The Giant’s Causeway on the north Antrim coast has been awarded three million pounds sterling lottery grant to rebuild the visitor’s centre from a rickety set of huts to a proper building.
The Causeway is a jagged promontory of hexagonal rocks created by a volcanic eruption sixty million years ago. The columns of perfect, symmetical rocks reach out into the Irish Sea, and millions of people have come to wonder at the savage beauty. It is called the eighth wonder of the world.
But the Irish love their own story behind the Causeway. That’s the one about Finn MacCool building it so he could do battle with a giant in Scotland. But Finn was daunted by the size of the giant and went home with the giant in pursuit. Finn’s wife, being a clever Irishwoman, dressed Finn in baby clothes and told the giant that this was Finn’s son. The giant beat a hasty retreat, ripping up the rocks as he went so that Finn couldn’t follow him.
Visitors have been coming since 1700. In 1986 it was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, and in 2008 it was nominated as one of the world’s seven natural wonders. Source: BBC
