Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio

[Yorkie]

So did you solve the mystery of why it's called the 'hurdy gurdy' museum John? Presumably, in the Emerald Isle there was never a time when hurdy gurdy was a synonym for 'radio' or 'wireless' in quite the same way that in England, it became commonplace to use the term for a barrel organ. I think the reason for that is that rather like a hurdy gurdy, a barrel organ has a handle which is cranked to get a tune out of it, though a barrel organ isn't 'played' in a skilled way as a musical instrument, it is operated by an unskilled operator.

Maybe there was a time when wind-up gramophones in Ireland were called hurdy gurdys, and perhaps that's the reason for the museum's title?