placenamesGortatlea
Gort an tSléibhe
Gortatlea’s railway buildings served a branch line and became the setting for an armed raid in 1918.
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
- Gort an tSléibhe · Irish · main form · validated name
- Gortatlea · English · main form
Place & story
The junction for Castleisland
Gortatlea stood on the Killarney–Tralee railway and became the junction for the Castleisland branch, opened in 1875. Its layout included two main-line platforms and a bay for branch trains. The station closed in September 1963. A later photographic survey recorded the surviving down platform beside the stationmaster’s house, part of an ornate footbridge and the former branch trackbed. [2]
The raid of April 1918
Thomas McEllistrim’s witness statement describes an attempt to seize arms from Gortatlea RIC barracks on 13 April 1918. The attackers waited beside the railway and posted a lookout at the station. McEllistrim recalled that two returning policemen opened fire during the raid. Volunteer John Browne was killed, and Richard Laide died later from his wounds. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Kerry
- Barony
- Trughanacmy
- Civil parish
- Ballymacelligott
- Within
- Gortatlea
- Coordinates
- 52.22247, -9.56597 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1412437 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Gortatlea. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Gortatlea: station photographic survey · Eiretrains
- Bureau of Military History witness statement 882, pages 2 and 5 · Thomas McEllistrim
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.