Camping at The Hell Fire Club

highdef

Myself and a group of friends are planning on spending a night camping at the Hell Fire Club just off the Kilakee Rd some Saturday night in the near future. I was just wondering if it is safe to camp here overnight. I've heard stories of certain groups of people from the bottom of the hill having cider parties at the old lodge. Has anyone camped here before and has anyone experienced any trouble before, specifically on a Saturday night?

I took a trip up there yesterday and I saw a plague on a large rock beside the lodge - Basically an RIP for some guy who died in 2002, presumably at the Hell Fire Club. A little bit worrying all right. The place itself was deserted and it seemed relatively clean. There weren't any empty beer and cider cans anywhere. Even the inside of the lodge was quite clear. So now I'm not sure if the area is cleaned regularly by the council or if it's simply a cse that nobody comes up here at night.

Any help or info would be most appreciated.

Einstein

fair play to ye, lemme know how ye get on cos it'd take a lot to send me up there!

joejoem

I think people do it all the time, I would take a baseball bat or smth with you though. What age are you?

Flukey

It's haunted. Didn't you know?:eek:

The Real B-man

why would you want to camp there some knackers will find there way up there late one night and probably batter you lol fair play

seamus

You'll find plenty of gangs from Tallaght and Whitechurch up there over a weekend evening. I wouldn't much advise it.
Just a short way up the road, there's a small car park, it's also rife with scumbags and people waiting to attack couples who drive up there late at night for a wee bit of hanky.

A-Trak

seamus wrote:

You'll find plenty of gangs from Tallaght and Whitechurch up there over a weekend evening. I wouldn't much advise it.
Just a short way up the road, there's a small car park, it's also rife with scumbags and people waiting to attack couples who drive up there late at night for a wee bit of hanky.

Good advice. My mate of mine went ahem..."sightseeing" with a lady and his rear window was put in while, he had to race off in a "state of undress"

Seriouslt though, not the sort of place you want to go camping or find yourselflate at night.

highdef

Grand thanks for that - Might go somewhere else further east so.

Crash

Amazed to hear it wasnt full of bottles and cans anymore - i used go to school down the road from it and any time we wandered up it was in a right state - though i do remember a class hike up that far and talking to this couple wasted off their face - great laugh

rugbug86

last time i was up there it was covered in needles... its a cool place though.

ya could try sneak into larch hill, its near enough to the hell fire club.

melekalikimaka

Yikes I was warned bout it when i was a wee scout...didnt think it was that bad, larch hill would be great fun tho, the canoes would be great fun drunk

Skellington

if ya go, just be prepare to defend yourselves from scum...
but if ya if ya stay on the main road and take the road to the right at the next car park, you should find some brilliant spots to camp. best spots are a fairly long way up that road though, but it'd be worth it.
or, just go camping during the week.

Gyck

I remember when it used to be a great place to wander around. Mind you, that was about 30 years ago...

There are plenty of other (safe) places around Dublin and Wicklow to go camping.

Pet

Gyck wrote:

I remember when it used to be a great place to wander around. Mind you, that was about 30 years ago...

There are plenty of other (safe) places around Dublin and Wicklow to go camping.

I think you're missing the point...

BlitzKrieg

is that the place near st columba's college golf course?

JackKelly

they have a golf course?

the_syco

/me remembers camping @ Larch Hill with the scouts.

sceptre

the_syco wrote:

/me remembers camping @ Larch Hill with the scouts.

As do I, though 'twas with the cubs.

Don't recall canoes being there when I was there the few times, though I suppose it was 1985ish the last time I was there.

Gyck

Pet wrote:

I think you're missing the point...

That's quite possibe!

BlitzKrieg

TimAy wrote:

they have a golf course?

they need to have some excuse for being so expensive...

Crash

Heh, The owendore runs from that direction down, via rockbrook where i went to school for a few years, to my house. always wanted to canoe home

LegacyUser

crash_000 wrote:

Heh, The owendore runs from that direction down, via rockbrook where i went to school for a few years, to my house. always wanted to canoe home

I went to that school too for a while. Pity Mr Unch UH UH Joe is a psycho...

highdef

How about around 3 Rock Mountain? I know there are some nice forests there and a nice walk up to the telecommunications masts at the top. Would you reckon it would be fairly safe over there. It's up a dead end road and it seems like a nice spot. I'd imagine the car park would be locked at 8pm, just like the Hell Fire Club car park. ANyone know what time they are reopened on a Sunday morning? Wouldn't want to be trapped in the car park till 11 in the morning or anything. Would it be safe here, both to camp and to park overnight? And finally, anyone have any furth suggestions of somewhere to camp? Don't want to be on an official campsite? Want to be somewhere a good distance from any houses so we don't disturb anyone but don't want to be miles away from Dublin, if possible. And don't worry, we'll be bringing some black sacks with us to bring back all the empty beer cans and bottles.

_blank_

Ah, Larch Hill, what a place. Was there many a time, do you know the Assault Course there, well me and a few friends got up early one morning and headed down to it, only to find a lady and gentleman at it. Very funny.

Anyways, there is a place near to The Hell Fire and Larch Hill called Lord Massey's, and it's brilliant. A nice clearing in the woods, with a wall around it, an old ruin or somesuch, where you can camp. There is a lovely stream outside the walls that can keep your beer cool and all, nature's fridge.

I camped there for a weekend a couple of years back.

Roddy23

aye, 3 rock would be fairly well secluded alright, but ye do get the odd hillwalker up there out on a mad walking buzz.
But Seans suggestion " Lord Massey's" used to love headin down there just pass the Kilakee house. Mad old place. Used to remember playing commando in there, ah they were the days. Id say ye'd have some crack down there now. Think I camped there for a weekend, quality stuff!!

sandyg

the 3rock is the most confusing place got lost in there for three hours on my horse hehehe!!
why not go up to powerscourt instead???

Roddy23

Powerscourt is class, but i dont think they allow you to camp in there.
What about Glendalough, doubt there'd be any scumbags drinking cans down there.

anna20

used to go up there every weekend.........aw the memories. actually one time i managed to climb up onto the roof through the fireplace upstairs, can u still do that?

Nevyn

no there was a grate installed in the chimney.

Crash

cheesedude wrote:

I went to that school too for a while. Pity Mr Unch UH UH Joe is a psycho...

Hehehe aye - i skipped out of there after three years PDQ

Kernel

Roddy23 wrote:

just pass the Kilakee house.

Apparently the most haunted pub in Ireland for anyone who is interested.

Greazo

Years ago it was good craic except for some devil worshippers :eek: the only nuisance you`d have thesedays are junkies from neighbouring Tallaght skagged out

stuey

i bet this will get some weird looks

i live in rathfarnham and i have walked up there a good few times on my own at night and i have never seen a soul up there

plus on a clear night u get a spectacular view of the city

LegacyUser

crash_000 wrote:

Hehehe aye - i skipped out of there after three years PDQ

What is PDQ???

But yeah, it is a weird place...the man loved me until i told him i didn't want to go canoeing with him... :rolleyes:

LegacyUser

PS: when did you leave??? I left in fourth year so that is like 5/6 years ago...

Nevyn

stuey wrote:

I bet this will get some weird looks

I live in rathfarnham and I have walked up there a good few times on my own at night and i have never seen a soul up there

plus on a clear night u get a spectacular view of the city

I have been up there too, love it esp when there s snow on the mountians.
The troubler maker and people who go there to drink and do drugs usually cant stand being wet and so tend to be up there over the summer, too cold and too wet the rest of the year.

Crash

I remember running up there when it was really bad snow - great larf was white within five minutes

cheesedude: skipped out in 3rd year....3 years ago methinks.

xzanti

Definately the best place in Dublin to go on a nice day... great view and some great stories behind the place... One story Iv heard is that its a megalythic site and the reason its associated with devil worshipping is because pagans used to tap into the energy coming from the earth and perform rituals up there... Although im sure everyone has heard a different story.. It seems to change from person to person... Theres a dog living up there with a tag around his neck which reads "Dog from Hell Fire do not remove" So I assume someone must go up to feed him every day... I wouldnt go up after dark though

6th

i've actually swept out the hellfire club, i have to admit though i just joined this site and already i hate it. Tallaght has a bad name fair enough but come on, i've lived in tallaght all my life, l've in the rough parts before what are now called the rough parts where built!
when i was buying my house me and my wife knew we wouldnt live anywhere else ... and money wasnt a problem. i know have a 10month old and am gonna bring her up in tallaght, my road is nice and quiet (except one family).
going up into the mountains is always a pleasure, sure cars get scratched and windows broken but my friends car had the same thing down in Ballsbridge 3 weeks ago!
As for the Hellfire Club i love it, i know the history of the area very well and am very interest in the paranormal.
but when it comes down to it no matter where i travel to ... it doesnt hurt that i love like some sort vicious animal ... even though i'm a teddy bear.

seamus

Who said anything bad about Tallaght?

AARRRGH

Who owns the hell fire club?

Chucky the tree

dublin6th wrote:

it doesnt hurt that i love like some sort vicious animal ... .

thats great, i am sure the wife is delighted. DOnt think you need to share it with the rest of the forum though!

fatherdougalmag

Well if you're still gone on the idea of camping up there you might like to peruse the Paranormal forum. Masseys is supposedly haunted by some dog. A canine one mind you. Not the usual rural Tallaght kind.

seamus

dublindude wrote:

Who owns the hell fire club?

The State own the land IIRC (or the Forestry Service or whoever).

fjon

Coillte:

http://www.coillte.ie/tourism_and_recreation/d_hell_fire_club.htm

fjon

Actually, anyone fortunate enough to have access to a GPSr could seek out this geocache nearby

6th

Chucky the tree wrote:

thats great, i am sure the wife is delighted. DOnt think you need to share it with the rest of the forum though!

that is my best typo ever ..... i meant look like not love like! lol

LegacyUser

i think gay burn lives there

eefs

If you run backwards around the Hell Fire Club 3 times or something while saying the Hail Mary, you will see the devil. Or the Virgin Mary. Or a werewolf.

Well, that's what I spent every weekend walk doing until the age of 10....

Darragh29

I thought I'd post here on this particular topic and see if anyone here has experienced this... A few months ago I brought two friends of mine up to see the Hell Fire Club. They lived in Knocklyon and I'd been working with them a few months and they asked me one day about "the house on the hill". They wanted me to bring them up to see it so up we went on Saturday morning. I often go for walks with the dog up here so when we approached the house I went into the house and went upstairs. I leaned over the steel barriers at the front of the building that are at the spaces that used to be windows and just enjoyed the view of the city. I didn't go into either of the rooms on the left or the right of the landing but my two friends went into the room that is on the right at the top of the stairs and called me in to have a look at what they saw. Inside the room were small flat candles lighting in steel shells (like the ones you see in the church), which were placed inside jamjars (obviously to stop the candles being blown out in the wind). There are various shelf like arrangements in the stone wall and a number of the jars were sitting on these, but there were also some on the window ledges and on the ground. White chalk had been used to draw a pentagram shape between the candles, altogether I'd say there were at least 6 candles and jars, most of them still lighting althought there was not a sign of anyone. I assumed they were still lighting from the night before. There was a broken crucifix in the corner which looked like a nail had been hammered into the base of it to attach it to a wall or something. I assumed that if you wanted to hang a cruxifix on a wall with a nail, you'd put the nail at the top of the cross so I could only figure that this cruxifix had been hung upside down on the wall. There was also some pieces of orange clothes line rope lying around at one wall with knots in them.

I didn't know what to make of all this, to say the least it looked to me like some kind of ritual or ceremony had taken place the previous night. The broken cross with the nail in the base made me think it was something related to satanism or devil worshipping or something like that, (not an expert here!).

Has anyone ever experienced this before???

faceman

Darragh29 wrote:

Has anyone ever experienced this before???

dude u wont get a job as a horror movie writer thats for sure!! Cliche city!! LOL