The Giant's Causeway - History & Natural History

Discovery of the Giant's Causeway

In 1693 an academic paper by Richard Bulkeley from Trinity College, Dublin, revealed the Giant's Causeway to the world. Watercolour paintings by the artist Susanna Drury in 1739 captured the Causeway and brought international attention to the site. By 1765, the Causeway featured in volume 12 of the French Encyclopédie, which was accompanied by engravings of Drury's work.

Together with the Causeway Coast, the Giant's Causeway is now rated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is recognised as an area of exceptional natural beauty.  It is also listed as an outstanding example of natural and geological significance.

Victorians See Giant's Causeway on the Grand Tour of Ireland

When the Giant's Causeway Tramway began in the nineteenth century, tourists flocked on day trips. Connecting Portrush to the Giants Causeway, passengers saw Dunluce Castle and Bushmills along the way. They wondered at the unusual irregular stones, weathered over centuries into identifiable objects: the Organ, the Honeycomb, the Shepherd's Steps and the Chimney Stacks. Other structures hinted at the giant who long ago dominated here: the Giant's Boot, the Giant's Harp and the Giant's Eyes. For Victorians, the Giant's Causeway was an important stop on the Grand Tour of Ireland.

Today’s visitors can experience what it would have been like to be a Victorian on The Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway which travels over part of the original line from Bushmills to the Causeway. 

Seabirds & Wildflowers

Sea birds nest and breed along this stretch of coast. Around fifty resident and thirty migrant species have been identified, including species of the auk and cormorant families. In the last ten years, breeding peregrine falcons were observed. Fulmar-petrels, shag, redshank guillemot and razorbill are natives here. Two hundred plant species have been recorded including seashore, cliff, grassland, scrub, heathland and marsh types. Red bloomrape, sea spleenwort, oyster plant, hare's foot trefoil, vernal squill, sea fescue and frog orchid are some of the most notable species.

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