Crookhaven is a tiny hamlet which lies about as far down in south-west Cork as you can go without falling into the sea. This sleepy little fishing village has a colorful history involving smuggling, shipwrecks, burnings and battles, East India merchantmen and Spanish galleons, lobsters, pilchards (a sardine-like fish related to herring), traders, businessmen, soldiers, spies and starving emigrants. It played a major role in the development of world communications; in 1901, Crookhaven became a site for a radio station that would transfer messages from America to England. In 1659, Crookhaven had just 36 inhabitants. There was a famine there is 1822-23, but the people were put to work in the making of the Skibbereen-Crookhaven road. By 1837, the population had expanded to 424. Fishing and the export of fish have always been important in Crookhaven. In the the 17th century, Sr. William HULL, an English tenant of the Earl of Cork, developed an industry across the harbour from the village. In his "Pilchard Palace" fish were salted or smoked and then barreled for export. It gave useful employment to many people in the surrounding area, but this did not stop them from turning against Sir William during the 1641 rebellion, attacking his household, burning his property to the ground and carrying off all his goods. In later years, merchants from Brittany sailed across regularly to bargain with local fishermen for lobster, crayfish, sea urchins, periwinkles and salmon for the French dining tables. "Black 1847" saw another, far worse famine. The little settlement of Crookhaven was cruelly hit. There were two soup kitchens set up in that year. Of the 91 children on the school roll in 1846, only eight remained in in March 1847. The position of the safe harbour became something of a blessing. Ships pausing before the Atlantic crossing took off large numbers of desperate and starving emigrants who had not the means to get to Cork City. Some succeeded in reaching the New World and a new life. In the 1850s and early 1860s there was much activity around the copper mines, giving welcome employment to many before closing in the 1860s. The little church of St. Brendan which stands on a grassy knoll above the village dates from the 1700s, but probably replaces earlier buildings. In its peaceful graveyard the grass waves long and tall around ancient stones which record losses at sea, untimely drownings, or the quiet end of a well-run life. This church and graveyard were featured in a 1950s film, "I Thank A Fool," starring Susan Hayward, and in O'SULLIVAN's pub on the quayside, faded black-and-white stills from the film, in which all the villagers appeared as extras, are still displayed with pride. -- Excerpt, "Irish Roots"