Bushmills is a small village on the River Bush, a short drive from Ballymoney, known well beyond Northern Ireland for one thing: whiskey.
The Old Bushmills Distillery
On 20 April 1608, King James I granted Sir Thomas Phillips a licence to distil in the Bushmills area — the earliest documented licence to distil whiskey in Ireland, and the reason Bushmills calls itself the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery. It’s still producing today, triple- distilled using water from St Columb’s Rill (a tributary of the River Bush) and matured in a mix of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Visitor tours and tastings run regularly — check current times before visiting.
Sergeant Robert Quigg, VC
Bushmills is also home to a real war hero: Robert Quigg, born nearby at Ardihannon in 1885, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme. Under heavy shelling, he went out seven times searching for his missing platoon commander and brought back a wounded soldier on each trip. Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Quigg in Bushmills on 28 June 2016, standing on a plinth of seven Causeway stones — one for each man he rescued. He died in 1955.
Getting there
Bushmills sits directly on the Causeway Coastal Route, a short drive from both Ballymoney and the Giant’s Causeway — the Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Railway, a narrow- gauge heritage line, connects the two.