Benbulbin (Irish: Binn Ghulbain),[1] sometimes Benbulben or Ben Bulben, is a large flat-topped nunatak[2] rock formation in County Sligo, Ireland.

These rocks formed in the area approximately 345-330 million years ago in the Viséan Stage of the Carboniferous Period.

[4] 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.

[16] Other notable flora found on Benbulbin includes Alpine saxifrage, Arabidopsis spp., arctic meadow-rue, bluebells, Meconopsis spp., Poa alpina, Polystichum lonchitis, and snowbed willow.

[4] 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.

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.

[19] 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.

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.

[21] 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.

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.

[citation needed] Benbulbin overlooks the village of Mullaghmore, the site of the assassination of Lord Mountbatten in 1979.

[26] Andy "The Bull" McSharry, involved in a famous 17-year-long dispute over allowing access rights over his land, lives near Benbulbin.

Yeats wrote the following in The Celtic Twilight: But for Ben Bulben and Knocknarea, Many a poor sailor'd be cast away.

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.