Causeway Coast
It might be for leprechauns that the Emerald Isle is better known, but in visiting the Causeway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), I’ve come in search of a giant – or rather, his famous creation of polygonal stones.
Instantly recognisable, the Giant’s Causeway is a place of mystery and wonder, well worthy of its 1986 World Heritage site designation. On the blue-skied winter’s day that I visit, the only giants present are the battalions of North Atlantic waves striking the causeway’s basalt columns with a relentless monotony. Their dogged power is awe-inspiring, the causeway’s beauty captivating.
Established in 1989, this County Antrim AONB is one of nine such sites in Northern Ireland and comprises 4,200 hectares, including 30 kilometres of magnificent coastline from Portrush to Ballycastle. ‘The Causeway Coast is one of the most spectacular stretches of coastline in Europe,’ says Ruth Blair, higher scientific officer with the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), a Northern Ireland agency of the Department of the Environment. ‘At its heart is the Giant’s Causeway, but it contains much more in the way of outstanding scenery, including dramatic cliffs, stunning beaches and impressive monuments.’
A big draw is Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Originally a way for fishermen to reach the craggy islet to check their salmon nets, it’s now a popular tourist challenge. Like the causeway, Carrick-a-Rede is National Trust-owned and an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) – one of seven within the AONB. Unfortunately, ASSI status doesn’t necessarily guarantee immunity from human impact. At White Park Bay, for example, there is concern over the long-term impact of sand and gravel extraction from the beach.
Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge
Another highlight is the dramatic ruins of Dunluce Castle. Set atop a 30-metre-high stack and connected to the mainland by a bridge, the ruins’ position is precarious indeed – in 1639, the kitchen collapsed, taking several staff members with it.
After the Armada galleass Girona sank in a storm off Lacada Point in 1588, the ship’s cannons were installed at the castle. The Girona’s treasures – the greatest ever Irish wreck haul – were onlyfound in 1967, and are now held in Belfast’s Ulster Museum.
The ruins of Dunluce Castle
Stormy waters of another kind
When it comes to management of the AONB, things haven’t always plain sailing either. The Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust (CCGHT) was established in May 2002 in part ‘to promote environmental management and sustainable tourism’ over a large swathe of Northern Ireland, including the Causeway Coast AONB, and to implement funding from the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme – a huge task for its three-person staff.
That same year, a Causeway Coast AONB management plan was drawn up (it remains the only such plan for a Northern Ireland AONB). It led to the formation, two years later, of an AONB management group of 11 members who represent all of the stakeholders and meets quarterly to ‘oversee the delivery of action points’ (or, in common parlance, to get things done).
‘The Causeway Coast AONB Management Plan sets out a long-term holistic vision for the area and includes objectives and actions to help secure that vision,’ saysBlair. That said, the management group is demanding a review this year.
‘The management plan has proven extremely difficult to implement because it’s non-statutory and very limited resources have been provided,’ says Peter Harper, former director of CCGHT. ‘There are also issues with the nature of the recommendations, some of which are very woolly and difficult to implement.’
Behind the mark
A major difference between AONBs in Northern Ireland and those in England and Wales is the Rights of Way Act 2000, which makes the latter’s AONB management plans statutory documents; in Northern Ireland, there’s no legal obligation for the appointed organisation to implement a plan’s recommendations.
‘There is also much less funding available for AONB management in Northern Ireland than in England and Wales, where they have access to additional funds under the Sustainable Development Fund,’ says Harper. ‘In short, protected area management [in Northern Ireland] needs to move up the political agenda.’
These issues have restricted AONB management work to awareness initiatives only – which is still an uphill struggle. ‘There’s a lack of awareness of what an AONB means, both among local people and at government level,’ says Maxime Sizaret, CCGHT’s natural heritage officer.
Graham Thompson, the National Trust’s project director at the Giant’s Causeway and current chair of the AONB management group, believes Northern Ireland politicians are ‘way behind the mark. Northern Ireland leaders have difficulty grasping the importance of protecting our environmental heritage.’
Another factor is the strength of the agricultural lobby and strong development agenda in Northern Ireland, proven perhaps by the fact that Northern Ireland is the only European country other than Albania without a national park.
However, Sandi Howie, senior scientific officer for the EHS, doesn’t agree. ‘The evidence doesn’t support the claim that the government or its agencies have been deficient in actively protecting or managing designated sites,’ she says. ‘I appreciate that the CCGHT feels under pressure – and I salute the effort they make – however, they tend to overlook the fact that there isn’t a direct correlation between their role and that of their English counterparts.
‘I’m not convinced that it’s a clear-cut case that one or other jurisdiction has the favourable position,’ she continues. ‘For example, our local flexibility and the inclusion of marine areas in our AONBs provokes much envy.’
Of fire and basalt stone
The Giant’s Causeway – owned by the National Trust since 1961 – covers 70 hectares of land, while the area’s World Heritage designation encompasses a further 160 hectares of sea. It also enjoys National Nature Reserve and EU Special Area of Conservation status.
Significantly, Moyle District Council owns the car park and temporary visitor centre, essentially the entrance to the World Heritage site. After the original centre was destroyed by fire in 2000, a drawn-out tug-of-war ensued over plans to redevelop the site.
Hopefully, the wrangle is now coming to an end. A private developer, Seaport Investments, has been keen to move in, and in autumn last year, Environment Minister Arlene Foster said that she was ‘of a mind’ to approve its planning application. This spurred Moyle Council into negotiating a lease of its property to the National Trust to build new facilities based on an international-competition-winning design. A ministerial decision is now awaited.
Madeline Black, chair of Moyle Council, said that the council ‘strongly believes that visitor facilities at the Giant’s Causeway should remain in public ownership’. Thompson is also happy that the trust’s ‘at times uneasy partnership with Moyle council’ has reached a ‘very welcome’ agreement.
Mysteries of time
Long before the political rows, there were rows between scholars and, prior to that, rows between giants. The Irish name for the Giant’s Causeway, Clochan na bhFómharach, means ‘stones of the Fomorians’ – a reference to the semi-divine giants of Irish mythology. Finn McCool (Fionn mac Cumhaill in Irish), a giant in oral tradition, is said to have built the Giant’s Causeway, which stretched to Scotland, in order to challenge rival giant Benandonner.
Upon seeing the latter’s greater size, Finn ran home in fear with the giant Scot in pursuit. Finn’s quick-thinking wife Oonagh disguised her husband as a baby. ‘If his baby’s this big, Dad must be truly massive,’ assumed the Scottish giant, who promptly fled in terror, ripping up the causeway as he went.
Sir Robert Redding, a natural philosopher, first described the causeway to the Royal Society in 1689. ‘Members were fascinated by oddities and curiosities, and the Giant’s Causeway was certainly odd,’ says Alasdair Kennedy of Queen’s University of Belfast. ‘[At the time], it wasn’t immediately apparent whether the Giant’s Causeway should be classified as an artificial
or natural production.’
In 1694, Thomas Molyneux declared that it was indeed natural and, moreover, that it was made of basalt. During the 18th century, French geologist Nicolas Desmarest declared that it was the result of far-from-unique volcanic processes.
We now know that there were three periods of volcanic activity between 55 and 50 million years ago that resulted in the flows that hardened into the so-called Lower, Middle and Upper Basalts. It’s the Middle Basalts rocks that make up the Giant’s Causeway, while the Upper layer was mostly lost to erosion during the last ice age.
Most of the Giant’s Causeway’s 38,000 or so interlocking basalt columns have five or six sides, however there are examples of four-, five-, seven- and even eight-sided stones, their shapes natural, their sizes dependent on lava cooling speed, with faster cooling producing smaller columns.
In giants’ footsteps
Since the 18th century, tourists have arrived at the Giant’s Causeway in ever-greater numbers, adding to the pressure of natural weathering and erosion. Between 1887 and 1949, they could take ‘the first long electric tramway in the world’ from Portrush. Victorians could even take a cut stone home as a souvenir.
Today, the causeway is more popular than ever, with many of the 550,000-odd people who visited in 2006 arriving from the visitor centre by quarter-hourly shuttle bus. And as is true of so many AONB’s, the management staff are keen to limit the impact on the area. ‘The best way to discover the various sensitive and interesting features of the AONB is by walking the Causeway Coast Way,’ says Sizaret.
This 52-kilometre waymarked path follows the dramatic coastline from Portstewart to Ballycastle, taking in everything from sandy beaches and rocky bays to seaside resorts and small fishing villages, and passing many of the AONB’s main attractions, including the ruins of Dunluce Castle, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and, of course, the Giant’s Causeway.
As I walk along the way, following the edge of the Ulster White Limestone cliffs, which tell the story of the region’s long and turbulent prehistory, it’s comforting to know that 60 per cent of Northern Ireland’s coastline falls within AONBs. If lessons are learnt and support increased, these designations can effectively limit negative human impact – even if there are as many sides taken in the arguments over their management as there are sides on a typical causeway stone.
Local knowledge: Maxime Sizaret’s guide to some of the other highlights of the Causeway Coast Way (from west to east)
The White Rocks of Ulster White Limestone with their spectacular caves and arches, including the enigmatic Wishing Arch
Bushfoot or Runkerry Strand, a hidden gem of a beach, 1.2 kilometres long and said to absorb more energy from ocean waves than any other in Northern Ireland
Old Bushmills distillery and the strong ‘Ulster Scot’ heritage of Bushmills
White Park Bay, a magnificent raised beach with rich natural and archaeological features
Bendhu, the eccentric, strange and now refurbished house of Newton Penprase, which overlooks Boheeshane Bay
March 2008
Instantly recognisable, the Giant’s Causeway is a place of mystery and wonder, well worthy of its 1986 World Heritage site designation. On the blue-skied winter’s day that I visit, the only giants present are the battalions of North Atlantic waves striking the causeway’s basalt columns with a relentless monotony. Their dogged power is awe-inspiring, the causeway’s beauty captivating.
Established in 1989, this County Antrim AONB is one of nine such sites in Northern Ireland and comprises 4,200 hectares, including 30 kilometres of magnificent coastline from Portrush to Ballycastle. ‘The Causeway Coast is one of the most spectacular stretches of coastline in Europe,’ says Ruth Blair, higher scientific officer with the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), a Northern Ireland agency of the Department of the Environment. ‘At its heart is the Giant’s Causeway, but it contains much more in the way of outstanding scenery, including dramatic cliffs, stunning beaches and impressive monuments.’
A big draw is Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Originally a way for fishermen to reach the craggy islet to check their salmon nets, it’s now a popular tourist challenge. Like the causeway, Carrick-a-Rede is National Trust-owned and an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) – one of seven within the AONB. Unfortunately, ASSI status doesn’t necessarily guarantee immunity from human impact. At White Park Bay, for example, there is concern over the long-term impact of sand and gravel extraction from the beach.
Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge
Another highlight is the dramatic ruins of Dunluce Castle. Set atop a 30-metre-high stack and connected to the mainland by a bridge, the ruins’ position is precarious indeed – in 1639, the kitchen collapsed, taking several staff members with it.
After the Armada galleass Girona sank in a storm off Lacada Point in 1588, the ship’s cannons were installed at the castle. The Girona’s treasures – the greatest ever Irish wreck haul – were onlyfound in 1967, and are now held in Belfast’s Ulster Museum.
The ruins of Dunluce Castle
Stormy waters of another kind
When it comes to management of the AONB, things haven’t always plain sailing either. The Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust (CCGHT) was established in May 2002 in part ‘to promote environmental management and sustainable tourism’ over a large swathe of Northern Ireland, including the Causeway Coast AONB, and to implement funding from the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme – a huge task for its three-person staff.
That same year, a Causeway Coast AONB management plan was drawn up (it remains the only such plan for a Northern Ireland AONB). It led to the formation, two years later, of an AONB management group of 11 members who represent all of the stakeholders and meets quarterly to ‘oversee the delivery of action points’ (or, in common parlance, to get things done).
‘The Causeway Coast AONB Management Plan sets out a long-term holistic vision for the area and includes objectives and actions to help secure that vision,’ saysBlair. That said, the management group is demanding a review this year.
‘The management plan has proven extremely difficult to implement because it’s non-statutory and very limited resources have been provided,’ says Peter Harper, former director of CCGHT. ‘There are also issues with the nature of the recommendations, some of which are very woolly and difficult to implement.’
Behind the mark
A major difference between AONBs in Northern Ireland and those in England and Wales is the Rights of Way Act 2000, which makes the latter’s AONB management plans statutory documents; in Northern Ireland, there’s no legal obligation for the appointed organisation to implement a plan’s recommendations.
‘There is also much less funding available for AONB management in Northern Ireland than in England and Wales, where they have access to additional funds under the Sustainable Development Fund,’ says Harper. ‘In short, protected area management [in Northern Ireland] needs to move up the political agenda.’
These issues have restricted AONB management work to awareness initiatives only – which is still an uphill struggle. ‘There’s a lack of awareness of what an AONB means, both among local people and at government level,’ says Maxime Sizaret, CCGHT’s natural heritage officer.
Graham Thompson, the National Trust’s project director at the Giant’s Causeway and current chair of the AONB management group, believes Northern Ireland politicians are ‘way behind the mark. Northern Ireland leaders have difficulty grasping the importance of protecting our environmental heritage.’
Another factor is the strength of the agricultural lobby and strong development agenda in Northern Ireland, proven perhaps by the fact that Northern Ireland is the only European country other than Albania without a national park.
However, Sandi Howie, senior scientific officer for the EHS, doesn’t agree. ‘The evidence doesn’t support the claim that the government or its agencies have been deficient in actively protecting or managing designated sites,’ she says. ‘I appreciate that the CCGHT feels under pressure – and I salute the effort they make – however, they tend to overlook the fact that there isn’t a direct correlation between their role and that of their English counterparts.
‘I’m not convinced that it’s a clear-cut case that one or other jurisdiction has the favourable position,’ she continues. ‘For example, our local flexibility and the inclusion of marine areas in our AONBs provokes much envy.’
Of fire and basalt stone
The Giant’s Causeway – owned by the National Trust since 1961 – covers 70 hectares of land, while the area’s World Heritage designation encompasses a further 160 hectares of sea. It also enjoys National Nature Reserve and EU Special Area of Conservation status.
Significantly, Moyle District Council owns the car park and temporary visitor centre, essentially the entrance to the World Heritage site. After the original centre was destroyed by fire in 2000, a drawn-out tug-of-war ensued over plans to redevelop the site.
Hopefully, the wrangle is now coming to an end. A private developer, Seaport Investments, has been keen to move in, and in autumn last year, Environment Minister Arlene Foster said that she was ‘of a mind’ to approve its planning application. This spurred Moyle Council into negotiating a lease of its property to the National Trust to build new facilities based on an international-competition-winning design. A ministerial decision is now awaited.
Madeline Black, chair of Moyle Council, said that the council ‘strongly believes that visitor facilities at the Giant’s Causeway should remain in public ownership’. Thompson is also happy that the trust’s ‘at times uneasy partnership with Moyle council’ has reached a ‘very welcome’ agreement.
Mysteries of time
Long before the political rows, there were rows between scholars and, prior to that, rows between giants. The Irish name for the Giant’s Causeway, Clochan na bhFómharach, means ‘stones of the Fomorians’ – a reference to the semi-divine giants of Irish mythology. Finn McCool (Fionn mac Cumhaill in Irish), a giant in oral tradition, is said to have built the Giant’s Causeway, which stretched to Scotland, in order to challenge rival giant Benandonner.
Upon seeing the latter’s greater size, Finn ran home in fear with the giant Scot in pursuit. Finn’s quick-thinking wife Oonagh disguised her husband as a baby. ‘If his baby’s this big, Dad must be truly massive,’ assumed the Scottish giant, who promptly fled in terror, ripping up the causeway as he went.
Sir Robert Redding, a natural philosopher, first described the causeway to the Royal Society in 1689. ‘Members were fascinated by oddities and curiosities, and the Giant’s Causeway was certainly odd,’ says Alasdair Kennedy of Queen’s University of Belfast. ‘[At the time], it wasn’t immediately apparent whether the Giant’s Causeway should be classified as an artificial
or natural production.’
In 1694, Thomas Molyneux declared that it was indeed natural and, moreover, that it was made of basalt. During the 18th century, French geologist Nicolas Desmarest declared that it was the result of far-from-unique volcanic processes.
We now know that there were three periods of volcanic activity between 55 and 50 million years ago that resulted in the flows that hardened into the so-called Lower, Middle and Upper Basalts. It’s the Middle Basalts rocks that make up the Giant’s Causeway, while the Upper layer was mostly lost to erosion during the last ice age.
Most of the Giant’s Causeway’s 38,000 or so interlocking basalt columns have five or six sides, however there are examples of four-, five-, seven- and even eight-sided stones, their shapes natural, their sizes dependent on lava cooling speed, with faster cooling producing smaller columns.
In giants’ footsteps
Since the 18th century, tourists have arrived at the Giant’s Causeway in ever-greater numbers, adding to the pressure of natural weathering and erosion. Between 1887 and 1949, they could take ‘the first long electric tramway in the world’ from Portrush. Victorians could even take a cut stone home as a souvenir.
Today, the causeway is more popular than ever, with many of the 550,000-odd people who visited in 2006 arriving from the visitor centre by quarter-hourly shuttle bus. And as is true of so many AONB’s, the management staff are keen to limit the impact on the area. ‘The best way to discover the various sensitive and interesting features of the AONB is by walking the Causeway Coast Way,’ says Sizaret.
This 52-kilometre waymarked path follows the dramatic coastline from Portstewart to Ballycastle, taking in everything from sandy beaches and rocky bays to seaside resorts and small fishing villages, and passing many of the AONB’s main attractions, including the ruins of Dunluce Castle, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and, of course, the Giant’s Causeway.
As I walk along the way, following the edge of the Ulster White Limestone cliffs, which tell the story of the region’s long and turbulent prehistory, it’s comforting to know that 60 per cent of Northern Ireland’s coastline falls within AONBs. If lessons are learnt and support increased, these designations can effectively limit negative human impact – even if there are as many sides taken in the arguments over their management as there are sides on a typical causeway stone.
Local knowledge: Maxime Sizaret’s guide to some of the other highlights of the Causeway Coast Way (from west to east)
The White Rocks of Ulster White Limestone with their spectacular caves and arches, including the enigmatic Wishing Arch
Bushfoot or Runkerry Strand, a hidden gem of a beach, 1.2 kilometres long and said to absorb more energy from ocean waves than any other in Northern Ireland
Old Bushmills distillery and the strong ‘Ulster Scot’ heritage of Bushmills
White Park Bay, a magnificent raised beach with rich natural and archaeological features
Bendhu, the eccentric, strange and now refurbished house of Newton Penprase, which overlooks Boheeshane Bay
March 2008
