Underground Ireland

blubloblu

JaysusMacfeck wrote: »

Didn't read all the thread but there's a tunnel running from Booterstown beach up towards St. Andrews College. I remember a rugby play almost fell through a hole on the pitch. The tunnel was used for smuggling from what I heard.

I came here to post this, there used to be a house where andrews is now. Apparently smugglers used to land on Booterstown beach and bring the goods up through the tunnel. It's gone now afaik, but its legacy remains in the form of terrible drainage problems for the pitch. Constantly waterlogged whenever there's any rain

retroireland

visited the phoenix park railway tunnel the other day, it was quite risky but it was definately a great place to explore. pictures at http://www.barelythereireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=77

JJJJNR

Theres a tunnel running under the iveagh gardens, I know as the dept of foreign affairs have some cables running through them. supposed to be very narrow... :eek:

cool thread!

starn

retroireland wrote: »

visited the phoenix park railway tunnel the other day, it was quite risky but it was definately a great place to explore. pictures at http://www.barelythereireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=77

Really like the last two pics

starn

JJJJNR wrote: »

Theres a tunnel running under the iveagh gardens, I know as the dept of foreign affairs have some cables running through them. supposed to be very narrow... :eek:

cool thread!

Cool any idea what they were used for originally

Darragh29

retroireland wrote: »

visited the phoenix park railway tunnel the other day, it was quite risky but it was definately a great place to explore. pictures at http://www.barelythereireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=77

There is another tunnel underground in the Phoenix Park between St. Mary's Hospital and The Army Magazine I can show you if you want... PM me if you want more info...

JJJJNR

Not sure I was there when Brian Cowan was minister so there was no way it was an escape tunnel.:pac:

marcsignal

bringitdown wrote: »

Isn't there a tunnel in the Guiness Brewery at St James Gate?

yes there is, it runs under james' st. There are also cable tunnels running under ringsend and poolbeg ESB stations.

OP, another good place to make enquiries is the pest control section of the Eastern Health Board, they regularlly treat the sewer system under the city.

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.

some pics taken inside of it here

Elephant Monkey

starn wrote: »

Hi,
I'am in the process of writting a piece on hidden Ireland. So far I've visited the CIE tunnell under the Pheonix Park and spent a charming day wondering Dublins sewers. But thats been pretty much it. So Im looking for help uncovering some more hidden gems. I've spent some time in the catacombs underneath both Paris and Rome. While obiously not expecting to find anything like that underneath Dublin. I some there must be more beneath it then just a train tunnell

According to my art history days in school - Most of the squares in Dublin - Merrion, St. Stephen's, Fitzwilliam etc have tunnels coming from most of the georgian buildings that lead to an exit in the square/green this was used by the people that worked in the houses back in the day (nannies, cooks, cleaners etc) And in Georgian times it wasn't the thing for them to be seen coming in and out of the houses so tunnels were built. Another fact about the houses was the front of the house, the wall is built a bit higher so that you couldn't see the roof as it was considered common!

bring back the old times of petticoats, pocket watches and wenches with jugs of beer!

I think there is also a tunnel from Houston to Connolly!!! That i'm not sure of but i heard that its a rail tunnel!

And have a look at any of the quarries in Meath they go way down and across underground! Kinda scary that they hack away underground underneath us!

good luck with your research!

googs

awesome thread... can't believe I read all this

ZygOte

good read,

dont know if it already been posted, theres an interesting youtube video on the poodle rive here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ygnHSLKLY

Tonka

the longest rail tunnel in ireland i believe is the Lissumman rail tunnel outside Poyntzpass near Newry. Its disused now.

"Originally planned to be 1604 yards long, it
was extended to 1,759 yards, 1 yard short of 1 mile
and the longest tunnel in Ireland. It was a considerable
engineering operation which involved the sinking of
6 shafts along the line and mining and boring through
rock from each shaft. The deepest shaft was sunk to
200 ft. and the debris was conveyed to the top in large

buckets or skips."


Theres a fascinating article at http://www.poyntzpass.co.uk/history_lissummon_tunnel.htm

which includes riots, drunken navvies and police.

Tonka

cool. im not sure how i did that to my last post.

any ug matters.

there are today (ones closing soon) 3 operating zinc mines in Ireland, Lisheen near Thurles, Galmoy nearby and Tara mines underneath Navan.

There is a gypsum mine in Kingscourt and a salt mine at Carrickfergus on the shores of Belfast Lough. these two supply the bulk of plaster products and road salt in Ireland.

there are heaps of disused undergound mine workings in Ireland and the Geological Surveys for Ireland and Northern Ireland have mapped most of them. I have played with an online map system on both surveys websites.

Tonka

Last time i was in Dublin I saw shaft works for what I assume to be a service tunnel under the liffey on the south side of the Point near the eastlink toll plaza.

Theres a submerged "tunnel" being installed in Limerick.

The Belfast sewage project. Main contractors are Farren-MorganEst joint venture. their shaft sites are identifable by crawler cranes a passerby will notice a lot of activity but will never see anything been built haha.

T-Square

Victor wrote: »

It was a pedestrian bridge for workers to get from Palmerstown village to Farmleigh.

Sounds like they had better planning dept back then!
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=Palmerstown+Village,+Republic+of+Ireland&daddr=Farmleigh&hl=en&geocode=%3BCb3o9bSCVgNeFWpGLgMdFPue_yEHbEKaniVlKg&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=53.328222,-6.282491&sspn=0.138404,0.44632&ie=UTF8&ll=53.358697,-6.355762&spn=0.034576,0.11158&t=h&z=14

starn

Tonka wrote: »

there are heaps of disused undergound mine workings in Ireland and the Geological Surveys for Ireland and Northern Ireland have mapped most of them. I have played with an online map system on both surveys websites.

Ive used the online mapping on the GSI website. Are the locations of mines actually logged on it

L1011

Elephant Monkey wrote: »

I think there is also a tunnel from Houston to Connolly!!! That i'm not sure of but i heard that its a rail tunnel!

Will definately have been mentioned in the thread already; but yeah - it runs under the Phoenix Park; its still used. Rarely for passengers, mostly when theres bogball on...

paul4690

any body know of any tunnels under the phoenix park, im doin some research for a college assignment!!

AB03

Hmm, where did i find this thread!

starn

Apparently there is a MASSIVE salt mine outside Belfast in Kilroot. Anyone know anything about it ?

ScumLord

starn wrote: »

Apparently there is a MASSIVE salt mine outside Belfast in Kilroot. Anyone know anything about it ?

I've heard it has salt in it and it's massive. I read that on an internet forum so I don't know how reliable it is.

brendanuk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blueprint/media/salt_mines_carrick.shtml

Tonka

starn wrote: »

Apparently there is a MASSIVE salt mine outside Belfast in Kilroot. Anyone know anything about it ?

yep i worked there for a short time.

dunno about MASSIVE. Tara mines in Navan has bigger sized chambers.

they mine conventional room and pillar. little water gets into the mine. so equipment that stays in the mine do not rust, wheras the landrovers and any other gear that goes in and out from the surface rot verily quickly.

check out http://www.irishsaltmining.com/ (click on the crystal of salt)

the_syco

Not sure if it was mentioned, but the tunnel from a tower, to the nearby lake is cool. It's located somewhere on the Dublin to Sligo route. Vague, but will get more info later. There's also a campsite on the grounds, along with lots of old buildings dotteed around it.

The tower used to be f**king massive, but I think there was a fire, and it was replaced by a smaller one. Don't know if there is access to the tower any more, though there used to be.

The tunnel is only a short one, but has many MANY rooms linked off it, which is cool.

/edit
It's at Lough Key. Some pictures of the tower on here: http://franklludwig.com/xloughkey2.html The photo's look rather old, as I remember it looking better when I was last there (due to government investment, I think).

starn

Tonka wrote: »

yep i worked there for a short time.

dunno about MASSIVE. Tara mines in Navan has bigger sized chambers.

they mine conventional room and pillar. little water gets into the mine. so equipment that stays in the mine do not rust, wheras the landrovers and any other gear that goes in and out from the surface rot verily quickly.

check out http://www.irishsaltmining.com/ (click on the crystal of salt)

Do you know if they give tours of the chamber in Tara or the salt mine ?

Tonka

Nope. no tours.

These are working industrial sites, unless you have valid excuse to come on site i think there would be little chance of getting a visit for rubbernecking porposes. These are not places for Joe Public to venture.

If you're interested in old mines check out The Mining Heritage Society of Ireland website .http://www.mhti.com/

there are a multitude of "chambers" at Tara mine, but they are short lived as they are quickly filled with engineered cemented backfill. The rooms at Kilroot salt mine are self supporting so do not need backfill.

Tonka

recent stabilisation and rehab work at old copper mines at Avoca


http://dolmactunnelling.com/images/stories/bma1.jpg

http://dolmactunnelling.com/images/stories/bma2.jpg

http://dolmactunnelling.com/images/stories/bma3.jpg

The_B_Man

I went to school in Synge Street in Dublin, which had a loada tunnels underground.

tried googlin for more info on them but just found this:
http://www.archiseek.com/content/showthread.php?t=514

Pal

starn wrote: »

Hi,
I'am in the process of writting a piece on hidden Ireland. there must be more beneath it then just a train tunnell

I'd use the spellchecker when the piece is writtin

JackKelly

and a time machine