Underground Ireland

beans wrote:

Does anyone have any links to photos from inside the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park, or any information on the fort itself? Anyone ever been inside?

I would love to have a nosey around in there.

It looks quite delapidated and dangerous, but no doubt theres attraction in that.

Sewer under Mayor Street Lower.

120_Minutes wrote:

I read all 11 effing pages of that and got no closure! what happened to ted???

welcome in the internet

beans wrote:

It's situation on top of the hill always lead me to imagine there were catacomb-type tunnels under the fort itself. Don't have any evidence to back this up, and Google is coming up blank.

there are plenty of drains / culverts running through the Park. I don't know how safe / accessible they are, but there are plenty of man-holes around the place. There are two fairly obviously ones on the hillside above the pond in the Furrey Glen. Was never tempted to take a look as they always stink of man manure. their general locations are here http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=53.359856,-6.350162&spn=0.002171,0.004935&t=h&z=18&om=1&msid=116873374344253362587.00043ba871288829ea1b8

the Fort itself seems to get a fair few dodgy looking visitors, so i've never gone into it. I think it also gets used for parties from time to time. I'd say you'd be safer going in as a group. i've not been around there for a while, but the gates were always hanging open.

info posted for reference only, i strongly suggest that you do NOT attempt to explore any of these features. and don't come crying to me if you get hurt.

Does anybody know the law on who owns manhole covers?
I've heard stories of them been missing in the middle of a road and the company saying it was the Dublin corps problem and Dublin corp saying it was the companys?

So who owns manholes and public land and who owns the tunnels due to even if you own the land you only own the top few feet of the ground under it?

BOFH_139 wrote:

Does anybody know the law on who owns manhole covers?

I've heard stories of them been missing in the middle of a road and the company saying it was the Dublin corps problem and Dublin corp saying it was the companys?

So who owns manholes and public land and who owns the tunnels due to even if you own the land you only own the top few feet of the ground under it?

Often, it is adjacent landowners that own the land. The council has possession of the land and has responsibilities for maintaining the road. The council licences use of part of the land to utility providers to provide services.

Typically, the utility is responsible for the entire manhole and its maintainence. they will do their damndest to deny this.

I'm not sure if anyone has pointed this out before. The attachment shows the entrance/exit of the railway tunnel under the phoenix park.

gurramok wrote:

Nice pick Doolittle51, never knew exactly where the thing was.

Guess many have walked/cycled/drove across that way not knowing what was underneath them!

Does it follow the path towards that busy roundabout near the tea rooms or does it follow a straight line like from A to B?

I only copped on where it was the other day. I drive over it every day on the way to work! Have a look on google maps. It shows the path of the tunnel - it goes very close to the roundabout!

Ballyfin House near Portlaoise is rumoured to have a few underground passages

i know theres some tunnels in temple bar. I used to record in sun studios on crowe st. on a regular basis and there were tunnels there that the students and engineers well knew about. seemingly quite spooky too...

...just watch out for C.H.U.Ds

Just a heads up...

Keep an eye out for a programme called "Cities of the Underworld" It airs on History Television over here, not sure where it would air over there. Anyway, next week, they're exploring underground Dublin. The blurb says "Dublin, Ireland is much more than a city full of pubs and pints. Pagan burial tombs, subterranean defense tunnels, and mysterious burial crypts line the underground below the rolling hills. Even an underground river runs through the heart of the city where you'd least expect to find it."

It's generally a very interesting programme, but we'll have to wait and see if anything 'new' pops up on it.

Unfortunately I don't have the technology, but a quick google shows that the series airs on The History Channel in the UK. You might have to wait a while to catch this one though.

If I remember to watch it, I'll update here.

EDIT: Actually, it's on torrents for people who know about that stuff (I haven't a clue) - http://www.google.ca/search?q=Viking+Underground&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

120_Minutes wrote: »

I read all 11 effing pages of that and got no closure! what happened to ted???

http://www.gigdig.com/~ted/

Ted and Bob went back to the tunnel entrance. He found the rope at the bottom of the entrance and realised gravity had simply pulled it back into the tunnel. Further back into the tunnel entrance the origional rope coil had been left on a higher ledge and the friction from Bob climbing had caused it to fall from the ledge some meters below causing the movement of the rope. The picture at the beginning was what TED found inside.Ted got geared up and went back into the newly discovered cave and squeezed his way along the passage head first with his arms by his sides and using his toes to push his body along floyds tomb. It was very restrictive and when he squeezed through the tight bend he got stuck due to extra equipment and couldnt move. He was barely able to expand his chest enough to breath and if he nudged back or forward there was a chance he would suffocate. The terrible smell that frightned him before returned although depite the terrible situation Ted had a good idea what the smell was as himself and bob discovered a main river tributary formed into an underground river that ran under the rock face near where the tunnel was located. It was possible that this was responsible for the noise and that the round rock was a gully where water rushed up causing the round rock to roll about. The main river also ran overground only 70 miles north of the cave where there was 3 small towns situated that still use the river for supposedly treated sewerage. Sometimes when there was a flooding the sewerage treatment plant was flooded and raw sewerage leaked into the main river.This had the double effect of causing water spouts and loud noises and smell's. The other theory Ted had was that hydrogen sulphide gas from the limestone in the rock formed sulphric acid which causes the limestone to dissolve percloating the surface of the cave wall and ceiling whih also causes sulfurous fumes which have as unpleasant odour and when factored with out the air breeze which was usually when the river was slower and create a vacuum that caused the breeze there would be no ventilation.The percloated surface accounted for the strange designs on teh cave ceiling and wall. On this cave expedition Ted err'd on the side of caution and Bob had trailed a rope behind Ted that had a small rucksack with 3 torches and most basic equipment. That rope was tied attached to Teds pants and was contributing to restriction on his body and had caused him to get stuck tight causing him to suffocate. He couldnt wriggle about to untie the rope and could barely move his head. His eyes were becoming bloodshot and he feared if he moved any further forward he would be unable to take in any air.Ted was unable to move back due to the rope which now was going to prove fatal. He tried to scream out to Bob but his body muffled any sound and he still had a half hour before Bob expected the rope signal.


Bob meanwhile waited over 4o mins and had been trying to communicate using the rope, He knew Ted was stuck or the rope had broken because the plan was to thread the rucksack through the tunnel. It was now 1 and 1/4 hours and Bob couldnt see Teds feet due to the bend in floyds tomb, He tried using some of the old tools to feel about in the tomb/cave to see if he could locate Teds body, There was nothing long enough to reach that far into the tomb and the old steel pipes had been brought home after the last expedition.Bob was going to have to climb in. Bob used some of the old tool's left behind to break away the small hole leading to floyds tomb, He was bigger than Ted and would need to break away another inch of Rock. He went at it with the sledge hammer breaking small peices the size of fingernails at a time.

Ted could feel Bob Pulling on the rope, The rope was twisted around his leg so hurt like hell every time Bob pulled hard on it. At one stage he thought Bob would amputate his leg he was pulling so damn hard. He screamed out but could only hear a faint muffled sound. After Bob stopped pulling on the rope he could feel dull vibrations in the rock.Some dust from weaker rock was falling on the side of his face and he could not move to shake it off. All Ted could do was bat his eyelids and grimace with his mouth. The dust was filling his nostrils and stinging his eyes and he knew he would suffocate unless Bob stopped hammering on the cave wall.

Bob dropped the sledge hammer and checked the hole, It would be tight but he would fit. Bob cut come rope and thread it into the cave ahead of him and wriggled through the cave hole. He had to exhale air and collapse his lungs to wriggle his chest through and twist painfully to get his hips through the cave hole. He barely could move his head and wriggled along the tight cave using his toes. He had to put his arms in front of him and would not be able to change that position. The reason for this was to be able to tie the rope onto Ted's feet. Bob was wriggling with his face scraping the cave ceiling and floor and realised he would not make it around the tight bend in floyds tomb, He had to reach Ted in the next few feet. Bob managed to wriggle another foot and became wedged in the bend of the cave his chest unable to fully expand forcing Bob to take small shallow breaths. He was not going to be able to get back.!


Ted felt hands on his feet and Knew Bob had come to investigate. After an hour of Bob tapping on his foot Ted began to realise BOB was also stuck, After one more hour Ted knew Bob was stuck and would probably suffocate in a few more hours. While Ted had the entire cave in front of him Bob was jammed behind Ted with no air coming from either direction. If Ted farted Bob would probably die. Ted was more concerned that if Bob pushed him he would
become compressed and would be unable to breath. Suddenly that is exactly what Bob did. Ted felt Bobs hands on his feet and felt his Body compress and forced forward. Ted tried to curl his legs but the cave walls compressed his knees and Bob still had enough leverage to push Ted.

Ted immediately lost the ability to breath and would die in minutes.The hard rock ceiling pushed down on his back and the cave floor crushed the air from his lungs. His eyes were bulging and yet Bob kept pushing. Ted also realised BOB might be using him to try free himself.

Bob used the cramped calfs and feet of Ted to try and force his body into reverse and try wriggle back the way he had come. He was dying and the air was hot and dry.

Ted blacked out..................

http://www.gigdig.com/~ted/buttshot.jpg

http://www.gigdig.com/~ted/shoes.jpg

The reason Ted was dying
http://www.gigdig.com/~ted/squeeze.jpg


Relief replaced despair as Bob took in lungfuls of fresh air. He had dislodged Ted just enough for a draught of air to get through. He could barely reach Teds motionless foot but was at least alive for now.

starn wrote: »

Is it still possible to gain access to it??

http://www.irish-architecture.com/news/2007/000153.html

Deliverance wrote: »

Little island in Cork by the sea is riddled with tunnels, a housing estate built there, lost two houses due to the sinking of the houses into the ground. For a while the underground erosion caused a heavy truck which was parked to sink into the road, for awhile we as kids observed strange little anommally type holes appearing at random in the road which we dropped pebbles into and had to wait a long time before hearing the splash or hit if any.

Cork is an interesting place for tunnels.

When I moved to the city in 2002 the drainage scheme was still in action and I recall hearing that some disused railway tunnels were being used by the contractors to transport parts etc.

I lived in Midleton for a couple of years and recall the entire Main St being closed off due to a gas leak from a disused petrol station on the Western end of the main st which was considered dangerous due to the presence of a limestone cave structure under the main st (not man made tunnels sadly). Rumours abounded for a long time that the REAL reason for the Amgen abandonment of the site in Carrigtohill was due to similar limestone structures in that area (never actually been denied or confirmed). Of course the Glanmire tunnel is still alive and well and in use in Cork.

The only other tunnel I can think of is the old rail tunnel at the port in Dun Laoghaire. As far as I recall this was one of the older routes from the city - cannot remember which? I think it was already closed by the 1970s.

shoegirl wrote: »

Kerry Houston, who did a thesis on St Patricks cathedral once told me he remembers (or somebody told him they remembered) flood waters covering the pews in the cathedral.

I think this is unlikely - perhaps a roof leak?

There may be some tunnelling in the docks from old rail lines, a record of LMS may help here.

The LMS lands are at or about the same level of an exceptionally high tide and unlikely to have tunnels. There were very short tunnels from the quay sides under North Wall Quay to the warehouses and railway. there is also the Phoenix Park and Phibsborough Tunnels, several km away.

shoegirl wrote: »

When I moved to the city in 2002 the drainage scheme was still in action and I recall hearing that some disused railway tunnels were being used by the contractors to transport parts etc.

No, they put the sewer along the alignment of the Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway.

Rumours abounded for a long time that the REAL reason for the Amgen abandonment of the site in Carrigtohill was due to similar limestone structures in that area (never actually been denied or confirmed).

Cork does have a special breed of gobshyte, doesn't it?

The only other tunnel I can think of is the old rail tunnel at the port in Dun Laoghaire. As far as I recall this was one of the older routes from the city - cannot remember which? I think it was already closed by the 1970s.

There were train services that connected with ferry arrivals/departures.

Magpie! wrote: »

I remember seeing something on RTE once about a tunnel leading from the quayside near the customs house up to the 'red light' district around the Five Lamps area (Monto?) so that naval officers could discretely go off to get their bit without showing a bad example to their crews. (Who presumably just headed up Amiens st without needing anyones example to follow)

Most likely a sewer. What would Naval officers be doing at be Customs House? And why would they go up Amiens Street when Gardnier Street or Store Street would be much more direct? But most importantly of all, there was the slight matter of the Old Dock (between the Customs House and Busáras) blocking the route of any potential tunnel.