placenamesMauricesmills
Muilte Mhuiris
An interview with Siobhán Ní Gháirbhith links her Mauricesmills upbringing and a schoolteacher grandfather with the later development of St Tola cheese.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Muilte Mhuiris · Irish · main form · validated name
- Mauricesmills · English · main form
Place & story
A schoolteacher’s family farm
Siobhán Ní Gháirbhith grew up in Mauricesmills in a family associated with teaching. In a 2018 interview, she described her grandfather Jack as principal of Maurice’s Mills primary school; he also assembled a seventy-acre farm. She initially followed the teaching profession, working in Galway, before reconsidering the future of the family land. Its heavy, peaty soil encouraged her to look beyond conventional cattle farming for a viable enterprise. [2]
Taking on St Tola
In 1999, Ní Gháirbhith took over St Tola from neighbours Meg and Derrick Gordon, who had developed the goat-cheese business as a cottage industry. Production subsequently expanded on the family farm in the Inagh area. The company’s own history describes the continuing use of a dairy-goat herd and small-scale cheesemaking. Her career gives Mauricesmills a documented personal connection with the growth of Irish farmhouse food production. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Mauricesmills. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Answering the call of the land,27 June 2018 · Mairead Lavery / Irish Farmers Journal
- Our Story: St Tola Irish Goat Cheese · Inagh Farmhouse Cheese / St Tola
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.