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{{Short description|Interlocking basalt columns in Northern Ireland}}{{Other uses}}{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}

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| native_language = Irish| native_name2 = Tha Giant's Causey"The Crack: Yin giant step for mankind" The News Letter. Retrieved 16 October 2011.| native_language2 = Ulster Scots| image = Causeway-code poet-4.jpg| caption = The Giant's Causeway| locmapin = Northern Ireland5527642region:GB-CCG_type:landmarkdisplay=inline,title}}| location = County Antrim, Northern Ireland| designation1 = WHS| designation1_offname = The Giant's Causeway and Causeway CoastWorld Heritage Committee>session)| designation1_number = 369| designation1_criteria = (vii), (viii)| designation1_type = Natural| designation1_free1name = RegionLists of World Heritage Sites>Europe}}The Giant's Causeway () is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption.WEB, Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast,weblink UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 21 June 2009, 19 January 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20080119193930weblink">weblink live, BOOK,weblink Southwater, 2004, Rocks, Minerals and the Changing Earth, 19, Jack Challoner, John Farndon, Rodney Walshaw, 9781842159750, 15 May 2016, 25 January 2024,weblink live, It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about {{Convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} northeast of the town of Bushmills.It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 and a national nature reserve by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland in 1987. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named the fourth-greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom."Caves win 'natural wonder' vote" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801153636weblink |date=1 August 2017 }}. BBC, 2 August 2005. Retrieved 10 December 2006.The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although some have four, five, seven, or eight sides.JOURNAL, Meng, Qingxiang, Yan, Long, Chen, Yulong, Zhang, Qiang, 9 November 2018, Generation of numerical models of anisotropic columnar jointed rock mass using modified centroidal Voronoi diagrams, Symmetry, 10, 11, 618, 2018Symm...10..618M, 10.3390/sym10110618, free,weblink The tallest are about {{Convert|12|m|ft}} high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is {{Convert|28|m|ft}} thick in places.Much of the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site is owned and managed by the National Trust. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Northern Ireland,PRESS RELEASE, Giant's Causeway remains Northern Ireland's Top Attraction, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, 18 August 2008,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110714185239weblink">weblink 14 July 2011, 19 March 2009, dead, receiving over 998,000 visitors in 2019.WEB, Visits Made in 2022 to Visitor Attractions in Membership with ALVA,weblink Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, 23 October 2020, 13 April 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150413023806weblink">weblink live, Access to the Giant's Causeway is free of charge: it is not necessary to go via the visitor centre, which charges a fee.NEWS

Geology

Around 50 to 60 million years ago, during the Paleocene Epoch, Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive volcanic plateau. As the lava cooled, contraction occurred. Horizontal contraction fractured in a similar way to drying mud, with the cracks propagating down as the mass cooled, leaving pillarlike structures, which also fractured horizontally into "biscuits". In many cases, the horizontal fracture resulted in a bottom face that is (wikt:convex|convex), while the upper face of the lower segment is concave, producing what are called "ball and socket" joints. The size of the columns was primarily determined by the speed at which lava cooled.WEB, University of Toronto (2008, December 25). Mystery of Hexagonal Column Formations,weblink 28 February 2018, 5 February 2019,weblink live, The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic plateau called the Thulean Plateau, which formed during the Paleocene.JOURNAL, Laurent, Geoffroy, Françoise, Bergerat, Jacques, Angelier,weblinkweblink" title="archive.today/20110813062050weblink">weblink dead, 2011-08-13, Brittle tectonism in relation to the Palaeogene evolution of the Thulean/NE Atlantic domain: a study in Ulster, 10 November 2007, Geological Journal, 31, 3, 259–269, September 1996, 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1034(199609)31:33.0.CO;2-8, subscription,

Geological heritage site

In respect of its key role in the development of volcanology as a geoscience discipline, and notably the origin of basalt, the Palaeocene rocks of the Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast were included by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in its assemblage of 100 "geological heritage sites" around the world in a listing published in October 2022.WEB, The First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites,weblink IUGS International Commission on Geoheritage, IUGS, 3 November 2022, 27 October 2022,weblink live,

Legend

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner."The Giant's Causeway". The Dublin Penny Journal, issue 5 (1832), p.33 In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he is. Fionn's wife, Sadhbh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the "baby", he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn would be unable to chase him down.Jones, Richard. Myths and Legends of Britain and Ireland. New Holland Publishers, 2006. p.131 Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.Formation of basalt columns / pseudocrystals {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107063242weblink |date=7 November 2007 }}Overall, in Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill is not a giant but a hero with supernatural abilities, contrary to what this particular legend may suggest. In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), it is noted that, over time, "the pagan gods of Ireland [...] grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination until they turned into the fairies; the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger until they turned into the giants"."Giants" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425163214weblink |date=25 April 2013 }}. Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888). Sacred-Texts.com. There are no surviving pre-Christian stories about the Giant's Causeway, but it may have originally been associated with the Fomorians (Fomhóraigh);Lyle, Paul. Between Rocks and Hard Places: Discovering Ireland's Northern Landscapes. The Stationery Office, 2010. p.3 the Irish name Clochán na bhFomhóraigh or Clochán na bhFomhórach means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh". The Fomhóraigh are a race of mythological beings in Irish mythology who were sometimes described as giants and who may have originally been part of a pre-Christian pantheon.Monaghan, Patricia. The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Infobase Publishing, 2004. p.198Letitia Elizabeth Landon comments on these mythological associations in her notes to {{ws|s:Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832/The Giant’s Causeway|The Giant's Causeway]]}}, a poetical illustration to a painting by Thomas Mann Baynes.BOOK, Landon, Letitia Elizabeth, Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832,weblink picture, 1831, Fisher, Son & Co., 11 November 2022, 11 November 2022,weblink live, BOOK, Landon, Letitia Elizabeth, Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832,weblink poetical illustration, 1831, Fisher, Son & Co., 11 November 2022, 11 November 2022,weblink live,

Tourism

The Bishop of Derry visited the site in 1692. The existence of the causeway was announced to the wider world the following year by the presentation of a paper to the Royal Society from Sir Richard Bulkeley, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. The Giant's Causeway received international attention when Dublin artist Susanna Drury made watercolour paintings of it in 1739; they won Drury the first award presented by the Royal Dublin Society in 1740 and were engraved in 1743.BOOK, Arnold, Bruce, 2002, Irish Art: A Concise History, New York, Thames & Hudson, 0-500-20148-X, 62, In 1765, an entry on the causeway appeared in volume 12 of the French Encyclopédie, which was informed by the engravings of Drury's work; the engraving of the "East Prospect" appeared in a 1768 volume of plates published for the Encyclopédie."Susanna Drury, the Causeway, and the Encyclopédie, 1768" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928071442weblink |date=28 September 2006 }}. Lindahall.org. Retrieved 14 March 2007. In the caption to the plates, French geologist Nicolas Desmarest suggested, for the first time in print, that such structures were volcanic in origin.The site first became popular with tourists during the 19th century, particularly after the opening of the Giant's Causeway Tramway, and only after the National Trust took over its care in the 1960s were some of the vestiges of commercialism removed. Visitors can walk over the basalt columns that are at the edge of the sea, a half-mile walk from the entrance of the site.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

Visitor centre

(File:Giant's Causeway (14).JPG|thumb|Giant's Causeway at sunset)The causeway was without a permanent visitor centre between 2000 and 2012, as the previous building, built in 1986, burned down in 2000.WEB,weblink BBC News, Investigation into Causeway blaze, 30 April 2000, 12 September 2007, 14 April 2004,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20040414051449weblink">weblink live, While preliminary approval was given for a publicly funded (but privately managed) development by then Environment Minister and DUP member Arlene Foster in 2007,WEB,weblink BBC News, Developer set to get Causeway nod, 10 September 2007, 10 September 2007, 19 September 2020,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20200919001723weblink">weblink live, the public funding was frozen due to a perceived conflict-of-interest between the proposed private developer and the DUP.WEB,weblink BBC News, Developer's DUP link "no bearing", 11 September 2007, 12 September 2007, 11 January 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090111222253weblink">weblink live, WEB,weblink BBC News, Causeway must be public ; council, 12 September 2007, 12 September 2007, 27 August 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170827174356weblink">weblink live, Ultimately, the private developer dropped a legal challenge to the publicly funded plan,WEB,weblink BBC News, Developer ends Causeway challenge, May 2009, 25 July 2009, 14 March 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170314180249weblink">weblink live, and the new visitor centre was officially opened by 2012.WEB,weblink Causeway visitors' centre: A giant leap forward?, Belfast Telegraph, Anna, Maguire, 5 July 2012, 5 July 2012, 8 July 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120708013641weblink">weblink live, Its construction was funded by the National Trust, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, the Heritage Lottery Fund and public donations.NEWS,weblink Giants Causeway gets £9m tourist board grant, 22 March 2010, 5 July 2012, BBC, 12 July 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170712054818weblink">weblink live, Since opening, the new visitor centre has garnered mixed reviews from those visiting the causeway, for its pricing, design, contents and placement across the causeway walk descent.WEB,weblink Giants Causeway Visitor Centre Reviews, Trip Advisor, 15 September 2012, 15 September 2012, Trip Advisor, In 2018, the visitor centre was visited by 1,011,473 people.WEB, ALVA – Association of Leading Visitor Attractions,weblink alva.org.uk, 27 July 2019, 23 December 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171223011220weblink">weblink live, There was some controversy regarding the content of some exhibits in the visitor centre, which refer to the Young Earth Creationist view of the age of the Earth.NEWS,weblink National Trust in Giant's Causeway creationism row, 5 July 2012, 5 July 2012, The Independent, 27 May 2019,weblink live, WEB,weblink Causeway centre gives creationist view, 4 July 2012, 5 July 2012, U TV, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120706035642weblink">weblink 6 July 2012, While these inclusions were welcomed by the chairman of the Northern Irish evangelical group, the Caleb Foundation,WEB,weblink Online group calls for removal of creationist exhibit at Giant's Causeway, BBC Northern Ireland, 5 July 2012, 6 July 2012, 19 April 2019,weblink live, the National Trust stated that the inclusions formed only a small part of the exhibition and that the Trust "fully supports the scientific explanation for the creation of the stones 60 million years ago."WEB,weblink Trust in Causeway creationism row, 5 July 2012, 6 July 2012, Irish Independent, 7 July 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120707233640weblink">weblink live, An online campaign to remove creationist material was launched in 2012, and following this, the Trust carried out a review and concluded that they should be amended to have the scientific explanation on the causeway's origin as their primary emphasis. Creationist explanations are still mentioned but presented as a traditional belief of some religious communities rather than a competing explanation for the causeway's origins.WEB,weblink Trust amends Causeway centre "Creationist" exhibit, BBC News, 3 October 2012, 30 November 2012, 16 December 2012,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121216054128weblink">weblink live,

Notable features

Some of the structures in the area, having been subject to several million years of weathering, resemble objects, such as the Organ and Giant's Boot structures. Other features include many reddish, weathered low columns known as Giant's Eyes, created by the displacement of basalt boulders; the Shepherd's Steps; the Honeycomb; the Giant's Harp; the Chimney Stacks; the Giant's Gate and the Camel's Hump.WEB, Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland,weblink 9 November 2023, Image:Giants boot Dec2004 SeanMcClean.jpg|The Giant's BootImage:giants causeway closeup.jpg|Basalt columnsImage:The Chimney Stacks, Giants Causeway, County Antrim.jpg|The Chimney Stacks

Flora and fauna

The area is a haven for seabirds, such as fulmar, petrel, cormorant, shag, redshank, guillemot and razorbill, while the weathered rock formations host numerous plant types, including sea spleenwort, hare's-foot trefoil, vernal squill, sea fescue and frog orchid. A stromatolite colony was reportedly found at the Giant's Causeway in October 2011 – an unusual find, as stromatolites are more commonly found in warmer waters with higher saline content than that found at the causeway.Stromatolite colony found in Giant's Causeway {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229203751weblink |date=29 December 2011 }}, BBC News. 14 October 2011.

Similar structures

Basalt columns are a common volcanic feature, and they occur on many scales and with some variations in formation.BOOK, The Formation of Mountains, Florian, Neukirchen, 2022, 17, 18, Basalt columns are formed when lava that has already solidified cools down [..] The most famous location is certainly Giant's Causeway on the coast of Northern Ireland. But there are also occurrences [in Scotland, Iceland, USA, etc], 9783031113857, Springer International,

Transport access

The Belfast-Derry railway line run by Northern Ireland Railways connects to Coleraine and along the Coleraine-Portrush branch line to Portrush. Locally, Ulsterbus provides connections to the railway stations. There is a scenic walk of {{convert|7|mi}} from Portrush alongside Dunluce Castle and the Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway.{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}

See also

• List of tourist attractions in Ireland

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

• BOOK, Deane, C. Douglas, 1983, The Ulster Countryside, Belfast, Century Books, 0-903152-17-7, 1330868074,
• JOURNAL, Jagla, E. A., Rojo, A. G., 2002, Sequential fragmentation: the origin of columnar quasihexagonal patterns, Physical Review E, 65, 2, 026203, cond-mat/0003312, 33030461, 2002PhRvE..65b6203J, 10.1103/PhysRevE.65.026203, 11863628,
• BOOK, Watson, Philip S., 2000, The Giant's Causeway and the North Antrim coast, Dublin, O'Brien Press, 0-86278-675-4, 45829602,

External links

{{Commons category}}{{wikivoyage|Giant's Causeway}}{{EB1911 poster|Giant's Causeway}}

• Giant's Causeway information at the National Trust
• Website and video of the Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust
• Causeway Coast and Glens Tourism – Official Tourist Board visitor information for the Causeway and surrounding area
• Landscapes Unlocked – Aerial footage from the BBC series Sky High explaining the physical, social & economic geography of Northern Ireland

{{Geology of Northern Ireland}}{{Museums and galleries in Northern Ireland}}{{World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom}}{{County Antrim}}{{Authority control}}