The
River Bush (from the ) is an
Ulster river in
County Antrim,
Northern Ireland. The River Bush is long. The river's source is in the Antrim Hills at 480m. From there the river flows northwest, with a bend at the town of
Armoy. It then flows west, passing through
Stranocum, and then bends north, passing through
Bushmills before reaching the sea at
Portballintrae on the North Antrim coast. It flows through a fertile valley devoted to grassland-based agriculture with limited arable cropping. The underlying geology is
basalt and the water is slightly
alkaline with
magnesium making an unusually large contribution to total hardness. The river supports indigenous stocks of
Atlantic salmon and
brown trout.
Saint Columb's Rill, which is a tributary of the river, is the source of water used for distilling
Bushmills whiskey.