The Giants Causeway - Ireland
July 6th 2008 05:45
Known in the 1700’s as the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World and attracting large volumes of international visitors, The Giants Causeway is some of the most spectacular coastline you will come across, the world over. Located in County Antrim in Northern Ireland, it has an estimated 40 000 basalt columns rising along the rugged shoreline. A walkway meanders along the top of the cliffs, giving views of the columns far below and a spectacular view across the sea ahead. A road leads down to the columns where you are able to wander the walkways and view them close up, which in Victorian times would have been lined with market stalls.
Although many ships floundered in the waters off the Giants Causeway during the centuries, perhaps the most disastrous was that of the Girona in 1588. As part of the Spanish Armada, the Girona was attempting to reach the safety of Scotland, carrying with it the crew of two previous shipwrecks, when she struck Lacada Point and sank. It is believed that over 1200 men died, including noblemen, with only 5 surviving.
They were made famous in 1694 by the Bishop of Derry, who was the first to introduce them to the world, although would have been first discovered by local inhabitants of Whitepark Bay some 10 000 years ago. With their latest discovery so began the debate on how they were formed. Some believed they had been carved by men, others by Mother Nature and still more by the legendary ‘Finn MacCool’. Legends tells the story as follows:
Science now tells us they formed
Although many ships floundered in the waters off the Giants Causeway during the centuries, perhaps the most disastrous was that of the Girona in 1588. As part of the Spanish Armada, the Girona was attempting to reach the safety of Scotland, carrying with it the crew of two previous shipwrecks, when she struck Lacada Point and sank. It is believed that over 1200 men died, including noblemen, with only 5 surviving.
They were made famous in 1694 by the Bishop of Derry, who was the first to introduce them to the world, although would have been first discovered by local inhabitants of Whitepark Bay some 10 000 years ago. With their latest discovery so began the debate on how they were formed. Some believed they had been carved by men, others by Mother Nature and still more by the legendary ‘Finn MacCool’. Legends tells the story as follows:
There are many heroic legends surrounding Finn MacCool, comparisons have been drawn between him and the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Finn was reputed as being the leader of the Fianna, the guardians of the King of Ireland whom he formed from a rough bunch of warriors in an elite group of men who transformed under his command into the manifestation of justice and honour, they were the people's heroes. Finn's famous son whose mother was the goddess Sadb, is said to be buried in Glenaan. It is worth noting that many of the great legends of Ireland are based or linked to the north coast of Ulster, There must be some correlation between this and the fact that Whitepark Bay was where man first settled in Ireland.
However in this section we will concentrate on his role in building the Giants Causeway. The story goes thus:-
Finn a renown warrior was going about his daily duties on the north coast when one of his adversary, a Scottish giant called Benandonner started shouting and ridiculing Finn's fighting prowess. This angered Finn who lifted a lump of earth and pelted it to Scotland as a challenge to this giant. The Scottish giant retaliated with a rock back to Finn shouting that if he could get his hand on him, he would make sure that Finn would never fight again adding that unfortunately he could not swim the short distance across the Channel, so Finn would be spared that fate. Finn got enraged by this and tore large pieces from the cliffs, he worked for over a week pushing these into the ocean bed and made a sturdy causeway to Scotland, when he had finished he shouted 'Now you'll had no excuse' to come over and do your best. Fearing to lose his own reputation and pride the Scottish giant had no alternative but come over the causeway. Finn was tired, having not slept for the week he worked on the causeway and did not feel ready for fighting. He thought about how he could buy some time and recuperate to face the Scottish giant and came up with an ingenious plan. Quickly he made a large cot and disguised himself as a baby ...... and waited. The Scottish giant arrived at Finn's house shouting, 'Where is that coward MacCool', Finn's wife said the he was away but sure sit down and have a cup of tea, he'll not be long. the tea arrived with a cake in which Finn's wife had placed some stones. Benandonner took a bite and broke one of his teeth, and thought to himself, this Finn must be a tough boyo to eat cakes like this, not to be outdone, he finished off the cake and tea, breaking two more teeth in the process. He noticed the baby cot and the baby inside it and his eyes widened in fear, he thought to himself, my goodness if this is the size of the baby? What size is the Father? He reached his hand in to touch the sleeping baby, half out of curiosity and half as a sign of affection, Finn bit the tip of his finger off. Benandonner was shocked by this and thought to himself, if this is what the baby is capable of, what must the father be capable of and what could he not do! This thought terrified him, the fear got the better of him and took to his heels and ran like he had never ran before, back across the causeway to Scotland destroying it as he went. Well.....that is one version of the story, there are many more to choose from, including one of love and romance.
(source: Really Long LinkFinn a renown warrior was going about his daily duties on the north coast when one of his adversary, a Scottish giant called Benandonner started shouting and ridiculing Finn's fighting prowess. This angered Finn who lifted a lump of earth and pelted it to Scotland as a challenge to this giant. The Scottish giant retaliated with a rock back to Finn shouting that if he could get his hand on him, he would make sure that Finn would never fight again adding that unfortunately he could not swim the short distance across the Channel, so Finn would be spared that fate. Finn got enraged by this and tore large pieces from the cliffs, he worked for over a week pushing these into the ocean bed and made a sturdy causeway to Scotland, when he had finished he shouted 'Now you'll had no excuse' to come over and do your best. Fearing to lose his own reputation and pride the Scottish giant had no alternative but come over the causeway. Finn was tired, having not slept for the week he worked on the causeway and did not feel ready for fighting. He thought about how he could buy some time and recuperate to face the Scottish giant and came up with an ingenious plan. Quickly he made a large cot and disguised himself as a baby ...... and waited. The Scottish giant arrived at Finn's house shouting, 'Where is that coward MacCool', Finn's wife said the he was away but sure sit down and have a cup of tea, he'll not be long. the tea arrived with a cake in which Finn's wife had placed some stones. Benandonner took a bite and broke one of his teeth, and thought to himself, this Finn must be a tough boyo to eat cakes like this, not to be outdone, he finished off the cake and tea, breaking two more teeth in the process. He noticed the baby cot and the baby inside it and his eyes widened in fear, he thought to himself, my goodness if this is the size of the baby? What size is the Father? He reached his hand in to touch the sleeping baby, half out of curiosity and half as a sign of affection, Finn bit the tip of his finger off. Benandonner was shocked by this and thought to himself, if this is what the baby is capable of, what must the father be capable of and what could he not do! This thought terrified him, the fear got the better of him and took to his heels and ran like he had never ran before, back across the causeway to Scotland destroying it as he went. Well.....that is one version of the story, there are many more to choose from, including one of love and romance.
Science now tells us they formed
during the early Tertiary period some 62 - 65 million years ago over a long period of igneous activity. Three lava outflows occurred known as the Lower, Middle and Upper Basaltic. Lulls occurred between the outflows as is evident in the deep inter-basaltic layer of reddish brown 'lithomarge' which is rich in clay, iron and aluminium oxides from weathering of the underlying basalt. The causeway area would have been situated in an equatorial region at that time, experiencing hot and humid conditions. This came about due to the fact that the earth's crust is floating on moving plates known as 'tectonic plates', these move slowly but over millions of years they can travel thousands of miles. The hexagonal columns of the causeway occur in the middle basalt layer, the same formations can be seen at Staffa in Scotland (Fingal's Cave) and they also occurs in the the surrounding landscape of North Antrim and in fact many other parts of the world.
The fascinating pattern that we see in the causeway stones formed as a result of rock crystallization under conditions of accelerated cooling, this usually occurs when molten lava comes into immediate contact with water, as happens today in Hawaii, the resulting fast accelerated cooling process causes cracking and results in what we see today at the causeway. For more information on volcanism please follow the link to the right where you will find references volcanic activities and their outcomes including 'column jointing' as occurs at the causeway.
(source: Really Long LinkThe fascinating pattern that we see in the causeway stones formed as a result of rock crystallization under conditions of accelerated cooling, this usually occurs when molten lava comes into immediate contact with water, as happens today in Hawaii, the resulting fast accelerated cooling process causes cracking and results in what we see today at the causeway. For more information on volcanism please follow the link to the right where you will find references volcanic activities and their outcomes including 'column jointing' as occurs at the causeway.
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