Arthur Lenihan

The Lenihan home at Gortatlea was once owned by engineer George Hickson who had previously resided at Fermoyle House on the Dingle Peninsula. He was the designer of the Tralee to Dingle Narrow Gauge Railway. In the early 1900s Arthur Lenihan’s grandfather Arthur purchased the house and land at Gortatlea following his return from working in the goldmines in America. Following the capture of the Aud in Tralee Bay in 1916, he hid Robert Monteith, for a brief period.  Monteith had landed at Banna Strand with Roger Casement and had escaped capture by the British. Arthur Lenihan recalls his father, Charlie, who was elected to Kerry Co. Council and Arthur himself also served on the Council in later years. He explains that the Lenihan farm supplied milk to Edenburn House in Ballymacelligott, near Tralee, which was used as a sanatorium in the 1950s.