Stonehaven Hold Documents Detail The Surveyor’s Treachery

Stonehaven Hold, a formidable, granite-faced structure built in 1860, was the ambitious, self-funded residence of Mr. Walter Hynes, a highly-regarded but financially over-extended land Surveyor. The house’s historical beauty is based on its deceptive stability—appearing solid but constructed on a known geological fault line, a fact a surveyor should have been keenly aware of. Hynes occupied the house for four years before fleeing the area in 1864, just as local investors began to question his recent, massive land appraisals. The quiet unease stems from the fact that he was professionally ruined, yet physically vanished. The local press only vaguely referred to a “crisis of confidence.” The house, which now suffers from constant, minor foundation movement, remains a tangible, unsettling testament to The Surveyor’s Treachery—a professional betrayal that destroyed his reputation and livelihood.

The Falsified Map Section

The essential documented human complication is found in a hidden cavity behind the library shelving. Recovered was a discarded, heavily annotated field map used for a massive land deal that Hynes had recently brokered. The map, drawn by Hynes, deliberately omits a large, impassable ravine running directly through the center of the purchased territory, massively inflating its value. The true ravine is clearly marked on an older, third-party map found pinned to the back of the cavity. A note on the back of Hynes’s map, written in a cramped, anxious hand, states: “The ravine is buried, the truth will not hold the stone.” This suggests Hynes knowingly committed The Surveyor’s Treachery—falsifying geological facts to secure massive personal profit through the sale of worthless land, a professional crime that demanded his immediate flight.

The Unsigned Affidavit of the Rival

The physical/archival evidence of answered motives is chillingly legal. Found tucked into the lining of the master bedroom fireplace was an affidavit prepared by a rival Surveyor, detailing the land fraud. The document was prepared for a High Court case, but the signature line was left blank. The associated paperwork shows that the rival Surveyor vanished two weeks before the planned court date. Furthermore, a small, heavily oiled iron box was discovered in the garden, containing only a collection of small lead markers used by surveyors to denote true elevation points—all marked with numbers that dramatically contradict the data in Hynes’s official reports. The falsified maps, the crippling debt, and the disappearance of the rival all point to a successful, calculated act of The Surveyor’s Treachery that was about to be exposed. Hynes fled, leaving the house—built upon the very type of geological fault he concealed in his professional life—to silently chronicle his betrayal.