600-strong collection of clowns unveiled in Dunmanway, home of Duffy's Circus

Professor John Atkins representing the Atkins family with project co-coordinators Michelle O'Mahony and Patrick Kiely, with plaques to be mounted around the town of Dunmanway for 'Stories on the Street'. Picture: Larry Cummins

It was a bizarre and magical time in West Cork that saw elephants drink from local lakes and search parties deployed to locate missing monkeys.

Now, Dunmanway is honouring the legacy of Duffy’s Circus, which once called the area home, with a collection of clowns that might just be the largest of its kind in Ireland.

Local man John Atkins and his family had initially planned to "adopt" a few clowns, but when they saw the whole collection together at Lynes and Lynes auction house in Carrigtwohill, they couldn’t separate the crew. 

The assortment of figurines once belonged to the late clown Jimmy Noonan, a revered showman with Duffy’s Circus, who had amassed the impressive collection before his death in 2023. 

Personal items also form part of the exhibit, which has now found its home in Atkins Hall in Dunmanway, West Cork. 

Items include oversized multicoloured shoes, a nod to his nickname, Rainbow the Clown, along with a pair of signature dungarees and some roller skates. 

The collection, believed to comprise around 600 pieces in total, was unveiled in Atkins Hall as part of Dunmanway’s Stories on the Street initiative to celebrate the people, places, and memories that make a community.

Local historian Michelle O’Mahony, who coordinated the event, spoke about why the collection is capturing imaginations.

“There is everything here from one-inch figurines to literally three-foot-high collectible clowns,” she told the Irish Examiner. 

She explained why the circus has become a special part of the community’s history.

“The Duffys lived here in the 1930s and 40s. During this period, the elephants used to go to the local lake to drink water. 

"There was an episode where the monkeys escaped, and people had to go out and look for them. 

The assortment of figurines once belonged to the late clown Jimmy Noonan, a revered showman with Duffy’s Circus, who had amassed the impressive collection before his death in 2023.  Picture: Larry Cummins

"My own father would have played football on the road with the Duffy children. The Duffy lads would leave to go travelling with the circus after Easter Sunday, and they wouldn’t see their friends again until they returned to homebase in early October.” 

The Duffy family was known for the excitement they brought to the community.

“Most people will know Galvin's Circle K Express in Dunmanway. 

"However, a lot of people won’t realise this site was once taken over by the Duffys, who stopped travelling around the country in early-to-mid-October each year and came back to live in Dunmanway, in what is now Circle K. 

"There was always a great buzz in the community if a Duffy wedding was taking place because there were carriages and elephants parading through the streets. 

"Upwards of 30 people from the local community were employed to feed and provide grain for the animals, as well as painting all the wagons and getting them ready for the next season.” 

Michelle hopes that future generations can keep the stories alive.

Local man John Atkins and his family had initially planned to 'adopt a few clowns, but when they saw the whole collection together at Lynes and Lynes auction house in Carrigtwohill, they couldn’t separate the crew.  Picture: Larry Cummins

“Some people say that the stories of elephants being buried in the back of Galvins are just rumours, but we know they are not."

Meanwhile, John Atkins said that he and his family are delighted with their new purchase.

“When I saw the clowns, I was so taken with them,” he told the Irish Examiner. 

“It was their expressions that got me. The initial thought was just to keep a few, but when we saw the collection, we just knew it couldn’t be broken up. Our vision was then to make a room in the hall to put them in. Dunmanway seemed like the obvious home for the collection.”