The photos in this book are representative of an Ireland that has yet to be fully “re-claimed” or even acknowledged. They depict the Ireland of the pre-war era for the most part. Unlike the fragmented culture of today, this Ireland of the circus and the show was a binding force that brought young and old together and traversed the generations. The circus people depicted in these photos were part of a range of cultural groups that travelled the length and breadth of Ireland and much further beyond our shores. Through these haunting black-and- white images, we can still time for a moment and re-captured what could have been lost forever as the circus moved between one place and the next, between the past and the future.
