Main Page Woodcuts Tour Guide Sacred Island Email me   Carrowkeel Doonaveeragh Village Caves of Kesh Knocknarea Carrowmore Cairns Hill Moytura Newgrange Knowth Dowth Loughcrew Tara Fourknocks Croagh Patrick Cong Knockma The Burren Uisneach Rathcroghan Glencolumbkille Inishmurray The Céide Fields The Aran Islands Timoney stones

Benbulben, apart from Knocknarea, is the most dramatic mountain in County Sligo. It's steep buttressed western extreme and flat top looms over the road from Sligo to Donegal like a huge barrier. The hulking outline of Benbulben is visible from all around Sligo. It quite dominates the town, which is built at the mouth of the Garavogue River, and is surrounded by mountains. Benbulben is a dominant mythical landmark, as well as an impressive physical reminder of Sligo's ancient past. The mountains hereabouts were sculpted during the ice ages, resulting in some usual and wonderful shapes in the Sligo area. The mountain is well known in Sligo's mythological tradition. Fionn and the Fianna loved to hunt there, and it was there that Fionn found his son Oisin. Here also is the setting for the final tragic scene in the saga of Diarmuid and Grainne. Fionn set up Diarmuid by enticing him to a hunt on Benbulben, knowing well that it was likely to be the death of Diarmuid.There were many loacl traditions about the mountain which regarded it as a major Sidhe of the Túatha dé Danann, and the young Evan Wentz collected stories around the mountain in 1911, accompanied by Yeats and AE.