History of the Giant's Causeway

	1588	On the night of 26th October the Spanish Girona sank near the Giant’s Causeway (Lacada Point). Of the 1300 souls on board, only nine survived.
	1608	A few miles southwest of the Giant’s Causeway lies Old Bushmills Distillery, which is Ireland’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery.
	1693	Sir Richard Bulkeley informed the world about the natural curiosity on Antrim’s northern coast by a presentation to the Royal Society, although the ‘discoverer’ had, in fact been the Bishop of Derry who had visited the site a year earlier (1692).
	1693	Dunluce Castle located near Portrush saw part of the kitchen falling into the sea and cooks and porters all were crushed and killed in the sea below.
	1694	The Giant’s Causeway was first documented and debate arose as to whether the landscape was formed by man, nature or the efforts of Finn MacCool.
	1820	Dr T Molyneux was the first to identify correctly the rock as basalt. He also commissioned the earliest illustration of the Causeway, an imaginative work by E Sandys.
	1836	The Causeway Hotel was established and today is a running hotel with 28 en-suite bedrooms and a conference facility.
	1881	The current structure of the Bushmills Inn was built.
	1949	The Giant’s Causeway Tramway (the first hydro-electric tramway/railway in the world) provided a link between Portrush, Bushmills and the famous Giant’s Causeway. Today a new railway, mostly steam-powered, has been built on part of the right of way of the old Giant’s Causeway tramway.
		The Giant’s Causeway tramway was closed down.
	1961	The National Trust took over ownership of much of the area.
	1986	The Giant’s Causeway, an area of 71 hectares, was inscribed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO ranking it alongside spectacular sites like the Taj Mahal and the Great Barrier Reef. The visitor centre at the site also opened during this year.
	2000	Visitor facilities damaged in a fire.
	2007	The Giant’s Causeway has had 712,714 visitors.
	2009	The National Trust’s planning application for the new visitor facilities at the Giant’s Causeway was approved by the Environment Minister Sammy Wilson on 27th January 2009.
	2010 (January)	Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded a grant of £3million to the National Trust to support the development of new visitor facilities at Giant’s Causeway.
	2011	New visitor centre expected to be completed.

	1588	On the night of 26th October the Spanish Girona sank near the Giant’s Causeway (Lacada Point). Of the 1300 souls on board, only nine survived.
	1608	A few miles southwest of the Giant’s Causeway lies Old Bushmills Distillery, which is Ireland’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery.
	1693	Sir Richard Bulkeley informed the world about the natural curiosity on Antrim’s northern coast by a presentation to the Royal Society, although the ‘discoverer’ had, in fact been the Bishop of Derry who had visited the site a year earlier (1692).
	1693	Dunluce Castle located near Portrush saw part of the kitchen falling into the sea and cooks and porters all were crushed and killed in the sea below.
	1694	The Giant’s Causeway was first documented and debate arose as to whether the landscape was formed by man, nature or the efforts of Finn MacCool.
	1820	Dr T Molyneux was the first to identify correctly the rock as basalt. He also commissioned the earliest illustration of the Causeway, an imaginative work by E Sandys.
	1836	The Causeway Hotel was established and today is a running hotel with 28 en-suite bedrooms and a conference facility.
	1881	The current structure of the Bushmills Inn was built.
	1949	The Giant’s Causeway Tramway (the first hydro-electric tramway/railway in the world) provided a link between Portrush, Bushmills and the famous Giant’s Causeway. Today a new railway, mostly steam-powered, has been built on part of the right of way of the old Giant’s Causeway tramway.
		The Giant’s Causeway tramway was closed down.
	1961	The National Trust took over ownership of much of the area.
	1986	The Giant’s Causeway, an area of 71 hectares, was inscribed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO ranking it alongside spectacular sites like the Taj Mahal and the Great Barrier Reef. The visitor centre at the site also opened during this year.
	2000	Visitor facilities damaged in a fire.
	2007	The Giant’s Causeway has had 712,714 visitors.
	2009	The National Trust’s planning application for the new visitor facilities at the Giant’s Causeway was approved by the Environment Minister Sammy Wilson on 27th January 2009.
	2010 (January)	Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded a grant of £3million to the National Trust to support the development of new visitor facilities at Giant’s Causeway.
	2011	New visitor centre expected to be completed.

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