Current Exhibitions

Anchors Aweigh

A total of 92 American ships were stationed in Cork Harbour during the last two years of the WWI.

An unfinished model of a hospital ship named St. Andrew newly exhibited in the museum, was initially built of Bully Beef tins by a surgeon who served on her. A Cork Harbour Master, the late Captain P Mullan, continued its construction.

Business As Usual

The commercial life of Queenstown/Cobh 1900 -1999

This display showcases a thriving period of industry in Cobh

The scuttling of the AUD 1916

This exhibition, in collaboration with Mr. Jim Shealy, B.A. (Hons) explores this event which took place in Cork Harbour. On display as part of Cobh Museum's 1916 Commemorative Exhibitions will be a rifle and cartridges from the Aud.
Cobh Museum overlooks the harbour where the gunrunning ship "Aud", was scuttled on April 22nd 1916.

Lusitania:
A Day in May

This exhibition explores the impact of the sinking of the Lusitania on the people and town of Queenstown [Cobh] 100 years ago this year.

Past Exhibitions

Capture The Time

Cobh Family Photos from the 1950s and 1960s

A display of family photos capturing the essence of the period together with some unusual photographic memorabilia

Dancing Feet

An exhibition on the history and development of Irish Dance in collaboration with Dr. John Cullinane.
The exhibition looks at the History of Irish Dance, National Identity, Costume, Local Involvement and Achievements. This exhibition for the first time, will showcase the Anne Murphy collection of photographs.

Elbert Hubbard - Founder of the Roycroft Campus, Aurora, N.Y.

Elbert and his wife Alice were onboard the RMS Lusitania as it steamed out of New York Harbour

Horse Power:
The Horse and
World War I

We tell the important and often untold story of the role that the horse played in the First World War.

Queenstown 1914 - 1918

This exhibition looks at life in the town of Queenstown (now Cobh) during the years of the First World War.

Leaving ~ Living

Emigration stories

For centuries people have been leaving Cobh to live in countries all around the world.
Some of these people returned to the town but many never came back.
We tell a selection of stories to reflect the ordinary and sometimes extraordinary lives of just a few of these people.

Yesterday's Child

Cobh Museum first opened on 26th April 1973. This year, to celebrate the museum's 40th anniversary, we are reproducing one of our most popular exhibitions, "Yesterday's Child", which was mounted in 1983 to mark the 10th year of the museum. The majority of toys on display are pre-1950 and include a rocking horse, a dolls house, toy soldiers and model warships, as well as board games and a child's film projector from the early 1900's.

TITANIC

Reflections and Reactions
Queenstown 1912

A view of what everyday life was like in Cobh - then Queenstown - in 1912 set against the shocking news of the Titanic's sinking only four days after leaving Cork Harbour.

The centre piece of this exhibition is the Pilots' Log Book showing the exact time of arrival and departure of the Titanic from Cork Harbour on 11th April 1912.

Victorian Times

The Victorian period has left a legacy of Italianate buildings throughout Cobh. This exhibition illustrates many features of architecture and domestic life typical of this era.

Victorian Cove/Queenstown

Unique in Ireland, from the royal collection, are reproductions of Queen Victoria's sketches of Cork Harbour on her visit to Cove in 1849, when in her honour, the name of the town was changed to Queenstown.
The exhibition gives a glimpse of the everyday life of a Victorian lady at this time. Bead work, sewing and articles from her 'toilette', including hatpins, combs, glove stretchers, button hooks and earrings are on display.

Irish Lace

Limerick lace was made in the Convent of Mercy in Queenstown in the early 20th century. The Museum holds some examples of other lace work made in the Convent during the same period.

Samples of Irish lace on display include a fine lace cuff (Limerick needle run) and examples of Carrigmacross lace and Youghal crotchet work, also a lace wedding veil from c. 1912.

In 1933 there were three lace makers recorded as living in Cobh. A number of shops sold lace items primarily as souvenirs for departing emigrants.

On exhibition also is an extract from Aherne's Lace Shop accounts showing stocktaking records for 1912 - 1914. A separate ledger entry shows wages paid to their maid working at their private residence as £1 per month.

HM Customs in Queenstown

This exhibition features some interesting tools used by Customs Officers in examining ships' cargoes. A beautifully illuminated scroll expresses thanks to John McCarthy, Customs Officer in Queenstown in the early 1900s.

Plans for the Customs House in Queenstown dated 1896 are also on show. We hope to be able to fund restoration work on these plans in the coming year.

World War I

Pull Together

This exhibition gives the history of the US Naval presence in Queenstown during WW1 and details the co-operation between the British and US Navies during that period.

The United States of America entered World War I in 1917. Part of their navy was stationed in Cork Harbour where they assisted British Naval destroyers in hunting down the German submarines such as the one which had sunk the Lusitania in 1915.
This exhibition explores the co-operation between the two navies. An insight into the lives of U.S. Navy personnel while in Queenstown is given through photographs, newspaper articles and event programmes.

Also on show are souvenirs and mementos bought in Queenstown by emigrants including an Irish Lace collar c. 1912.

Cobh was the main transatlantic departure port in Ireland up to the late 1950s.