"Skibbereen", in Gaelic "An Sciobairín", also known as "The Auld Skibbereen", "Little Boat Harbour" or "Old Skibbereen" is a song in A minor. The region around Skibbereen experienced a significant famine in the years 1845–52, a time referred to as The Great Hunger or Great Famine (Irish: an Gorta Mór). The Skibbereen Heritage Centre estimates that 8,000 to 10,000 victims of the Famine are buried in the famine burial pits of Abbeystrewery cemetery close to the town. The song, also known as "Dear Old Skibbereen", takes the form of a conversation between a father and a son, in which the son asks his father why he fled the land he loved so well. The father then describes the devastation of the famine and the landlords and officials. The first known publication of the song was in a 19th-century publication, Noonan's The Irish Singer's Own Book (1880), where the song was attributed to Patrick Carpenter, a poet and native of the village of Skibbereen, in County Cork, Ireland. It was published in 1915 by Herbert Hughes who wrote that it had been collected in County Tyrone and that it was a traditional song. It was recorded by John Lomax from Irish immigrants in Michigan in the 1930s. It was recorded by The Dubliners on Greatest Hits, Ireland's Prodigal Sons and Plain and Simple (1973), Wolfe Tones on Rifles of the I.R.A. (1969), James Galway And The Chieftains on Over The Sea To Skye: The Celtic Connection and Sinéad O'Connor with The Chieftains on Long Journey Home and others.