The 'fiddly and frustrating' work removing 10,000 coins from Giant's Causeway columns
Conservationists have removed 20kg of coins jammed into the basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The coins were causing chemical and physical damage to the World Heritage site, necessitating a delicate removal process by a specialist stonemason.
Why it matters
The story highlights the tension between tourism and the preservation of fragile natural heritage sites.
Image source, National Trust Image caption, The National Trust said some coins were more easily removed than others
The equivalent of 10,000 coins have been painstakingly removed from the Giant's Causeway following years of visitors jamming them between the columns.
Conservationists working to protect Northern Ireland's iconic World Heritage Site have removed more than 20kg (44.1 lb) of unwanted coins from between its basalt pillars.
Work to remove the coins got under way in May last year following concerns the coins were damaging the causeway's rocks .
"It is a relief, the coins were doing a significant amount of damage ," Dr Cliff Henry, nature engagement officer with the National Trust said.
"These coins were rusting and expanding and were capable of pressing the whole column of rock above them, pushing them up," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.
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