IRA training in Ox Mountains

lippy88

I have heard that only a few years ago a huge weapons cache was found in the ox mountains..somewhere around the ladies brae...is this true??I have been in a wooded area up there a year or 2 ago,and i seen a car door placed on a rock which has huge bulletholes..from a sniper i am guessing,it had been a perfectly placed target in eye from the hilltop opposite!There are still a lot of signs that training had taken place there!!if anyone can tell me what went on up there it wud be great to hear?? I also found shells from a gun while walking in a field nearby the car door, and evidence of some sort of pipebomb explosion on an old house!I know very few ppl actuly know about this but i have become facinated by the stories of the mysterious happenings up there in the mountain!!!

Cool Running

Ya theres training there tomorrow night 7.30, oh ya dont forget the aul balaclava:D...................




Ah no seriously tho, id well believe it seems like an ideal place. There was loads of similar areas all over Ireland used for training camps so Id say there was a lot done up there over the years

Son Of A Vidic

It was a popular spot alright I believe, I think in the early nineties an arms dump was found there. I think this was discovered before the First IRA ceasefire, 3 assault rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammunition were in it. Someone might correct me on the quantities here, but then if you do - you probably buried it.

tedshredsonfire

there was also a crater left by some explosives a friend cam across when he was hunting up there. In fairness you could have a small village in some parts of the ox mountians and not be dicovered for years.

TequilaMockingBird

TequilaMockingBirdVille has a nice ring to it...

Cecil Mor

It was more like late eighties if I recall.
Watch yerselves though, bit like Steve Earles song "Copperhead Road" up there, people have walked into those mountains but they ain't walked out!!

Necrodermis

lippy88 wrote: »

I have heard that only a few years ago a huge weapons cache was found in the ox mountains..somewhere around the ladies brae...is this true??!

I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.

Does it excite or anger you?

CityMan2010

Hi Necro...are those the only book-end options you are able to offer?

Suggest also: Interest: Intrigue: etc....

Necrodermis wrote: »

I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.

Does it excite or anger you?

il gatto

Every remote area anywhere near the border was rumoured to host IRA training, and in fairness many did, but I would doubt any one spot was used with much regularity.
Arms dumps of various sizes were found frequently in the border counties also. Entirely likely that a small cache may have been squirreled away up there.
Evidence of a pipe bomb I think is rather unlikely. Pipe bombs were a tool of rioting mobs and the people down the pecking order of the IRA and not the sort of thing you'd practice with risking discovery. More likely teenagers burning something of blowing up something (aerosol, gas cylinder, petrol tank etc.).
The car door with the bullet holes would most probably have been used as a target by locals. Short of a .50 cal, a member of the public can legally hold almost any calibre rifle, pending Garda approval and something like a deer licence. People have .303, .223, .227, 5.56 etc. many of which would be considered rounds used by snipers in a military environment, but which are available to the public for hunting and target shooting purposes.
Not to pour cold water on the possibility that you've found an IRA training ground, but I feel any such activity would've been quite small and the participants careful and covert, it's unlikely any physical signs of their presence would be visible.