Our History

Tuatha Murtagh, built in 1989, sits on land that once belonged to the ancestors of the current owner.  The land was originally purchased by her grandfather in 1898. Historical documents indicate the land was purchased from the Marquis of Lansdowne.  The cottage overlooks the family land and the farmhouse where the family was raised.

In the early 1920's the owner's mother and four of her sisters, young women at the time, left over a 5-6 year period to find their own future in America.  They had lived the farming life, raised potatoes, milked cows, chickens and ducks, herded sheep and dry cattle in the fields. They shared fond memories often such as "taking turns to read aloud to each ther while they were milking the cows" or "drawing water in pails from the well for cooking and from the stream for the washing up". A younger sister married there and lived the farming life until the late 1980's when their age made it too difficult.  Their son, Gerald Harrington, is a renowned fiddler whose music you can enjoy from our library of CD's.

The family name in Irish, O Muircheartaigh, is found in current times usually without the O as Moriarty, Murtagh and Murdoch, hence the Tuatha Murtagh (little kingdom of the Moriarty’s). This clan has always been associated with County Kerry. Records indicate that ninety percent of the births registered in the name of Moriarty take place in Co. Kerry.  A member of the family continues to own and manage the remainder of the original 40 acres of Killaha East.

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