Giant's Causeway

Much of the area of coast from Runkerry round to Dunseverick Castle was acquired by the National Trust between 1961 and 1964. The old name for the Giant's Causeway was clachanafomhaire roughly translated as 'the stepping stones for the Fomorians'. These were small dark people who supposedly inhabited Ireland before the Gaelic-speaking people arrived.

Complex falling and rising of sea and land over several million years left recognisable features in the bays and around the headlands. it would be wrong to assume that this is a static coastline; changes take place all the time.

The Giant's Causeway formed where molten lava flowed into a valley. The lavas became solid red-hot rock, but as they cooled they contracted and vertical cracks opened which ran to the depth of the new rocks, so forming columns. Thus the columns developed at right angles to the cooling surface. If the process had been entirely even all the columns would have been hexagonal, but in fact only half of them are. The columns also shrank vertically which is how the convex and concave 'ball and socket' joints were formed. Four, seven and eight-sided columns are known and there are imperfect instances of nine and ten-sided columns.

The Giant's Causeway was first mentioned in visitor' accounts and descriptions in the last decade of the Seventeenth Century. In the latter part of the Eighteenth Century visitors began to arrive in increasing numbers. In 1883, a hydroelectric tram began a service along the picturesque coastal route from Portrush, past Dunluce Castle to Bushmills. This line was extended in 1887 to a terminus in the grounds of the Causeway Hotel thus bringing visitors within easy reach of the Giant's Causeway. The tram operated until 1949 when competition from motor cars and public road transport ended a unique experience for visitors.
The section of tramline from Ballaghmore Road near Portballintrae across the golf course and dunes to the site of the former terminus near the Causeway Hotel has been re-developed as a stream train route, a popular tourist attraction for visitors to the area.

The Causeway attracted so many visitors in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries that various cottage industries built up. There was an old lady looking after the wishing well and there were jarveys and boatmen, and huts and stalls for souvenirs. There were also gates and an entrance charge was made. In 1962, the National trust removed the gates and huts and admitted the public free of charge. A Trust information centre opened and a small cafe provided. In 1986 Moyle District Council built a large visitor centre. This unfortunately some of the building was destroyed in a fire in 2000 and a temporary building has been put up. At the moment there is an international competition to design a new building and an announcement is due in Autumn 2005.

A Tale of Two Giants

The Giant's Causeway looks man-made, so who was its colossal creator? There are many legends about Finn MacCool and the Causeway Coast. Some say that he built the Causeway to bring his wife across to Ulster from the Scottish island of Staffa.
Another story told is that be built the Causeway so that his great rival Benandonner, a Scottish giant, could travel on dry land to engage in a decisive battle. When Finn saw him approaching he took fright as Benandonner was a larger and more fiercesome rival than he had anticipated. Finn fled home where his wife oonagh disguised him as a baby and place dhim in a cradle. When Benandonner appeared, Oonagh invited him in for tea and asked him to keep quiet so as not to disturb Finn's 'baby'. Benandonner looked at the massive 'baby', took fright and exclaiming that if this was the child he had no wish to meet the father, fled back to Scotland. He ripped up the Causeway as he went in fear of the awful Finn pursuing him home.

The Girona

In October 1588, the Girona, a galleass of the Spanish Armada sank off Lacada Point. The Armada had been thwarted by the English fleet in the Channel and a great many ships were forced to sail round the north of Scotland and west of Ireland to return home. She foundered on the Causeway Coast with only five of the thirteen hundred men on board surviving.
The discovery of the Girona in 1967 by Robert Stenuit was one of the most important nautical archaeological finds of modern times. Items salvaged were purchased for the nation in 1972 and are held in a permanent collection at the Ulster Museum, Belfast. The area where the ship wreck was discovered is now a protected Marine Archaeological Site.