Limerick Museum presents John McCarthy Circus Bar exhibition running up to October 23

Limerick Museum presents John McCarthy Circus Bar exhibition running up to October 23

John McCarthy Circus Bar Exhibition at Limerick Museum offers the public the chance to step back in time to showcase the great John Duffy & Sons Circus up to October 23, 2026

A new exhibition celebrating the history of the Great John Duffy & Sons Circus will open at Limerick Museum on August 7 and run until October 23.

This show was established in 1891 and ended in the early 1960s with a somewhat tragic twist. A household name, the show was recognised as being one of the greatest circuses that ever toured Ireland, with John Duffy II being notably titled the “Irish Circus King ” & “The Irish Barnum”.

The exhibition will feature a poster/newsprint display, a photographic display in six display cabinets and a narrative on the great John Duffy & Sons Circus using modular pop-up display panels.

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It represents a social history of a village and its people and documents and chronicles the development of the traditional Irish Circuses, artists and families that have toured and entertained numerous generations in towns and villages right throughout Ireland in good times and bad.

The background story of John McCarthy’s “Circus Bar” begins in the late 1800s with his father, William McCarthy, a publican by trade whose premises were located at the end of the village in Cappamore Co. Limerick.

At the rear of the premises was a field which William provided free of charge to the visiting circuses. It became known as “McCarthy’s Circus Field”.

As a young child with great excitement, his son John, his brothers, cousins and friends would have walked miles from the village to meet and greet the arriving horse-drawn circus wagons; the circus was coming.

At twelve noon, when the angelus bell rang, the farmers downed tools in the fields, headed to the village and waited for the circus parade headed by a splendid brass band from the famous John Duffy & Sons Circus to march up through the village.

The day the circus came to Cappamore was a festival and a great occasion. A matinee was held at 4 pm and the night show at 8 pm. Both shows were filled. This was the beginning of a deep-rooted fascination and love of the circus by John McCarthy, who was born in 1884 and was to last right up until his death on 5 February 1966.

John married Hannah Lally from Belmullet Co. Mayo in 1912 and with the support of his father William opened his own pub/grocery shop at the top of the village in 1917. However, the title W. McCarthy was to remain overhead the premises.

Hardworking and industrious in nature they later opened a bakery with John delivering their produce to Cappamore and surrounding villages. The front window of the pub details the paraphernalia/adverts associated with drinks companies at the time, notably Guinness and Jameson and inside the “pub” John displayed his array of circus posters /photos dating back to 1898.

Amongst the old show people, it became known as “McCarthy’s Circus Bar” and developed into a virtual circus museum comprising an archive of 400 posters and over 200 photos. After the circus performance in the evenings, the “circus bar” was the place to be; it was a social gathering for locals and circus artists and like Williams premises at the end of the village, no doubt the travelling showmen would have been the centre of attraction, recalling their own tales and stories of life on the road.

A wonderful insight into the John McCarthy Circus Bar story, a unique and authentic cultural Limerick product, is now available online, the exhibits on display in the museum are part of the John McCarthy Circus archive.