diaspora, and the Centre's excellent and highly regarded Famine exhibition.