A renowned Irish UNESCO World Heritage site, estimated to be up to 60 million years old, is being damaged by tourists determined to leave their mark on the place, resulting in a plea from the UK’s National Trust for visitors to “leave no trace.”
The Giant’s Causeway on Northern Ireland’s County Antrim coast is a distinctive volcanic rock formation made up of around 40,000 hexagonal basalt stepping stones that lead out from the area’s cliffs into the sea. Legend has it that the mythological Irish giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), built the causeway across the North Channel towards Scotland, in order to fight a Scottish counterpart.
In reality, the natural phenomenon arose from molten basalt coming up through chalk to form a volcanic plateau made up of pillars that then fractured horizontally into “biscuits”.
Special landscape crumbling and stained
The site has been a tourist attraction since the late 1700s and now regularly draws over half a million people every year. Dr Cliff Henry, from the National Trust, said visitors “really love and cherish the Giant’s Causeway, and many form deep personal connections to this special landscape.”
But all those visits are taking their toll because of a tradition that sees visitors wedge coins from their country of origin in between the rocks. Those coins then rust, “expanding to three times their original thickness, which puts huge pressure on the surrounding rock, causing it to crumble,” Henry explained. And the practice not only crumbles the rocks but it also creates “unsightly streaks of copper, nickel and iron oxides … staining the stones where the coins are corroding.”
Removing coins set to cost tens of thousands of euros
Conservation specialists paid for by the National Trust, Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust, have successfully carried out trials to remove coins from 10 locations without damage. The plan is now to continue that work and entirely free the site from coins, but the operation will cost in excess of £30,000 (over €35,600).
Hence, the appeal to the public to desist from leaving coins behind in what is not only a UNESCO treasure, but an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI).
Henry acknowledged that many tourists “may want to leave a token of their visit, but the coins are causing damage and we are urging people to stop the practice and to leave no trace so this natural wonder remains special for future generations.”
