UPDATE! Temporary fencing has now been put up around the holes. No official reply yet, but I’m assuming this means they have plans for something more permanent.
Still an awesome discovery, and for those wondering why they are full of water, that would probably make sense if they were test holes. Filling up with water would probably be what they were testing for to see if it was suitable to build a dam there. If they fill up with water, the soil is saturated and a dam might wash away which would explain why they didn't build one.
excrement video.. i thought might be mines, for lime..britt, living in aus.. like all britts, should.. oh,,& some irish.. we have an irish day.. & cornish hisory..moonta mines,. s.a. @@StephenJReid
@@StephenJReid "Stephen made me go and I tripped over the bobbed wire and fell in the hole head first and died" ... as he tells god why he is dead. ... hahah anyone falling in them holes alone is not getting back out haha.
Hi Stephen. My name is Ed Young & I live in the Southern United States. I'm 63 years old and this is the very first video of yours I've watched. Already, I'm hooked. Your presentation is excellent. The humor in the video is priceless with all the funny texts you include to poke fun at you. At the same time i admire your work because you've obviously done your research and checked out your findings with reputable sources. BRAVO! I cant wait to see more of your videos. Keep up the great work. - Ed
Very interesting. The idea of someone walking through those woods (especially at night) not knowing those holes were there, terrifies me. I do wonder why the test holes were made so close to houses though.
Hi, my latest research puts these holes at about 1945, long after the houses were abandoned. I suspect the holes put there because of ease of access, there was probably remains of old tracks to those houses still in 45.
@@IrelandOutdoors So if that's the case, what WHERE they dug for?, if not for checking the water supply for a famine / typhoid time purpose? Test Holes still make sense, though, except why, exactly, may still be a question.
That explains my friends house , I commented on his shed once and he said there's 6 more down in the forest , an entire village abandoned. Yea top of a mountain almost with river flowing right through it, I know a few more near me but lucky for me never found a hole like that yet or fallen in one.
So glad you secured those holes Stephen, great video once again. Old ruins in the trees are beautiful. This is proper exploring finding gems like this to make you curious of what was once going on in these areas many years ago. Great work by the guys doing the map research 👏
The old maps reminded me of time spent in the local reference library poring over OS maps from the 18/1900's looking for cool things to explore. I was a weird kid! We found a couple of forgotten wells around Ballymena, one in Ballykeel and one in Galgorm, along with an overgrown ringfort in the grounds of Galgorm Castle. It's really cool that all that historical information is available online now. Back then they wouldn't even let us make photocopies of the maps so we sat in the library sketching them out by hand.
@ No whales, but the wells were still there. Not your traditional-looking well with the handle and bucket, but bit round stones set in the ground with an iron ring in the middle. We never managed to lift the stones, which was probably for the best as I was the kind of kid who would have been dumb enough to try to climb down one!
Those were not the traps, those were the places they were digging for the pots of gold, the leprechauns got people digging till their arms tired and then slipped away in the dead of night.
Good you made it safer. They told us in school that with every data copy we loose a specific amount of data. This was meant for IT age, but it also applies here: By copying the map, they just omitted them and the data got lost.
Not necessarily. By that time, the old kilns were abandoned and probably not worth noting on a map. Maps exist for different reasons, too, and old kilns may, again, not have been fulfilling to the purpose of the map.
Discussing history isn't political... it's historical. If the British government couldn't give a flying what not about the starving Irish...you are entitled to say it, without worrying about whether or not it's politcal. Fascinating video...and some great images inside those holes 👍 Excellent 👏
You're the 678th channel I've subscribed to in the past 10 years. Now I'm having to ignore 677 of them whilst I go through your very interesting back catalogue of over 400 videos. Now I have something to keep me busy for a few weeks.
It's say they're unlikely to be test bores for a reservoir. They would normally be drilled, and be a maximum of 12 inches diameter. I would suggest the water supply idea is asking the right lines, but not actually test bores.
Great stuff. 1: You accidentally found these holes as opposed to inventing a fantastic story to explain a well documented and explained conundrum. 2: You obtained, examined and compared existing evidence that could provide an explanation. 3 : Having completed your field survey you not only drew conclusions but also undertook a personal initiative to both secure a dangerous hazard and inform the relavent authorities.
Why do you guys keep saying 200 years old? He repeats this over and over while saying the map is from 1905. I'm not a mathmagician but I'm pretty sure this doesn't add up...
Yeah that really was fascinating. Thanks for investigating and making this alternative set of videos upon discovering the holes. Loved this, really well done too, and looking forward to any confirmation you get. Hope they'll put up fences too. Nice work on the temp ones, much better than the ankle high trip wire 👌
Fascinating history. The actual answer is less exciting than one might hope. But the story to get that answer was fascinating history and a story beautifully told. Thanks Stephen!
I think this format is working for you. I loved it. I would have one for you that would take you back to donegal - Gila Island and the history of why people went off the island. Keep going Stephen - you are beginning to snowball.
Thanks🙂 I’m not going to make every video like this as I put probably over 40hours into this, but I am going to try and incorporate a bit more history or interesting location facts or just telling stories into my other videos. Planning to go back to Donegal Soon so Gila Island sounds very interesting!
@@StephenJReid i dont blame yah - thats a good bit if work. Ill just say shipwreck of whiskey or so the story goes. Over that way a bit further south too is inishmurray - easily got to from mullaghmore and it has some stories. You never know - these places could spark some ideas.
@@ShawhirHi. I'm new here and enjoying it! So regards this 'format' you mention, what are the characteristic features that are repeated in each video, please?
wow, that was exciting, no matter what it ended up being 👍! That was the first video of yours. My ancestors are Irish and unfortunately I don't know anything about them but I definitely want to go to Ireland ❤️
@@StephenJReid yes, unfortunately circumstances forced so many to move away. It must have been an unimaginably hard time for everyone, otherwise who would want to leave such a beautiful country. I'm definitely looking forward to what you'll discover in further videos.🙂
I actually LOVE videos like this, going back and investigating old places like this that have been forgotten over time. My Great Aunt's house actually has a well INSIDE the house. My great grandpa built the well BY HAND way back when (sometime around the early to late 1930s). The well is somewhere around 60 feet deep as it is located near the rear of the house where the house's 1st floor is technically the 2nd due to a basement. My great grandpa also lined the first 20 feet or so in brick before getting to bedrock where he didn't have to use brick anymore. The well is in what is now the laundry room of the house and is now bordered over and no longer used. But i can remember back in the late 1980s when i was like 6 or 7 years old, my great aunt would freak out anytime i got anywhere near the thing, as she was afraid it might break and id fall in...lol. I would LOVE to be able to actually reopen the well and see what its like down inside it today. I wonder if there is still water in there and if so how clean it would be with ZERO disturbance for the last 50+ years.
Amazing Stephen! I’ve been sooo looking forward to that! You have an amazing talent for creating stories on film and what a show that was! It was a real pleasure to work with you and have to say, a real satisfaction getting to the “bottom” of it! Thanks for the shout out BTW, very kind indeed! I was actually getting embarrassed at one point😂 So thanks again and maybe catch you out the hills sometime! ATB
Thanks very much! I’ve spent so much time in the edit that I was boring myself when watching it so was worried it would bore everyone else too! Still glad I cut it down from 50minutes! Thanks for your help, you may have set a precedent every time I find something old and interesting 😂
Haha I cut my first attempt with the camera where I forgot to switch it on, second attempt where it failed because I didn’t use a dive housing, a lot more of various theories that didn’t really go anywhere, a rant about the state of native forests in Ireland that didn’t feel relevant and a 3min long ending where I just went over everything again
Thank you for sharing this feeling of wonder! Ireland is already a magical place as it is. Discovering it's ancestry and lost places truly brings out a sense of glee in my heart!! Thank you
Fascinating! I grew up in a c1900 farmhouse on a dirt road in the US. The farm was parceled out for a couple other homes over the years. Exploring as kids, my neighbor and I found a stone and concrete structure next to a spring-fed creek up on their property. We thought it was remnants of a small mill. Decades later I learned there was a pipe in our cellar that was capped off. The mysterious structure was a cistern, capturing the spring water that would then trickle 150 meters downhill into the house (decades before it had electricity).
When I went there it was very eerie. I initially thought it was an old mining area. The barbed wire fence seems in worse condition than 3 years ago. When I lived in Ireland, there were a few locations similar to this. Keep up the good work, Stephen.
I also become fascinated with these types of things that I often feel I am the only one that notices or cares about them. Occasionally I also get to the bottom of them, but I am not a youtube creator, so I never get to share. This is so well done, thank you and again - I can relate to your journey.
hi i just found your channel and want to say im very grateful and excited by what you do here ! im a student environmentalist and avid adventurer living vicariously through videos like this whilst in school :)
I really appriciate what you are doing. I am facinated by old, forgotten ruins. I've found 1 myself in Finland, Hinthaara village. Keep up the good work ✊️
YT thought I might like this video and boy, they were right! Partly because strange holes in the ground are fascinating and partly because I'm a first-generation Irish American! Just sub'd. I hope to see some from where my dad was born and raised, western Co. Clare, backyard overlooking the ocean. But if not, all of ancient Eire is awesome. BTW, a bit of bragging... Bunratty was our family castle for a time during the 1600s. If ever there, you must partake of the medieval feast. Messy AF but totally worth it.
Thank you, this was a fascinating video! Usually I will just scrub to the end to find out the answer to the "question" but I wanted to watch very minute as you explored and tried to solve the mystery. Interesting to watch from the first minute to the last. I'm hooked!
I think they are rabbit holes- because I i ended up here after youtube threw your blue green algae video (fantastic) at me randomly this morning, and now I find myself scrambling through (and subscribed to) your channel and its miriad of rabbit holes! Im going to be down here forever!
Recommendations for further investigation: Attach a hook to a rope and pull out limbs and debris. Attach weight to rope and get depth measurement. Attach magnet to rope and see if you have any luck. Attach GoPro to rope and lower to half a foot shy of bottom. Hopefully you now have a water hole that is free from obstructions and by dropping short you won't have soot (mulm) blacking out the visibility for best production result.
I'm so impressed by your research into this! And the footage you've recorded. I was quite literally gripped! Well done on a brilliant film 👏 this is excellent
Great video! I’m the type that was interested in any old structure found in the forest and curious about its history. Its very cool you’re researching and documenting. And thanks for parenthetically showing “feet” for the US
possibly they are, could have been much much deeper originally. Or because they are in remote locations on private land it would be hard to transport stuff to dump in them
No one has been allowed to live near there. The residents were expelled. Now it's government-owned forest land. No one has lived there since the original people had to lose their homes.
But you said the forest service was running them, that's not private land. If the government owns something it's public land, whether or not people are allowed there.
I'm glad you contacted the government and let them know that the barbed wire was down. It would be bad for some midnight hiker to fall in one of these holes. Your documentary was excellent! Your research was very good. Professionally done! Very interesting and educational content! Thank you.
Wow thanks for this. I appreciate your efforts, visuals and the research were fantastic. Also grateful for you showing the length the way you did and also the conversions for the US folks.
You done really good with this. Good production quality, good pacing, good research and the story built up really well. It's respectable how much work you put in to find out what the holes were. You put a good amount of work into the video and it shows.
Gary found out the names of the landowners and the people who lived there. Amazing what can be found in libraries. But can’t reveal any of that as gives away the location plus the video would be too long. The first cut was 50minutes!
Great Video, I remember seeing holes like this as a child in the woods. It was usually near a stone building or fence. I always thought it was where small homesteads quarried the stone to make the wall or home. They just filled up over time with water and debris. Sometimes the homes used them like a dump.
Admire your tenacity and determination to find out what these shafts were for. It’s always fascinating to be in a place where people have lived and try and imagine what their lives were like. What was the App you used to look at old maps? I have the UK OS map App but don’t think it’s possible to go back in map history as you were doing. First visit to your channel and I have subscribed.
I agree with the comment below me which says not very often YT recommendations comes up with a Gem but this time they did and of course I had to like n' subscribe Cheers from a new Canadian fan the Crazy Canuck on Vancouver Island
Well, done, no pun intended. Those holes are dug and collared like a vertical mine shaft, so it is entirely likely that they had miners digging these test sites. Except the are no drifts stemming off from the shaft, so this is indeed very interesting, and I think you did an excellent job as well as the fellow that helped you dig for the truth about them. The footage you got of the Shafts is very good, and although the second one was a bit murky it was still plenty clear enough to see the structure of the collar. The wider shaft, judging from the closeness of the tress around it and how denser the vegetation is around it, is likely to have much more depth than what you saw because of the amount of Deadfall that can fall into an open shaft during the span of 200 years!!! And the narrower shaft is likely deeper also, because 65 feet is not deep enough to tell if the region can handle and contain a reservoir and Dam. So Good on you for your effort and it totally caught my attention because I am a regular viewer of Mine explorers here on UA-cam. I definitely will subscribe to your channel and keep my eye open for your posts because you have captured my attention for the depth you have gone to, to solve this mystery.
The first thing I thought when I saw you standing next to that thing was “death trap”. Imagine falling into that thing and realizing that no one knows where you are, while you tread water… 🙁
Fantastic video, one of your most 'historical' for sure. It's amazing but also a bit tragic how the landscape has changed over the centuries. 19th century Ireland was a grim place to be a tenant farmer that's for sure. I remember a few years ago I spotted a oil painting at a local auction house that immediately caught my eye; sure enough on closer inspection it was Silent Valley, but before it was flooded to make the reservoir. It was really interesting being able to have a look into the past like that; I defo regret not bidding on it at the time as it seemed like a great piece of history.
Thanks! I’d like to do more videos like this with a documentary feel but maybe not very often as this took 4 different trips and about 5 shoots in various locations. I also re-shot parts several times as we found out more information. I could have made an hour long version. 🙈 The old maps are fascinating for seeing how the landscape has changed and it’s easy to think it was such a long time ago but 200 years is less than 3 average lifetimes.
Loved this video, so interesting. Hope you’re having fun on your Cairn, mine arrives in the last week in March, can’t wait. As always keep up the exemplary videos 😊😊😊
There are similar holes in an area I am familar with in Northern Spain. They correspond with blank pieces of land owned by someone, like you've seen on your map, where a house may have been planned. It was my hypothesis that someone had built a well, anticipating building a house or otherwise just using the plot as pasture (common there) and making use of the water regardless. 7:46
You walk around these holes so confidently, I hope your family knows where you are because as you said, you will not be able to get out. Furthermore, your phone probably will have no signal at the bottom of that hole. Be safe man, complacency takes the lives of very experienced explorers all the time.
That was quite enjoyable and informative Stephen. Thank you for the in depth analysis. This kind of historical subject isn't everyones' cup of tea, but I think it's amazing. My wife and I home school our daughter. She wants to be a structural engineer when she is finished with school, so this kind of video is perfect for helping her learn. So thank you for helping us educate our daughter in a more worldly manner than the American system can. Much respect, Pablo, Maria and M. Florida I subbed your channel. Cheers 🍻
very impressed by your research and analysis, with some invaluable help from your correspondent, and for securing the perimeter of these dangerous holes. You would think that some sort of heavy duty covers would make the safest solution but that's beside the point. It seems you have nailed it. You have a new subscriber. Thank you.
Youve gained another sub. Love a good walk about an old place and I often think about the lives that were lived when I stand in abandoned spaces. Appreciate you marking the dangers, also. Love a responsible content creator.
Epic video Stephen. Educational, investigative and fun. Another potential albeit later reason for Mourne Wall?? Well done. Thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you.
Yeah I think it’s a similar reason the wall was built in the Mournes. I’m guessing it was similar practice all over before modern water treatment was invented.
I found a little abandoned hamlet in the Slieve Bloom mountains in Laois. I would love to know more about who used to live there! Also great hiking/camping spot.
If you liked this video, you might love this one: ua-cam.com/video/lNB97Arl1zQ/v-deo.html
hey man whats the link to that website, im irish and ive explored one mines and would love too check out more
For putting that safety around the hole.......💜
Subbed 🤘🤘
UPDATE! Temporary fencing has now been put up around the holes. No official reply yet, but I’m assuming this means they have plans for something more permanent.
Did you have many underground coal mines or other mines in Ireland ????
Why are they full of water? Is it the water table, or do they not drain well, and they are full rain water build up?
Still an awesome discovery, and for those wondering why they are full of water, that would probably make sense if they were test holes. Filling up with water would probably be what they were testing for to see if it was suitable to build a dam there. If they fill up with water, the soil is saturated and a dam might wash away which would explain why they didn't build one.
4:30 - that's not a house, that's a mansion, and it's probably more like 500-1000 years old.
Awesome and good job with the string. Hopefully you get to know for sure
Not often UA-cam recommendations turns up a gem but this time it did
Ditto! 👍🏼
Thank you ! Spent ages on this 🙂
its becoming rare to find intelligence presented on any media platform anymore, but thankfully there are these that make the trawling worthwhile.
excrement video.. i thought might be mines, for lime..britt, living in aus.. like all britts, should.. oh,,& some irish.. we have an irish day.. & cornish hisory..moonta mines,. s.a. @@StephenJReid
Absolute. banger.
the bit at the end proves you, sir, are a good soul.
Or I’m just trying to avoid liability 😂
@@StephenJReid "Stephen made me go and I tripped over the bobbed wire and fell in the hole head first and died" ... as he tells god why he is dead. ... hahah anyone falling in them holes alone is not getting back out haha.
He’s just a testhole
@@StephenJReidyou're only reliable if you own the land.
@@livingonthetyneBarbed* wire.
Hi Stephen.
My name is Ed Young & I live in the Southern United States.
I'm 63 years old and this is the very first video of yours I've watched.
Already, I'm hooked.
Your presentation is excellent. The humor in the video is priceless with all the funny texts you include to poke fun at you.
At the same time i admire your work because you've obviously done your research and checked out your findings with reputable sources. BRAVO!
I cant wait to see more of your videos.
Keep up the great work.
- Ed
Good lad ringing the water service and putting up that make shift fence!What a terrifying end it would be if some camper fell into that hole.....
Yeah, accident waiting to happen! Very few people will likely ever be in that exact area, but I came across it so I’m sure I’ll not be the only one.
No s*** I'd be freaked out I'd be dead probably I camp a lot😮
Ya, no one camps up there. It's still contaminated.
Perfectly taken over by nature and then you add plastic wire...
@@duudsuufd there’s nothing natural about the monoculture spruce plantation that’s growing around it.
Very interesting. The idea of someone walking through those woods (especially at night) not knowing those holes were there, terrifies me.
I do wonder why the test holes were made so close to houses though.
Hi, my latest research puts these holes at about 1945, long after the houses were abandoned. I suspect the holes put there because of ease of access, there was probably remains of old tracks to those houses still in 45.
@@IrelandOutdoors That makes sense.
Cheers for reply and happy history hunting.
@@IrelandOutdoors right since the old map was marking the kilns, that means the holes could be made at any time. thanks for the update
@@offan- Maybe the map was scaled differently than assumed.
Those "dwellings" were probably the lime kilns and the dwellings long gone.
@@IrelandOutdoors So if that's the case, what WHERE they dug for?, if not for checking the water supply for a famine / typhoid time purpose? Test Holes still make sense, though, except why, exactly, may still be a question.
That explains my friends house , I commented on his shed once and he said there's 6 more down in the forest , an entire village abandoned. Yea top of a mountain almost with river flowing right through it, I know a few more near me but lucky for me never found a hole like that yet or fallen in one.
I just spent 21 minutes looking at a video about holes. I enjoy.
Every man, ever.
@@M.Holland ngl there was also good looking sticks there so that's a bonus
@@petimees8844 I fap to this.
Man, wait until you find out about the book and movie
we meet again
Not King William's little "hello" absolutely jumpscaring the piss out of me in the headphones while I'm home alone
🤣
@@StephenJReidnever mind Victoria ascending the throne in 1937? It happens 😂
Omg same. Candles lit and everything. That one really had me jump up 😂
You think you got a fright, imagine how his wee neighbour felt after she had to hit it with a rake.
That's what I like a good investigation,,, dig up history, maps , papers etc.... Excellent Work Sir !!! Thank You !!!!
So glad you secured those holes Stephen, great video once again. Old ruins in the trees are beautiful.
This is proper exploring finding gems like this to make you curious of what was once going on in these areas many years ago.
Great work by the guys doing the map research 👏
Thanks Ben! Gary was a massive help, he's going to find himself recruited again 🤣
The old maps reminded me of time spent in the local reference library poring over OS maps from the 18/1900's looking for cool things to explore. I was a weird kid!
We found a couple of forgotten wells around Ballymena, one in Ballykeel and one in Galgorm, along with an overgrown ringfort in the grounds of Galgorm Castle. It's really cool that all that historical information is available online now. Back then they wouldn't even let us make photocopies of the maps so we sat in the library sketching them out by hand.
Class! Were the wells still there?
We did the same and found a mini Stonehenge near Newcastle and we did go and find it ,it we cool to see
Man what an amazing childhood!!!
I second the opie's question to you where the whales still there when you went looking for them?
@ No whales, but the wells were still there. Not your traditional-looking well with the handle and bucket, but bit round stones set in the ground with an iron ring in the middle. We never managed to lift the stones, which was probably for the best as I was the kind of kid who would have been dumb enough to try to climb down one!
You could have spun a fantastic yarn about the great leprechaun hunt of 1835 and how these were the remnants of the traps 🤣
Naw that happened in 1786, everyone knows that 😂
Those were not the traps, those were the places they were digging for the pots of gold, the leprechauns got people digging till their arms tired and then slipped away in the dead of night.
@@StephenJReid 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Good you made it safer. They told us in school that with every data copy we loose a specific amount of data. This was meant for IT age, but it also applies here: By copying the map, they just omitted them and the data got lost.
Not necessarily. By that time, the old kilns were abandoned and probably not worth noting on a map. Maps exist for different reasons, too, and old kilns may, again, not have been fulfilling to the purpose of the map.
@@UnitSe7enDid you finish the video? Those aren't kilns.
Discussing history isn't political... it's historical. If the British government couldn't give a flying what not about the starving Irish...you are entitled to say it, without worrying about whether or not it's politcal.
Fascinating video...and some great images inside those holes 👍
Excellent 👏
I did criticise our current government, that’s definitely political. But yes historical facts shouldn’t be, but not everyone agrees on the facts
As an English man, I'm ashamed of how my ancestors abused the Irish. It was a disgusting time in our history.
@@TIMMEH19991 The land owners abused their English tenants too. As long as they had money coming in they did not care about their tenants
@@TIMMEH19991 👍👌
😹🤣 Irish history is always political.
Now that was a fun and interesting, and investigative story - really enjoyed that :)
Thanks! Have a couple more videos planned in a similar style. Although maybe not as in depth. This took forever to piece together
That was fascinating Stephen and well done for securing it so less likely for someone to be killed
Thanks Stephen!
@stephengraham6194 For "someone to be " involves something different to them falling in a hole and dying. Think about it.
@@thekeysman6760 killed just means "caused the death of" so yes, a giant gaping hole in the ground can definitely kill someone.
Man, that crumbling stone work covered in that vibrant green moss is GORGEOUS! I wish there were ruins like that where I live!
Got this video in my feed for some reason. I'm glad I watched it. Loved it.
I'll be checking out your other videos.
Brilliant follow up video Stephen 👍
And thank you for doing all that research and then sharing it with us.
I love this type of history.
Thanks Ivan!
You're the 678th channel I've subscribed to in the past 10 years. Now I'm having to ignore 677 of them whilst I go through your very interesting back catalogue of over 400 videos. Now I have something to keep me busy for a few weeks.
Hey thanks! Most of them aren’t like this one so hopefully you enjoy a rather wide range of videos! 🙂🙂 great to have you onboard
It's say they're unlikely to be test bores for a reservoir. They would normally be drilled, and be a maximum of 12 inches diameter. I would suggest the water supply idea is asking the right lines, but not actually test bores.
@@TheMatthooks In the 1800s most wells / test holes were hand dug, therefore they were a lot larger than 12"
You, Stephen, are brilliant! And to do the right thing at the end too? Brilliant x2! What a brilliant story!
Thanks Tom! 🙂 not my usual video type but too good a story to pass but
Great stuff. 1: You accidentally found these holes as opposed to inventing a fantastic story to explain a well documented and explained conundrum. 2: You obtained, examined and compared existing evidence that could provide an explanation. 3 : Having completed your field survey you not only drew conclusions but also undertook a personal initiative to both secure a dangerous hazard and inform the relavent authorities.
The thing I find crazy is that you can load up 200-year-old maps on a hiking app
Can thank the guys at Hiiker for that
Why do you guys keep saying 200 years old? He repeats this over and over while saying the map is from 1905. I'm not a mathmagician but I'm pretty sure this doesn't add up...
@Ispike73 i thought i heard 1805 about one early on...
@@Split0069 Maybe I missed that but he definitely said a 1905 map was 200 years old multiple times.
The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.
An excellent video young Stephen, thankfully you got answers to all the questions. Many thanks for all your hard work.
Thanks Andy 🙂
Yeah that really was fascinating. Thanks for investigating and making this alternative set of videos upon discovering the holes. Loved this, really well done too, and looking forward to any confirmation you get. Hope they'll put up fences too. Nice work on the temp ones, much better than the ankle high trip wire 👌
Thanks! Hope I hear back soon
Fascinating history. The actual answer is less exciting than one might hope. But the story to get that answer was fascinating history and a story beautifully told. Thanks Stephen!
I think this format is working for you. I loved it. I would have one for you that would take you back to donegal - Gila Island and the history of why people went off the island. Keep going Stephen - you are beginning to snowball.
Thanks🙂 I’m not going to make every video like this as I put probably over 40hours into this, but I am going to try and incorporate a bit more history or interesting location facts or just telling stories into my other videos.
Planning to go back to Donegal Soon so Gila Island sounds very interesting!
Did you mean Gola Island? It’s on my list 🙂
@@StephenJReid i dont blame yah - thats a good bit if work. Ill just say shipwreck of whiskey or so the story goes. Over that way a bit further south too is inishmurray - easily got to from mullaghmore and it has some stories. You never know - these places could spark some ideas.
@@ShawhirHi. I'm new here and enjoying it! So regards this 'format' you mention, what are the characteristic features that are repeated in each video, please?
Respect after you put a barrier around the test hole. That’s what helped make my mind up to subscribe. Great job. Interesting video.
Thanks for subscribing 🙂 glad you enjoyed the video
wow, that was exciting, no matter what it ended up being 👍! That was the first video of yours. My ancestors are Irish and unfortunately I don't know anything about them but I definitely want to go to Ireland ❤️
Glad you enjoyed it Angie! 🙂 so much history here. It’s crazy how many people emigrated from Ireland all around the world.
@@StephenJReid yes, unfortunately circumstances forced so many to move away. It must have been an unimaginably hard time for everyone, otherwise who would want to leave such a beautiful country.
I'm definitely looking forward to what you'll discover in further videos.🙂
I actually LOVE videos like this, going back and investigating old places like this that have been forgotten over time. My Great Aunt's house actually has a well INSIDE the house. My great grandpa built the well BY HAND way back when (sometime around the early to late 1930s). The well is somewhere around 60 feet deep as it is located near the rear of the house where the house's 1st floor is technically the 2nd due to a basement. My great grandpa also lined the first 20 feet or so in brick before getting to bedrock where he didn't have to use brick anymore. The well is in what is now the laundry room of the house and is now bordered over and no longer used. But i can remember back in the late 1980s when i was like 6 or 7 years old, my great aunt would freak out anytime i got anywhere near the thing, as she was afraid it might break and id fall in...lol. I would LOVE to be able to actually reopen the well and see what its like down inside it today. I wonder if there is still water in there and if so how clean it would be with ZERO disturbance for the last 50+ years.
Amazing Stephen! I’ve been sooo looking forward to that! You have an amazing talent for creating stories on film and what a show that was! It was a real pleasure to work with you and have to say, a real satisfaction getting to the “bottom” of it! Thanks for the shout out BTW, very kind indeed! I was actually getting embarrassed at one point😂 So thanks again and maybe catch you out the hills sometime! ATB
Thanks very much! I’ve spent so much time in the edit that I was boring myself when watching it so was worried it would bore everyone else too! Still glad I cut it down from 50minutes!
Thanks for your help, you may have set a precedent every time I find something old and interesting 😂
@@StephenJReidAny time Stephen!
@@StephenJReidoh btw, I would have watched the 50 min directors cut no problem!!
Haha I cut my first attempt with the camera where I forgot to switch it on, second attempt where it failed because I didn’t use a dive housing, a lot more of various theories that didn’t really go anywhere, a rant about the state of native forests in Ireland that didn’t feel relevant and a 3min long ending where I just went over everything again
Well the final cut worked well
Thank you for sharing this feeling of wonder! Ireland is already a magical place as it is. Discovering it's ancestry and lost places truly brings out a sense of glee in my heart!! Thank you
This whole saga has been riveting! Thanks to you and also Gary for doing the research. Quite the rabbit hole! 🕳️
Thank you! 🙂
Fascinating! I grew up in a c1900 farmhouse on a dirt road in the US. The farm was parceled out for a couple other homes over the years. Exploring as kids, my neighbor and I found a stone and concrete structure next to a spring-fed creek up on their property. We thought it was remnants of a small mill. Decades later I learned there was a pipe in our cellar that was capped off. The mysterious structure was a cistern, capturing the spring water that would then trickle 150 meters downhill into the house (decades before it had electricity).
This is the content I need from local channels
When I went there it was very eerie. I initially thought it was an old mining area. The barbed wire fence seems in worse condition than 3 years ago. When I lived in Ireland, there were a few locations similar to this. Keep up the good work, Stephen.
I had just discovered your channel with that video and it was great. One more subscriber!
Cheers from France
I also become fascinated with these types of things that I often feel I am the only one that notices or cares about them. Occasionally I also get to the bottom of them, but I am not a youtube creator, so I never get to share. This is so well done, thank you and again - I can relate to your journey.
It's like watching Tony Robinson on Time Team, but less geophysics! Excellent stuff...
With my maths ability, probably best I avoid physics! 😂 thanks
The last-minute good Samaritan quick fence you did at the end is what made this for me ♡
This was super interesting Stephen! Exactly the kind of content that keeps me watching. Love local history mysteries. Absolutely brilliant video.
Thanks! I might have to do more
hi i just found your channel and want to say im very grateful and excited by what you do here ! im a student environmentalist and avid adventurer living vicariously through videos like this whilst in school :)
Had me gripped there Stephen in your uniquely modest, self-deprecating but infectious style. 👏
Atb, Paul
Thanks Paul 🙂
I really appriciate what you are doing. I am facinated by old, forgotten ruins. I've found 1 myself in Finland, Hinthaara village. Keep up the good work ✊️
YT thought I might like this video and boy, they were right! Partly because strange holes in the ground are fascinating and partly because I'm a first-generation Irish American! Just sub'd. I hope to see some from where my dad was born and raised, western Co. Clare, backyard overlooking the ocean. But if not, all of ancient Eire is awesome. BTW, a bit of bragging... Bunratty was our family castle for a time during the 1600s. If ever there, you must partake of the medieval feast. Messy AF but totally worth it.
Thank you, this was a fascinating video! Usually I will just scrub to the end to find out the answer to the "question" but I wanted to watch very minute as you explored and tried to solve the mystery. Interesting to watch from the first minute to the last. I'm hooked!
Only half way through video, but really fascinated with this history. Well done! Brilliant. Of course you would make it safer and alert someone.🙂
😁 thanks! Have dobe
Beautiful history there! Its on our bucket list to spend a month in Ireland exploring
Great video, very informative. And well done for fencing it off.
Thanks Mark! Hopefully gets a proper fence soon
I think they are rabbit holes- because I i ended up here after youtube threw your blue green algae video (fantastic) at me randomly this morning, and now I find myself scrambling through (and subscribed to) your channel and its miriad of rabbit holes! Im going to be down here forever!
I'm honestly surprised the holes weren't full of dead animals that had accidentally fallen in.
If one had fallen in, the smell of it would keep the rest away
Not that much wildlife in coniferous plantation alas.
Me too, I was looking for animal bones.
So glad this popped up seemingly at random.. I'm hooked - fascinating !
Recommendations for further investigation:
Attach a hook to a rope and pull out limbs and debris.
Attach weight to rope and get depth measurement.
Attach magnet to rope and see if you have any luck.
Attach GoPro to rope and lower to half a foot shy of bottom.
Hopefully you now have a water hole that is free from obstructions and by dropping short you won't have soot (mulm) blacking out the visibility for best production result.
''Attach a hook to a rope and pull out limbs''
damn nightmare holes
I'm so impressed by your research into this! And the footage you've recorded. I was quite literally gripped! Well done on a brilliant film 👏 this is excellent
Thanks Sarah! Currently working on another couple of scripts 🙂
Just phenomenal cinematography my friend, captivating and masterfully narrated!
Thank you! looks like I'm going to have to put more effort in from now on 🤣
Great video! I’m the type that was interested in any old structure found in the forest and curious about its history. Its very cool you’re researching and documenting. And thanks for parenthetically showing “feet” for the US
Same builder Oak Island!!
It's a wonder they're not full of rubbish. Where I live, old mine shafts were frequently used as rubbish dumps years ago.
possibly they are, could have been much much deeper originally. Or because they are in remote locations on private land it would be hard to transport stuff to dump in them
No one has been allowed to live near there. The residents were expelled. Now it's government-owned forest land. No one has lived there since the original people had to lose their homes.
But you said the forest service was running them, that's not private land. If the government owns something it's public land, whether or not people are allowed there.
I'm glad you contacted the government and let them know that the barbed wire was down. It would be bad for some midnight hiker to fall in one of these holes. Your documentary was excellent! Your research was very good. Professionally done! Very interesting and educational content! Thank you.
We need way more folks like this dude here
Absolutely great video steven ! A lot of effort has clearly gone into this so well done you !! Always great work from you 💪💪
Thanks Matthew! Spent a lot more time on this than I expected. Kept thinking I’d figured it out and then new info appeared or I found something
Wow thanks for this. I appreciate your efforts, visuals and the research were fantastic. Also grateful for you showing the length the way you did and also the conversions for the US folks.
very interesting, well researched! Nice meeting you at Glencoe Mountain Resort today! Anna from Germany
You done really good with this. Good production quality, good pacing, good research and the story built up really well. It's respectable how much work you put in to find out what the holes were. You put a good amount of work into the video and it shows.
Excellent research. Enjoyed that thank you 😊
I think you did good even putting up temporary fencing to help the water service out.
Such a good video Steve! 😊 Love learning a bit of history, even if it’s less fun than a portal to the upside down. 😂
🙂😁😁😁 no vecna at the bottlm
I LOVE videos like this! Please keep doing this!
So cool to find old foundations and walls in a forest, just so many questions.
Gary found out the names of the landowners and the people who lived there. Amazing what can be found in libraries. But can’t reveal any of that as gives away the location plus the video would be too long. The first cut was 50minutes!
Great Video, I remember seeing holes like this as a child in the woods. It was usually near a stone building or fence. I always thought it was where small homesteads quarried the stone to make the wall or home. They just filled up over time with water and debris. Sometimes the homes used them like a dump.
first time i've seen your work and you are bloody entertaining! Cheers from Australia
Thanks! 🙂 actually working with an Australian media company remotely this morning
Admire your tenacity and determination to find out what these shafts were for.
It’s always fascinating to be in a place where people have lived and try and imagine what their lives were like.
What was the App you used to look at old maps? I have the UK OS map App but don’t think it’s possible to go back in map history as you were doing.
First visit to your channel and I have subscribed.
Thank for subscribing! Not many of my videos are this complex, was an unexpected story. I used the Hiiker app
I agree with the comment below me which says not very often YT recommendations comes up with a Gem but this time they did and of course I had to like n' subscribe Cheers from a new Canadian fan the Crazy Canuck on Vancouver Island
Thank you! I’d love to visit Canada sometime. I had a manager years ago who was from Vancouver
Well, done, no pun intended. Those holes are dug and collared like a vertical mine shaft, so it is entirely likely that they had miners digging these test sites. Except the are no drifts stemming off from the shaft, so this is indeed very interesting, and I think you did an excellent job as well as the fellow that helped you dig for the truth about them. The footage you got of the Shafts is very good, and although the second one was a bit murky it was still plenty clear enough to see the structure of the collar. The wider shaft, judging from the closeness of the tress around it and how denser the vegetation is around it, is likely to have much more depth than what you saw because of the amount of Deadfall that can fall into an open shaft during the span of 200 years!!! And the narrower shaft is likely deeper also, because 65 feet is not deep enough to tell if the region can handle and contain a reservoir and Dam. So Good on you for your effort and it totally caught my attention because I am a regular viewer of Mine explorers here on UA-cam. I definitely will subscribe to your channel and keep my eye open for your posts because you have captured my attention for the depth you have gone to, to solve this mystery.
The first thing I thought when I saw you standing next to that thing was “death trap”. Imagine falling into that thing and realizing that no one knows where you are, while you tread water… 🙁
Fantastic video, one of your most 'historical' for sure. It's amazing but also a bit tragic how the landscape has changed over the centuries. 19th century Ireland was a grim place to be a tenant farmer that's for sure. I remember a few years ago I spotted a oil painting at a local auction house that immediately caught my eye; sure enough on closer inspection it was Silent Valley, but before it was flooded to make the reservoir. It was really interesting being able to have a look into the past like that; I defo regret not bidding on it at the time as it seemed like a great piece of history.
Thanks! I’d like to do more videos like this with a documentary feel but maybe not very often as this took 4 different trips and about 5 shoots in various locations. I also re-shot parts several times as we found out more information. I could have made an hour long version. 🙈
The old maps are fascinating for seeing how the landscape has changed and it’s easy to think it was such a long time ago but 200 years is less than 3 average lifetimes.
Crazy that they left the test holes open. Also odd that there aren't piles of excavated material adjacent to the holes.
Yes on both counts ⁉
That gopro footage looks like the start of a good horror movie!
Loved this video, so interesting. Hope you’re having fun on your Cairn, mine arrives in the last week in March, can’t wait. As always keep up the exemplary videos 😊😊😊
Thanks! 🙂 was out on the Cairn again today, love it. Great for exploring after days of long runs. Have videos planned too 🙂
There are similar holes in an area I am familar with in Northern Spain. They correspond with blank pieces of land owned by someone, like you've seen on your map, where a house may have been planned. It was my hypothesis that someone had built a well, anticipating building a house or otherwise just using the plot as pasture (common there) and making use of the water regardless. 7:46
the algorithm worked today, glad this showed up for me
You walk around these holes so confidently, I hope your family knows where you are because as you said, you will not be able to get out. Furthermore, your phone probably will have no signal at the bottom of that hole.
Be safe man, complacency takes the lives of very experienced explorers all the time.
Who else watched the “hole” video hoping it was going to be where the dead were thrown?
Guilty! I thought it was like a quarantine type burial pit.
That was quite enjoyable and informative Stephen. Thank you for the in depth analysis.
This kind of historical subject isn't everyones' cup of tea, but I think it's amazing.
My wife and I home school our daughter. She wants to be a structural engineer when she is finished with school, so this kind of video is perfect for helping her learn.
So thank you for helping us educate our daughter in a more worldly manner than the American system can.
Much respect,
Pablo, Maria and M. Florida
I subbed your channel. Cheers 🍻
Imagine digging those holes by hand
I’m sure they at least used spades 🤪
very impressed by your research and analysis, with some invaluable help from your correspondent, and for securing the perimeter of these dangerous holes. You would think that some sort of heavy duty covers would make the safest solution but that's beside the point. It seems you have nailed it. You have a new subscriber. Thank you.
Brilliant, the mundane reason doesn't matter, just loved the story.
Thanks David 🙂
Great video & story telling! I do love how the images 'before' and 'after' on 18:50 are showing how it changed!!
Youve gained another sub. Love a good walk about an old place and I often think about the lives that were lived when I stand in abandoned spaces. Appreciate you marking the dangers, also. Love a responsible content creator.
Epic video Stephen. Educational, investigative and fun. Another potential albeit later reason for Mourne Wall?? Well done. Thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you.
Yeah I think it’s a similar reason the wall was built in the Mournes. I’m guessing it was similar practice all over before modern water treatment was invented.
Love this film, a great story telling
The ending of the video really wraps up all the loose ends. Thank you for making it safer for the souls who wander into those areas in the future.
It’s not political to stand up for your culture, people or country. Nice adventure 👍😁
Apparently it is. This is the only comment Stephen didn't respond to. 😂
Thanks very interesting. As retired land surveyor sometimes having to deal with this we called then trail holes.
Throw a magnetfishing magnet in there and see what comes up
I found a little abandoned hamlet in the Slieve Bloom mountains in Laois. I would love to know more about who used to live there! Also great hiking/camping spot.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video! Beautiful country, excellent explanations.