Giant's Causeway Visitors Urged Not To Jam Coins Into Iconic Rocks

The Giant's Causeway has faced galore threats to its survival, from mythical fights betwixt giants to coastal erosion and rising oversea levels.

Now there's a caller problem.

At first, you don't announcement them but arsenic soon arsenic you spot one, you commencement to spot them everyplace - hundreds of them, successful each fissure and crevice.

They are coins, inserted into nan mini gaps betwixt 1 of Northern Ireland's astir celebrated and photographed earthy resources, nan basalt columns of nan Giant's Causeway.

Like nan padlocks near connected nan Pont des Arts span successful Paris, group often time off nan coins down for emotion aliases luck.

But, for illustration that tradition, nan coins are causing problems, and now visitors are being asked to support their spare alteration successful their pockets.

In Paris, it has been made forbidden to connect a padlock aft part of nan span collapsed successful 2014.

At nan Giant's Causeway, nan believe started years agone – but nan caretakers for nan site, nan National Trust, judge it has accrued importantly successful standard successful nan past decade aliases so.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors and locals sojourn each twelvemonth and only a fraction time off down this unwanted memento.

But nan coins are having a nonstop effect connected nan rocks themselves. The worst affected are nan basalt columns that dress up The Loom – 10 ft precocious leaning towers of rock.

They are a somewhat lighter colour than nan iconic hexagonal achromatic basalt astatine nan constituent of nan causeway.

It is easy to spot astatine first glimpse nan discolouration caused by nan coins - a reddish-brown lavation complete nan surface.

Dr Cliff Henry, quality engagement serviceman pinch nan National Trust, said nan rocks are affected connected a number of levels.

"People spot others put coins in, truthful they copycat, they return a coin retired of their pouch and they mightiness return a chromatic disconnected nan crushed to hammer nan coin in, but they mightiness miss and spot nan chromatic itself truthful that's doing damage."

He added: "Once nan coin is successful location it starts to rust and owed to nan ambiance present it rusts astatine an accelerated level.

"The coin past expands and that's putting unit connected nan associated adjacent nan separator truthful we person seen connected a number of places present that nan corners person popped off.

"And nan rusting metallic successful location is starting to leach. The robust and nickel and copper is leaching retired complete nan rocks and it looks unsightly."

He said they're appealing to group to extremity inserting nan coins earlier much harm is done to these 60-million-year-old rocks.

"On a geological timescale, this is very accelerated erosion."

A study from nan Geological Survey of Northern Ireland shed immoderate ray connected nan problem.

Dr Kirstin Lemon said: "The proposal of nan Geological Survey to nan National Trust is to spot if we tin region arsenic galore of those coins arsenic we can.

"By removing them, it intends we're stopping immoderate further beingness effect connected nan tract itself. We're besides stopping that chemic effect arsenic well."

She said she hoped that by removing coins, it would extremity others adding more.

A master stonemason has started nan activity and has removed astir 10% of them truthful far.

"He's done immoderate trial sites already truthful we cognize we tin return these coins retired without doing harm to nan stones themselves," said Dr Henry.

"We want him to do it - we don't want nan wide nationalist to do that, we don't want to origin immoderate further damage."

Signs will besides beryllium put up and visitors are already warned not to insert nan coins by circuit guides astatine nan Giant's Causeway, for illustration Mark Adams.

"I deliberation it's a elemental point of wanting to time off thing of themselves behind," he said.

"But if you want to time off thing behind, return a photo, put it online, it'll beryllium location forever."

Last year, nan Giant's Causeway received astir 684,000 visits.

The numbers are steadily climbing backmost to their pre-pandemic levels. There were astir a cardinal visits successful 2019.

The National Trust said not only is it Northern Ireland's astir valuable earthy phenomenon, it is important for nan system too.

"It's an icon for Northern Ireland - if we can't look aft this, what's nan dream for nan remainder of nan country?," said Dr Henry.

"We really request to beryllium looking aft nan causeway arsenic champion we can."