hi all i'm new to forum and know nothing about caving but am very interested i live close to a 1000 year old castle and my grandfather and his grandfather always told of a cave that goes from the castle up into the mountain so after years of searching we found a cave up the mountain entrance is aprox 4 foot high and 4 foot wide and goes in maybe 100 foot and then there is sedemant you could crawl in another 50-60 feet as far as light can see i went and talked to farmer that owned land in his 70s told me his father told of two guys that crawled in and there was a hole in which you needed a ladder to get across and then it open into a large cavern how true this is i dont know but i am sure it was an underground river it almost perfect round and was made by fast rushing water i am itching to see whats in there but dont know how to move forward i don't know if there is a badger in there should i chance crawling in or what? does this kind of cave sound like it stopped or gets bigger past the sedamant? the lie of the land it is plausable for cave to go to castle which is a couple of mile away as the crow flies any help would be brilliant thanks all 

I suggest that you contact the Speleological Union of Ireland and find a decent caver close to you.

Where is this castle exactly?

Folk tales of cave passages that extend many miles through mountains into castles tend to be quite exaggerated to be honest...

not too far from ballyragget in kilkenny i will try get up there over the weekend if i get time and take some pics

Re the cave at Milverton, Somerset. Willie Stanton told the farmer there was a lake in there big enough to float a battleship. I think Willie meant a toy one. Anyway the farmer laboured under this illusion for years until Mr O' Doc put him right.

Cool. If it's around the Castlecomer Plateau then it's most likely to be an old dead cave, with the sediment washed in over the course of the many glacial periods that have swept over Leinster over the past few hundred thousand years. Actively forming stream caves are very rare in those parts. It's potentially interesting, given the rarity of caves in those parts of leinster - probably only the sixth cave site in the county.

I know of a caver close to Freshford who might be able to help you, though he's out of the country for the next while, I can put you onto him if you want. I'll also ask a caver I know who, a few years back, visited all the caves in Leinster (all 8-10 of them).

keep us posted on your progress

Secret tunnels from castles do exist. I know of one (inaccessible) in the UK for which there is evidence & one (accessible) in France, which I have traversed. It isn't that long, though & I tend not to believe tales of these things going for 'miles'.

The Old Ruminator said:

Re the cave at Milverton, Somerset. Willie Stanton told the farmer there was a lake in there big enough to float a battleship. I think Willie meant a toy one. Anyway the farmer laboured under this illusion for years until Mr O' Doc put him right.

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There's sometimes a bit of truth in these stories though. My father-in-law who was from Gilwern was absolutely certain that you could walk through the hill from the Langattock scarp to Clydach. As he had believed this for about 80 years it was hard to convince him that it's only recently become possible.

i have been busy lately and didnt get a chance to get some pics of cave i am going up there today so i post them up later 

Yes, I've had a couple of things to do as well - namely sanding down an escritoirre bought for ?10 from Air Ambulance with a ?15 orbital sander bought from Argos, the irony being that the sandpaper cost more than the sander. I might even get round to posting a 'pic' of it...

i took a picture of entrance and tried to take some inside but it was too dark anyway here it is
how do i upload image its not doing it for me?

You can't upload to the forum, you will have to upload it onto your Facebook account or something then put a link to that picture on here.

See Posting photos on this site.

grahams said:

There's sometimes a bit of truth in these stories though. My father-in-law who was from Gilwern was absolutely certain that you could walk through the hill from the Langattock scarp to Clydach. As he had believed this for about 80 years it was hard to convince him that it's only recently become possible.

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Can you walk through now then? I thought this was only the domaine of cave divers...  :-\

Les W said:

grahams said:

There's sometimes a bit of truth in these stories though. My father-in-law who was from Gilwern was absolutely certain that you could walk through the hill from the Langattock scarp to Clydach. As he had believed this for about 80 years it was hard to convince him that it's only recently become possible.

Click to expand...

Can you walk through now then? I thought this was only the domaine of cave divers...  :-\

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If you have heavy enough boots, Les ...

Where abouts near Ballyragget is the cave located?
I live close to there & would be up for taking a look at it.
I've heard a good few stories about man-made tunnels leading from old buildings to a few of miles away but I've never been in one of those before. As far as I know most of them would have been built as escape routes etc. There's evidence of one one over outside Freshford but I've no idea where it starts.
Could be worth having a look at it either way.