Also known as The Boys Of Trillick, Kathleen O’Shea’s, New York.
There are 7 recordings of this tune.
Ben Hill has been added to 2 tune sets.
Ben Hill has been added to 23 tunebooks.
This is an East Galway tune learned from the playing of Iniscealtra Ceili Band: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/rams/7august.ram (starts around 51:30; Found at Ceili House Archive 2004: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/1015163.html)
According to Andrew Kuntz’s Fiddler’s Companion, it was discovered as a nameless tune by Ballinakill fiddler Aggie White, and she named it after a hill near her house. http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/BELL_BH.htm#BEN_HILL_[2]
Fr. Kelly composed a reel of the same name: https://thesession.org/tunes/6899
Silly question, but is it named after a person or a hill?
That question was even sillier than I thought - I’ve just seen the answer in your comment, Slainte.
When I say Irish hornpipes are sh1t, I mean tunes like this.
This tune is included in Josephine Keegan’s ‘A Drop in the Ocean’ tunebook under the title “New York Hornpipe”, and is titled “Kathleen O‘Shea’s” by Séamus Connolly in his "Forget Me Not’ tune collection, in which he gives the story about the naming for Ben Hill. A fine hornpipe by any name.