On the N glide of Northern Ireland sit an otherworldly rock formation know as the Giant ’s Causeway . There , thousands of hexagonal stone editorial of various heights rise out of the North Atlantic Ocean and wax up to the foot of a drop , as if they had been placed by a monumental mythical fauna to help him cover the sea . Here are a few facts about one of Northern Ireland ’s most pop holidaymaker attractions .
1. The Giant’s Causeway is comprised of around 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns.
The Causeway ’s typical column were shape around 60 million years ago , when Europe was still attached to North America . As the landmasses began to break up , rift were caused and liquefied lava from volcanic activity flowed through these fissures to create a lava lake , which then began to slow cool off . This cooling processcaused the lava to contractand fracture into column made up of hexagonal rock .
Although it has long been bonk that the Stone are a natural organisation — and not artificially sculpted , as it may ab initio seem — the exact conditions that were needed to make the column were only recently discover . In 2008 , University of Toronto Ph.D. student Lucas Goehring and his supervisor Professor Stephen Morrisfound that“the slower the cool process , the large the resulting pillar would be . ” Ten years subsequently , Yan Lavallée , Professor of Volcanology at University of Liverpool , work out the temperature at which the rock fractured:1544–1634 ° F(840–890 ° C ) .
2. According to legend, the Giant’s Causeway was built by the giant Finn McCool.
As well as the scientific account of the Causeway ’s creation , there is also the myth that the stones were position by a giant . Fionn mac Cumhaill , anglicized as Finn McCool or MacCool , had afeud with a Scottish giantcalled Benandonner and construct the Causeway across the ocean so they could fight . He then realized Benandonner was bigger than him and take flight in terror . Finn ’s wife , Oonagh , disguised him as a babe , and when the Scot saw the alleged child , he was tricked into thinking Finn would be enormous . He ran back to Scotland , destruct most of the Causeway on his style so he could n’t be follow .
Although less pop , there is also a myth that Finn wasmotivated by love , not hate . In this interpretation Finn places the stepping gemstone to get in touch with the Scots lass he ’s in honey with , but is so exhausted by the time he finishes that he die in her blazonry .
3. The Giant’s Causeway first gained recognition outside of Ireland in 1693.
In 1693 , Sir Richard Bulkeley , an Irish political leader and fellow of Trinity College , Dublin , gave a presentation about the geological wonder tothe Royal Society . By 1739 , the site hadbecome a tourist attraction — as is shown in Susanna Drury ’s watercolor of the Causeway — which in turn helped convey the location even more attention .
Tourism was so pop by 1836 thatThe Causeway Hotelwas built to adapt travelers to the country . It became even more accessible thanks to the Giant ’s Causeway Tramway , which open in 1883 and ran between the town of Portrush and the Causeway .
In 1986 the internet site was officially givenUNESCO World Heritagestatus . That same year , the National Trust — which has managed the Causeway since 1961 — also build a visitor ’s centre at the site ; thatburned downin 2000 , and a new one was n’t builtuntil 2012 .
4. Tourists used to be able to buy Giant’s Causeway stones.
In the years before The National Trust acquired and protect the area , commercialism was rampant at the Causeway — to the extent that parts of it were literally sold to tourists . Scotch author Leitch Ritchie visited the iconic northerly Irish landmark in the 1830s andreported that“more than a dozen man and male child follow you through the whole adventure , in venom of your expostulations , to tender box of mineralogical specimen . ”
In 2010 , seven large stones that were said to have been from the Causeway sold at auction for near £ 20,000 ( a footling over $ 24,000 ) . Although there was doubtfulness about the authenticity of the Stone , there are locals who have genuine Causeway stonesin their garden .
5. There are other oddly shaped rocks scattered across the area.
Along with the grand upon thousands of hexangular Stone to see , there are also a number of uniquely forge rocks dotted around the Causeway coast . Two of the most well - know arethe cameland thegiant ’s kicking — both of which are tie to the legend of Finn McCool . The camel that consist at the bottom of the cliffs is said to have been the only beast capable of carrying Finn , while the massive boot — allegedlysize 93.5(around a size94 or 95 in U.S. men ’s measurements)—was lost by Finn as he flee Cinderella - dash from Benandonner .
Those are n’t the only challenging geologic features in the domain . Perched above the Causeway are thechimney stacksand mark into the drop-off - side are column that resembleorgan pipesand agiant harmonica . Visitors can also seek out the human being - sized Wishing Chair , which is a raw toilet make by the basalt column .
6. The cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1973 albumHouses of the Holywas created with photos taken at the Giant’s Causeway.
Led Zeppelin’sHouses of the Holyalbum cover depicts eerily similar naked blonde children crawling over stone in a bizarre landscape painting . Bill and Ted inBill and Ted ’s Excellent Adventure(1989)describe 470 BCEas “ a time when much of the macrocosm looked like the cover of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy . ” They ’re referring to Ancient Greece , but the top was actually shot at the Giant ’s Causeway .
Aubrey Powell , of the design firm Hipgnosis , design the cover song and was ab initio inspired byArthur C. Clarke ’s sci - fi novelChildhood ’s End(1953 ) . Although it looks like one image , it ’s actually a composite plant of 30 different photographs . Only two baby were needed for the shoot — Stefan Gates , who went on to become a TV presenter , and his sister Samantha . “ We were au naturel in a lot of the modelling shoots we did , nothing was think of it back then . You plausibly could n’t get aside with that now,”Samantha once annotate .
The unrelentingly rainy Irish weather condition forced Powell to change his original programme of shooting in colour and for the baby to be gold and silver . “ Because I dart in blackened and whitened and it was a gray day , the children turned out very white,”Powell explain . A mistake then lead to the iconic concealment : “ So when we pass on - tinted it , the airbrush creative person , by chance event , put a kind of purple tinge onto them . When I first saw it , I said , ‘ Oh , my God . ’ Then we looked at it , and I said , ‘ Hang on a minute — this has an otherworldly quality . ’ So we pass on it as it was . ”
7. The Giant’s Causeway has been featured in multiple movies.
The strange smasher of the Giant ’s Causeway makes it a perfect take location — although it isnoticeably absentfrom the tilt ofGame of Thronesfilming locations throughout Northern Ireland . The Causeway is featured as a Transylvanian pile inDracula Untold(2014 ) , as part of the Minotaur ’s maze inYour Highness(2011 ) , and as itself inHellboy II : The Golden Army(2008 ) .
8. Similar rock formations can be found around the world—and even on Mars.
The Giant ’s Causeway is the most notable example of columnar jointing , but there are other similar formations located around the world . Just a hop across the ocean on the Scottish Isle of Staffa isFingal ’s Cave , a sea cave of hexagonal rocks created by the same lava flow as the Causeway .
Other exemplar let in theDevil ’s Towerin Wyoming , which is a striking isolated hill imprint of column stretching 867 feet ( 265 time ) into the air , andHigh Island Reservoirin Hong Kong , which is unique because the pillars are made of rhyolitic tuff , a viscous volcanic rock that does not usually constitute hexagonal column .
In 2007 , lava column were even spot andphotographed on Mars — like Earth , the airfoil of the Red Planet owe a lot to volcanic activeness .
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