Benbulbin

{{Short description|Mountain in County Sligo, Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Benbulbin | native_name = {{native name|ga|Binn Ghulbain}} | image = Benbulbenmount.jpg | image_caption = Benbulbin's northern side on a cloudy day. | elevation_m = 526 | elevation_ref = | listing = Marilyn | location = County Sligo, Ireland | range = Dartry Mountains | map = Ireland | map_caption = Location in Ireland | label_position = left | map_size = 240 | coordinates = {{coord|54|22|N|8|28|W|region:IE}} | grid_ref_Ireland = G692463 | topo = OSi ''Discovery'' 16 | easiest_route = Hike }}

'''Benbulbin''' ({{langx|ga|Binn Ghulbain}}),<ref>[http://www.logainm.ie/en/112008 Benbulbin]. Placenames Database of Ireland.</ref> sometimes '''Benbulben''' or '''Ben Bulben''', is a steep-sided and flat-topped mountain in County Sligo, Ireland. It is part of the Dartry Mountains, in an area sometimes called "Yeats Country".<ref name="MountainViews">{{cite web|url=http://mountainviews.ie/mv/index.php?mtnindex=402|title=Mountain Views: Benbulbin in area Dartry Mountains|access-date=2007-04-04}}</ref><ref name="rd-book">{{cite book |title=Reader's Digest Natural Wonders of the World |url=https://archive.org/details/readersdigestnat00sche |url-access=registration |year=1988 |publisher=The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. |isbn=0-89577-087-3}}</ref><ref name="yeats-country">{{cite web | title = Yeats Country Drive Sligo | url = http://www.discoverireland.com/us/ireland-things-to-see-and-do/listings/product/?fid=FI_46826 | access-date = 28 July 2012}}</ref> Benbulbin, {{Convert|526|m|ft|abbr=on}} high, formed as a nunatak during the last Ice Age.<ref name="The Geological Society Benbulben">{{cite web|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/GeositesBenbulben|title=The Geological Society Benbulben}}</ref>

Benbulbin is a protected site, designated as a County Geological Site by Sligo County Council.<ref name="GeologicalHeritage">{{cite book | last=Williams | first=Mary Anne | year=2008 | pages=21, 22 | title=Landscapes, Rocks and Fossils: The Geological Heritage of County Sligo: An Action of the County Sligo Heritage Plan | publisher=Sligo Regional Technical College | isbn=978-0955565311}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Marese McDonagh|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0314/1224242850486.html|title=Yeats-link 19th century house could face demolition|date=14 March 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=The Irish Times|quote=Sligo Borough Council has confirmed there is a recommendation in the recently published draft Sligo Environs Development Plan that Markievicz House be removed from the list of protected structures. If the elected members vote to delist the building, which in the late 1800s was home to Yeats's maternal grandparents William and Elizabeth Pollexfen, it clears the way for its demolition. [...] Stella Mew, chief executive of the Yeats Society, which is preparing for the 50th International Yeats Summer School this summer, said Sligo's Yeatsian heritage was being "whittled away piece by piece". "Luckily Ben Bulben and Knocknarea are sacrosanct – they cannot delist the mountains or they might be at risk too," she said.}}</ref>

==Etymology== "Benbulbin", "Benbulben" and "Ben Bulben" are all anglicisations of the Irish name "Binn Ghulbain". "Binn" means "peak" or "mountain"; "ghulbain" may mean beak or jaw, or may refer to Conall Gulban, a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, who was associated with the mountain.<ref name="MountainViews" /><ref name="Placenames">{{cite book | last=McGarry | first=James | year=1976 | page=[https://archive.org/details/placenamesinwrit0000mcga/page/21 21] | title=Place names in the writings of William Butler Yeats | url=https://archive.org/details/placenamesinwrit0000mcga | url-access=registration | publisher=Smythe | isbn=0901072397}}</ref>

==Geology== [[File:Benbulben love.jpg|thumb|Benbulbin from Mullaghmore Head, with Classiebawn Castle in the foreground]]

===Formation=== thumb|High plateau of Benbulbin Benbulbin was shaped during the ice age, when Ireland was under glaciers. Originally it was a large plateau. Glaciers moving from the northeast to southwest shaped it into its present distinct formation.<ref name="rd-book" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRL-SLIGO/2000-07/0962914979|title=RootsWeb: IRL-SLIGO-L Climbing Benbulben|access-date=2007-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003162353/http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRL-SLIGO/2000-07/0962914979|archive-date=2011-10-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Rock composition=== Benbulbin, and the Dartry Mountains as a whole, are composed of limestones on top of mudstones. These rocks formed in the area approximately 345-330 million years ago in the Viséan Stage of the Carboniferous Period. The environment was a shallow sea. Uppermost in the limestone layer is a thicker, harder limestone called the Dartry Limestone Formation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/Lexicon/NamedRockUnit/DARL.html|publisher=British Geological Survey|title=Dartry Limestone Formation|access-date=16 February 2023}}</ref> Below this is a thinner transitional limestone formation – the Glencar Limestone Formation. Further down, the lower slopes consist of shaly mudstone known as the Benbulben Shale Formation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/Lexicon/NamedRockUnit/BBSF.html|publisher=British Geological Survey|title=Benbulben Shale Formation|access-date=16 February 2023}}</ref> Scree deposits are found near the base.<ref name="rd-book" /><ref name="GeologicalHeritage" />

Fossils exist throughout the layers of the mountains. All layers have many fossilised sea shells. The shale layer also holds some corals.<ref name="GeologicalHeritage" />

Baryte was mined at Glencarbury near Benbulbin in the Dartry range between 1894 and 1979.<ref name="GeologicalHeritage" />

==Climbing== thumb|Benbulbin across Sligo Bay Benbulbin is an established walking destination.<ref>{{cite news|author=Marese McDonagh|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0107/1224261824296.html|title=10-fold increase in AE patients in Sligo|date=7 January 2010|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=The Irish Times|quote="These are not people climbing Ben Bulben," he stressed. "This is happening outside people's front doors when they are walking on footpaths or crossing the road."}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Lorna Siggins|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/education/2009/0324/1224243311988.html|title=Arrival of the fittest|date=24 March 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=The Irish Times|quote=She is said to be looking forward to climbing Ben Bulben again, having already done so several times as a student.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/tv/leargas/andymcsharry.html|title=Léargas|access-date=7 February 2010|publisher=RTÉ|quote=As he ascends Ben Bulben, he acutely feels the lack of certainty about his right of access to the uplands.}}</ref> If climbed by the north face, it is a hazardous climb. That side bears the brunt of the high winds and storms that come in from the Atlantic Ocean. However, if approached by the south side, it is an easy walk, since that side slopes very gently. From the summit there are views over the coastal plain of north County Sligo and the Atlantic ocean.<ref name="rd-book" /> The land adjacent to the western edge of the ridge is privately owned farmland and not accessible to the general public. However, there is a paved path up the south face to the east near Glencar Waterfall just over the County Leitrim border.

==Walking== One of the trails running alongside Benbulbin mountain is the Gortarowey Looped Walk, which runs both through the forest and out in the open, overlooking Benbulbin and Donegal Bay. It is {{convert|5.5|km|0}} in length and takes approximately 1.5 hours to walk.<ref>{{cite web | title = Benbulben (Gortarowey) Looped Walk | url=https://sligowalks.ie/walks/benbulbin-gortarowey-looped-walk/|website=Sligo Walks|access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref>

==Flora and fauna== Benbulbin hosts a variety of plants, including some found nowhere else in Ireland. Many are Arctic–alpine species, due to the mountain's height, which allows for cooler temperature at altitude than the surrounding terrain. These plants are believed to have evolved and established themselves just after the glaciers that formed Benbulbin had receded. In 2012, research revealed that the fringed sandwort found growing on Benbulbin (found nowhere else in the country) has, indeed, been present since the last ice age; the endemic plants are thought to be collectively around 100,000 years old. This discovery reopens the debate over whether or not Ireland's ecology, as we know it today, predates the Ice Age.<ref>{{cite news|author=Edel O'Connell|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/researchers-find-first-hardy-irish-plant-that-beat-ice-age-3203163.html|title=Researchers find first hardy Irish plant that beat Ice Age|date=18 August 2012|access-date=5 September 2012|newspaper=Irish Independent}}</ref> Other notable flora found on Benbulbin includes Alpine saxifrage, ''Arabidopsis'' spp., arctic meadow-rue, bluebells, ''Meconopsis'' spp., ''Poa alpina'', ''Polystichum lonchitis'', and snowbed willow.

Wild badger, hare and red fox may be seen in the area.<ref name="rd-book" /> The formation also hosts a population of red-billed chough—birds with a similar appearance to crows, ravens and other Corvids, albeit with bright red bills.

==In Irish history== [[File:County Sligo - Carrowmore Passage Tomb - 20190922144246.jpg|thumb|One of the Carrowmore tombs and Benbulbin]] thumb|right|Northern side

===Irish legends=== Benbulbin is the setting of several Irish legends. It is said to be one of the hunting grounds of the Fianna, a band of warriors who are said to have lived in the 3rd century. One example is the story of ''The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne'',<ref name="Conner 1998 p. 14" /> in which the warrior Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Diarmuid) is tricked by Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) into fighting an enchanted boar, which later kills the warrior by piercing his heart with its tusk. McCool is also said to have found his long-lost son Oisín at this location. The mountain is said to be Diarmuid and Gráinne's resting place. Also, in the 6th century, St. Columba fought a battle on the plain below Benbulbin at Cúl Dreimhne (Cooladrumman) for the right to copy a Psalter he had borrowed from St. Finnian.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bright |first=Michael |title=1001 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die |year=2005 |publisher=Quintet Publishing Limited |isbn=0-7641-5817-1 }}</ref>

===Irish Civil War=== On 20 September 1922, during the Irish Civil War, an Irish Republican Army column, including an armoured car were cornered in Sligo. The car was destroyed by another armoured car belonging to the Irish Free State's National Army, and six of the IRA soldiers fled up the Benbulbin's slopes. In the end, all were killed, allegedly after they had surrendered. They are known as the "Noble Six". Brigadier Seamus Devins TD, Div. Adj. Brian MacNeill, Capt. Harry Benson, Lieut. Paddy Carroll, Vols. Tommy Langan and Joe Banks were those killed on the mountain.<ref>[http://www.geograph.ie/photo/1905917 Sligo: Benbulbin "The Noble Six Cross"]© Copyright Michael Murtagh and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. Retrieved 3 June 2012.</ref> The six anti-treaty fighters were hunted down on the slopes of Benbulbin and put to death by Free State forces which were out to avenge the killing of Brigadier Joseph Ring eight days earlier. Two of those killed and Ring were ancestors of current and recent politicians: Ring is the grand uncle of Michael Ring, McNeill is the uncle of former Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell and Devins is the grandfather of Jimmy Devins.<ref name="Another link in the Ben Bulben story"/> Mary O'Rourke once narrated a radio documentary telling how her grandmother's home was used as a safehouse.<ref name="Another link in the Ben Bulben story">{{cite web|url=http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?Itemid=89&id=32&option=com_content&task=view|title=Another link in the Ben Bulben story|date=4 May 2006|access-date=7 February 2010|publisher=The Mayo News}}</ref>

===Plane crashes=== During World War II there were two plane crashes in the Dartry mountains close to Benbulbin.

On 9 December 1943, a USAAF Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress plane (en route from Goose Bay, Labrador to Prestwick, Scotland) crashed on Truskmore just east of Benbulbin. 10 airmen were aboard, of whom three died, two at the scene and one from injuries sustained in the crash.<ref name="plane-crash" /> Local residents undertook a rescue mission, taking the injured off the mountain where they were then transferred to Sligo County Hospital. Substantial wreckage of the plane stayed on the mountain for many years following the crash and today limited amounts of aircraft fragments still remain at the site.<ref name="plane-crash">{{cite web | title = Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, Sligo, December 1943 | first=Dennis P. | last=Burke | url = http://www.ww2irishaviation.com/42-31420.htm | access-date = 4 October 2020}}</ref>

Near the location of the Flying Fortress crash, there was an earlier crash also involving a military aircraft. On 21 March 1941, an RAF Catalina flying boat (AM265) using the Donegal Corridor crashed into the mountain at Glenade, County Leitrim on the east side of Truskmore. All nine airmen aboard died in the crash.<ref name="plane-crash" /><ref>{{cite web|author=Joe McGowan|url=http://www.historyireland.com/volumes/volume11/issue2/news/?id=113647|title=The Donegal corridor and the Battle of the Atlantic|date=2003|access-date=5 September 2012|publisher=History Ireland}}</ref>

===Recent history=== In the 1970s and 1980s, Sinn Féin had engaged in a slogan campaign around the theme 'Brits out of Ireland'. Roads and walls throughout Ireland had been marked with these slogans as was Benbulbin in 1977. It was marked first with 'Brits Out' (180 ft wide and 25 ft high) and then later with the slogan 'H-Block'.{{Citation needed|reason=source(s) likely needed for this paragraph. While the Benbulbin slogans are widely recalled in Sligo, few sources still exist for photos etc. as mentioned in Talk. The broader Sinn Féin campaign should also have a citation.|date=July 2012}}

Benbulbin overlooks the village of Mullaghmore, the site of the assassination of Lord Mountbatten in 1979.<ref>{{cite news|author=Kim Bielenberg|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/the-day-death-came-from-a-clear-blue-sky-1817176.html|title=The day death came from a clear blue sky|date=11 July 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=Irish Independent}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Valerie Shanley|url=http://www.tribune.ie/magazine/article/2009/aug/23/the-shadow-of-mullaghmore/|title=The shadow of Mullaghmore|date=23 August 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=Sunday Tribune | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100909201920/http://www.tribune.ie/magazine/article/2009/aug/23/the-shadow-of-mullaghmore/ | archive-date=9 September 2010}}</ref>

As stated above, Benbulbin is a protected site, designated as a County Geological Site by Sligo County Council. However, in May 2018, 'Vote No' (8th amendment) campaigners erected a large "NO" sign, severely impacting the iconic view. Sligo County Council responded on social media with the [https://twitter.com/sligococo/status/997045895492403201 following statement], "''As the land where the lettering was placed is commonage, Sligo County Council has no role in this matter''". The sign was removed the next day.<ref>{{cite news|author=Rónán Duffy |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/ben-bulben-no-4020029-May2018/|title=Pro-life group says the 'No' on Ben Bulben was 'vandalised' and removed|date= 18 May 2018|access-date= 18 June 2022|newspaper=TheJournal.ie}}</ref>

==Notable people== The athlete Mary Cullen is from nearby Drumcliffe.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/athletics-cullen-back-on-track-after-year-from-hell-1965202.html|title=Athletics: Cullen back on track after year from hell|date=5 December 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=Irish Independent|quote=She's from picturesque Drumcliffe, in the heart of Yeats country, surrounded by idyllic sea, sands and Benbulbin but, ironically, the weather has been unseasonably foul and her preparations epitomise the loneliness of the long-distance runner.}}</ref> Andy "The Bull" McSharry, involved in a famous 17-year-long dispute over allowing access rights over his land, lives near Benbulbin.<ref>{{cite news|author=Anita Guidera|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hills-alive-as-17year-walker-row-resolved-1892640.html|title=Hills alive as 17-year walker row resolved|date=22 September 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=Irish Independent}}</ref>

==In literature== Benbulbin features prominently in the poetry of W. B. Yeats, after whom Yeats Country is named.<ref name="Conner 1998 p. 14" /> County Sligo is considered integral to the poet's work.<ref name="Poetry fans tread softly on trail of Yeats's most beloved haunts"/> The mountain is one of the destinations on the Passport Trail of the poet's life.<ref name="Poetry fans tread softly on trail of Yeats's most beloved haunts">{{cite news|author=Anita Guidera|url=http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/arts/poetry-fans-tread-softly-on-trail-of-yeatss-most-beloved-haunts-1618621.html|title=Poetry fans tread softly on trail of Yeats's most beloved haunts|date=29 January 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=Irish Independent}}</ref>

Yeats wrote the following in ''The Celtic Twilight'': {{rquote|center|''But for Ben Bulben and Knocknarea, Many a poor sailor'd be cast away''.<ref>{{cite news|author=Christopher Somerville|url=http://www.independent.ie/travel/inside-ireland/walk-of-the-week-the-rosses-co-sligo-1936776.html|title=Walk of the week: The Rosses Co Sligo|date=7 November 2009|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=Irish Independent}}</ref>}}

The mountain is also mentioned in Yeats's ''On a Political Prisoner'', in which he recalls the Countess Markiewicz riding past it to political meetings.<ref name="Conner 1998 p. 14" /> Yeats's famous poem, ''Under Ben Bulben'', is essentially a description of Yeats Country. It describes the sights that he saw in Yeats Country. The following is an excerpt from ''Under Ben Bulben'': {{rquote|center|''Under bare Ben Bulben's head In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid. An ancestor was rector there Long years ago, a church stands near, By the road an ancient cross. No marble, no conventional phrase; On limestone quarried near the spot By his command these words are cut:

Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by!'' |Under Ben Bulben, W.B. Yeats}}

This was Yeats's final poem, published in ''The Irish Times''.<ref name="WB Yeats laid to rest in Drumcliffe">{{cite news|author=Joe Joyce|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0918/1224254794726.html|title=WB Yeats laid to rest in Drumcliffe|date=18 September 1948|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=The Irish Times|quote=The scene at Drumcliffe was set by Yeats himself. In his last poem, published in ''The Irish Times'', he wrote: Under bare Ben Bulben's head / In Drumcliffe Churchyard Yeats is laid . . .|archive-date=18 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018082708/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0918/1224254794726.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He is buried in Drumcliffe Churchyard, in the shadow of Benbulbin.<ref name="Conner 1998 p. 14">{{cite book | last=Conner | first=L.I. | title=A Yeats Dictionary: Persons and Places in the Poetry of William Butler Yeats | publisher=Syracuse University Press | series=Irish studies | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-8156-2770-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glhvNnjjNagC&pg=PA14 | page=14}}</ref><ref name="WB Yeats laid to rest in Drumcliffe"/><ref>{{cite news|author=Orla Tinsley|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2009/0718/1224250893213.html|title=Irish coasting|date=18 July 1948|access-date=7 February 2010|newspaper=The Irish Times|quote=After a quick leg-stretch in Mullaghmore we travel past the looming presence of Ben Bulben on our way to Yeats's grave at Drumcliff.}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery> Image:Benbulben4.jpg|From the south. Image:Strandhill2.jpg|Eastern view Image:BenBulben.jpg|Back of Benbulbin, as seen from Gleniff Horseshoe </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Ireland/County_Sligo/Sligo-294263/Things_To_Do-Sligo-Benbulben_Mountain-R-1.html Tourist information] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605224106/http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Ireland/County_Sligo/Sligo-294263/Things_To_Do-Sligo-Benbulben_Mountain-R-1.html |date=5 June 2011 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060906014300/http://home.wlu.edu/~connerm/ENG105A01/Group4/Ben_Bulben1.htm An image of Benbulbin with a small caption] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070603105353/http://www.lookaroundireland.com/scenicinteractive/benbulben.htm Information, pictures and a panorama of Benbulbin] * [http://www.irelandblog.net/index.php/2007/11/13/hiking-the-benbulben-sligo/ Hiking the Benbulben and the old coal mine] * [http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=90506&d=1252678486 Sinn Féin Anti British Slogans 1977]

===Yeats=== * [http://www.inst.at/trans/15Nr/05_10/armstrong15.htm An essay on the Benbulbin in Yeats' poetry] * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070826191055/http://www.brilliantireland.com/products/inc_productdetails.cfm/product_key/42 A second site detailing Benbulbin in Yeats' poetry]}} * [http://www.rte.ie/arts/2009/0128/theartsshow.html Reading]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} of "Under Ben Bulben" by Jim Norton on RTÉ Radio 1

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benbulbin}} Category:Marilyns of Ireland Category:Mountains and hills of County Sligo Category:Special Areas of Conservation in the Republic of Ireland Category:Protected areas of County Sligo Category:Natura 2000 in Ireland Category:Nunataks