Benaughlin

About Benaughlin

Rising above the Florence Court estate, this distinctive sandstone and limestone peak serves as a prominent outlier of the Cuilcagh range. Its slopes are defined by the historic 'Donkey Trail', a winding path through blanket bog that offers a straightforward ascent with clear views across Upper Lough Erne.

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Did You Know?

• •The name stems from the Irish Binn Eachlabhra, meaning 'peak of the speaking horse.' Local folklore tells of a great white horse, An Chopail Bán, which was said to appear on the slopes every year on the last Sunday of July to speak to those gathered for the festival of Lughnasa.
• •The 'Donkey Trail' is a well-engineered zigzag path originally built to transport turf from the mountain's blanket bogs to Florence Court, the nearby 18th-century stately home. It remains one of the most practical routes to the summit plateau.
• •The mountain is the legendary home of Donn na Binne, an ancestor of the Maguire chiefs. Tradition held that whenever a true descendant of the Maguires passed away, a physical shard of rock would break off the hill’s craggy face.
• •From the 370-metre summit, the view stretches across the intricate patchwork of Upper Lough Erne's islands and south toward the massive gritstone plateau of Cuilcagh Mountain.
• •Known locally as 'Bin Mountain', it is perhaps the only place in Fermanagh where telling someone you are 'heading for the Bin' suggests an afternoon of fresh air rather than a household chore.