Big Collin

About Big Collin

Rising above the village of Tildarg, this prominent Antrim Marilyn offers a straightforward moorland ascent. While modest in height, its isolation ensures wide-reaching views across the Six Mile Water valley toward Lough Neagh. To the north, the iconic profile of Slemish stands out clearly against the plateau's rolling horizon.

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Did You Know?

• •The name likely derives from the Irish 'Cuilleann', meaning holly, a common botanical marker in Ulster placenames that often survives even where the trees have long vanished from the exposed slopes.
• •It is paired with its smaller neighbour, Little Collin; despite the modest elevations, Big Collin is a Marilyn, meaning it has at least 150 metres of topographic prominence.
• •From the summit, the expansive waters of Lough Neagh dominate the western horizon, while the masts of Divis and Black Mountain are visible to the south across the County Antrim countryside.
• •The hill and its surrounding moorland are part of a landscape increasingly defined by renewable energy, with the spinning turbines of the Elliot’s Hill wind farm situated nearby on the same upland ridge.
• •Despite being named 'Big' Collin, the summit stands at a humble 353 metres, proving that in the rolling landscape of the Antrim plateau, size is strictly a matter of local perspective.