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Benbulbin

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Ben Bulben (Binn Ghulbain)
Ben Bulben's northern side on a cloudy day.
Highest point
Elevation526 m (1,726 ft)
ListingMarilyn
Coordinates54°22′N 8°28′W / 54.367°N 8.467°W / 54.367; -8.467
Geography
Map
LocationSligo,  Ireland
Parent rangeDartry Mountains
OSI/OSNI gridG692463
Topo mapOSi Discovery 16

Ben Bulben, sometimes spelt Benbulben or Benbulbin (from the Template:Lang-ga), is a large rock formation in County Sligo, Ireland. It is part of the Dartry Mountains, in an area sometimes called "Yeats Country".[1][2][3]

Ben Bulben is a protected site, designated as a County Geological Site by Sligo County Council.[4][5]

Etymology

"Ben Bulben", "Benbulben", and "Benbulbin" are all anglicizations of the Irish name "Binn Ghulbain". "Binn" means "peak" or "mountain", while "Ghulbain" refers to Conall Gulban, a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages: "Gulban's Peak".[6][1] Another translation is "jaw-shaped peak".[1]

Geology

Formation

A snow-capped view of Ben Bulben, seen from Streedagh Strand, near Grange.

Ben Bulben was formed during the ice age, when Ireland was under glaciers. Originally it was a large ridge. The moving glaciers shaped it into its present distinct formation. [2][7]

Rock composition

Ben Bulben, and the Dartry Range, is composed of limestones on top of mudstones. These rocks formed in the area approximately 320 million years ago. Uppermost in the limestone layer is a thicker, harder limestone called the Dartry Limestone Formation. 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. Scree deposits are found near the base.[4][2]

Fossils exist throughout the layers of the mountains. All layers have many fossilised sea shells. The shale layer also holds some corals.[4]

Barytes was mined at Glencarbury near Ben Bulben in the Dartry range between 1894 and 1979.[4]

Ben Bulben, viewed from The Hill in Sligo Town

Climbing

Ben Bulben is an established climbing destination.[8][9][10] If climbed by the north face, it is a dangerous climb. That side bears the brunt of the high winds and storms that come in from the Atlantic Ocean. However, if climbed by the south side, it is an easy climb, due to the fact that side slopes very gently. Upon reaching the summit, the climber is rewarded with a magnificent view of Yeats Country.[2] The land adjacent to the impressive 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.

Flora and fauna

Ben Bulben hosts a unique variety of plants, including some organisms found nowhere else in Ireland. Many are arctic-alpine plants, due to the mountain's height, which allows for cooler temperatures than is normal. These plants were deposited when the glaciers that created Ben Bulben melted. Wild hares and foxes inhabit Ben Bulben.[2]

In Irish history

Another view of Ben Bulben's northern side, this time from a farther distance.

Celtic legends

Ben Bulben is the setting of many Celtic legends. It is said to be the dwelling of the Fianna, a band of warriors who lived in the 3rd century. One example is a story in which the warrior Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Diarmuid) is tricked by the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) into fighting an enchanted boar, which later kills the warrior by piercing his heart with its tusk. The mountain is said to be Diarmuid and Gráinne's resting place. Also, in the 6th century, St. Columba led 3,000 soldiers up Ben Bulben to fight for the right for the saint to copy from a Psalter he had borrowed from St. Finnian.[11]

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 Ben Bulben'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 McNeill, Capt. Harry Benson, Lieut. Paddy Carroll, Vols. Tommy Langan and Joe Banks were those killed on the mountain.[12] The six anti-treaty fighters were hunted down on the slopes of Ben Bulben 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.[13] Mary O'Rourke once narrated a radio documentary telling how her grandmother's home was used as a safehouse.[13]

  • Ben Bulben's northern side.
    Ben Bulben's northern side.
  • Another photograph of the northern side.
    Another photograph of the northern side.
  • As seen from the south.
    As seen from the south.
  • Bun Bulben, with Sligo Bay in the foreground.
    Bun Bulben, with Sligo Bay in the foreground.
  • An eastern view.
    An eastern view.
  • A section of the north face of Ben Bulben.
    A section of the north face of Ben Bulben.
  • The summit of Ben Bulben.
    The summit of Ben Bulben.
  • A snowy Ben Bulben, seen from Streedagh Strand.
    A snowy Ben Bulben, seen from Streedagh Strand.
  • Taken on the N15, north of Sligo town, near the townland of Shannoneighter.
    Taken on the N15, north of Sligo town, near the townland of Shannoneighter.

Recent history

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 Ben Bulben. 10 airmen were aboard, of whom three died either at the scene or of injuries sustained in the 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.[14]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Sinn Féin had engaged in a slogan campaign around the theme 'Brits out of Ireland'. Roads and walls throughout the Republic had been marked with these slogans as was Ben Bulben 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]

Ben Bulben overlooks the village of Mullaghmore, known for the assassination of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma there in 1979.[15][16]

Notable people

The athlete Mary Cullen is from nearby Drumcliffe.[17] Andy "The Bull" McSharry, involved in a famous 17-year-long dispute over his land, lives near Ben Bulben.[18]

In literature

Ben Bulben features prominently in the poetry of W. B. Yeats, after whom Yeats Country is named. County Sligo is considered integral to the poet's work.[19] The mountain is one of the destinations on the Passport Trail of the poet's life.[19]

Yeats wrote the following in The Celtic Twilight:

But for Ben Bulben and Knocknarea,
Many a poor sailor'd be cast away.[20]

Yeats's famous poem, Under Ben Bulben, is basically a description of Yeats Country. It describes the sights that he saw in Yeats Country. The following is an excerpt from Under Ben Bulben:

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.[21] He is now buried in nearby Drumcliffe Churchyard.[21][22]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ben Bulben.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Mountain Views: Benbulbin in area Dartry Mountains". Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  2. ^ a b c d e Reader's Digest Natural Wonders of the World. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. 1988. ISBN 0-89577-087-3.
  3. ^ "Yeats Country Drive Sligo". Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d Williams, Mary Anne (2008). Landscapes, Rocks and Fossils: The Geological Heritage of County Sligo: An Action of the County Sligo Heritage Plan. Sligo Regional Technical College. pp. 21, 22. ISBN 0955565316.
  5. ^ Marese McDonagh (14 March 2009). "Yeats-link 19th century house could face demolition". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 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. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ McGarry, James (1976). Place names in the writings of William Butler Yeats. Smythe. p. 21. ISBN 0901072397.
  7. ^ "RootsWeb: IRL-SLIGO-L Climbing Benbulben". Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  8. ^ Marese McDonagh (7 January 2010). "10-fold increase in AE patients in Sligo". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 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. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Lorna Siggins (24 March 2009). "Arrival of the fittest". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010. She is said to be looking forward to climbing Ben Bulben again, having already done so several times as a student. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Léargas". RTÉ. Retrieved 7 February 2010. As he ascends Ben Bulben, he acutely feels the lack of certainty about his right of access to the uplands.
  11. ^ Bright, Michael (2005). 1001 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7641-5817-1.
  12. ^ Sligo: Benbulbin "The Noble Six Cross"© Copyright Michael Murtagh and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  13. ^ a b "Another link in the Ben Bulben story". Mayo News. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ Dennis P. Burke. "B-17 Flying Fortress 42-31420" (PDF). Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  15. ^ Kim Bielenberg (11 July 2009). "The day death came from a clear blue sky". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Valerie Shanley (23 August 2009). "The shadow of Mullaghmore". Sunday Tribune. Archived from the original on 9 September 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Athletics: Cullen back on track after year from hell". Irish Independent. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2010. She's from picturesque Drumcliffe, in the heart of Yeats country, surrounded by idyllic sea, sands and Ben Bulben but, ironically, the weather has been unseasonably foul and her preparations epitomise the loneliness of the long-distance runner. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Anita Guidera (22 September 2009). "Hills alive as 17-year walker row resolved". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ a b Anita Guidera (29 January 2009). "Poetry fans tread softly on trail of Yeats's most beloved haunts". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ Christopher Somerville (7 November 2009). "Walk of the week: The Rosses Co Sligo". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ a b Joe Joyce (18 September 1948). "WB Yeats laid to rest in Drumcliffe". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 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 . . . {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ Orla Tinsley (18 July 1948). "Irish coasting". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 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. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

Yeats

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