Tourists urged to stop jamming coins into iconic Giant's Causeway rocks
Tourists risk destroying Northern Ireland 's iconic Giant's Causeway rocks by jamming coins between them, experts warned.
National Trust engagement officer Dr Cliff Henry said the discarded tender break and discolour the 60-million-year-old rocks by rusting and expanding.
At least 684,000 tourists visited the County Antrim site last year, with some leaving behind the unwanted memento due to 'copy cat' behaviour.
'The coins are causing damage and we are urging people to stop the practice,' Dr Henry said. 'They are rusting and expanding, which causes the rock to crumble giant.'
'The rusting metal in there is starting to leach. The iron and nickel and copper is leaching out over the rocks and it looks unsightly.'
The National Trust is set to spend £30,000 removing the coins, with a specialist stonemason extracting around 10 per cent of them so far.
It will also erect signs at the world-famous site warning visitors against leaving the objects in an effort to 'protect and care for places so people and nature can thrive'.
Dr Kirstin Lemon, of the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, added: 'The advice is to see if we can remove as many of those coins as we can.
"By removing them, it means we're stopping any further physical impact on the site itself. We're also stopping that chemical impact as well."
The discarded coins show a range of visitors from all around the world, with most coming from the UK and EU, as well as the far east and USA, the National Trust said.
Last year, the Giant's Causeway received about 684,000 visits. In 2019, there were nearly 1m visits, according to the BBC.
According to legends, the site was formed by Irish giant Finn McCool who created the causeway to get across the Irish Sea to face his rival, the Scottish giant Benandonner.
The mighty Benandonner then tore up most of the causeway to prevent Finn from getting back to Scotland.
Another legend has it that the causeway was built so Finn could meet a Scottish maid he was enamoured with.
However, most geologists agree it was created by an outpouring of Basalt lava 60 million years ago around the time the North Atlantic was opening up
"It's an icon for Northern Ireland. If we can't look after this, what's the hope for the rest of the country? We really need to be looking after the causeway as best we can,' Dr Henry told the BBC.
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