Giants Causeway Stories

Causeway Stories

Causeway Stories

The Legend of Finn MacCool

Many heroic legends are surrounding Finn MacCool, comparisons have been made between him and the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Finn was reputed to have been the leader of the Fianna, the guardians of the King of Ireland whom he had formed from a rough bunch of warriors into an elite group who transformed under his command into the manifestation of justice and honour, they were the people's heroes. Finn's son Oisin, 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 White Park Bay was one of the first settlement areas on these shores. However, in this section, we will concentrate on his role in building the Giant's Causeway. The story goes thus:-

Finn, a renowned warrior was going about his daily duties on the north coast when one of his not so close friends, a Scottish giant called Benandonner started shouting and ridiculing Finn's fighting prowess. This ruffled Finn who after a few hours of insults, 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 giant columns into the ocean bed to make a sturdy causeway to Scotland, when he had finished he shouted across to Benandonner, 'Now you'll have no excuse you big gab, come on over and do your best'.

Photo of the Giants Causeway by Art Ward

Fearing to lose his reputation and pride the Scottish giant had no alternative but come over the causeway. Finn was super tired, having not slept for the week he worked and did not feel ready for fighting. He thought about how he could buy some time and recuperate to face the Scottish giant but his wife Una already had the plan in hand, she would dress him up as a baby. Quickly they made what looked convincingly like a large cot and disguised Finn as a baby. The Scottish giant arrived and banged on Finn's door shouting, 'Where is that coward MacCool'? Finn's wife answered the door and politely said that Finn was away but invited him in for a cup of tea, reassuring Benandonner that Finn would not be long. The tea arrived with a piece of cake in which Una had placed some stones.

Photo - Causeway Stones sunset by Art Ward

He took a bite and found it tough, and thought to himself, this Finn must be a tough man to eat cake like this but not to be outdone, he finished off the cake chipping two teeth in the process. He then noticed the cot and baby and his eyes widened in fear, he thought, my goodness if this is the baby. What size is the Father? He reached in to touch the sleeping baby, half out of curiosity and half as a sign of affection, Finn bit him like a horse which made him think, if this is what the baby is capable of, what must the father be capable of. With this thought his fear got the better of him. He headed for the door and ran like he had never run before, back across the causeway, as he went he pulled out the giant columns to stop Finn following him.

The Other Causeway Giant

You may be familiar with the story of Finn MacCool, well this story relates to another giant which was discovered in London's Broad Street railway depot in 1895 and which appeared in the Illustrated ‘Strand Magazine’. In an article focusing on the Lost Property Office of the London and North-Western Railway Company, they discovered that the company had in its possession a giant with a court injunction against its removal. The story takes place in the mid 1870s, a time when the world was still being discovered and curios from various parts of the world were being brought back to Europe and exhibited to the general public as curiosities, it was also the time people were hearing about petrified bodies and fossils.

The story centres around three characters Guiseppe Sala, John Dyer and Edward Ford, all three had travelled from America to England in 1875 after an abortive scam. Sala was paid to come along for his expertise, he was a monumental sculptor who had carved statues on the Clock Tower in Buffalo New Jersey. After another abortive scam in London involving a petrified body they moved to Ireland and hatched a plan to create something which would make them plenty of money. In May 1876, Sala carved a giant figure out of stone (limestone or sandstone) at Greenisland, this was then transported to a farm near the Giant’s Causeway where it was stored until the plan was carried out.

Dyer revealed locally that he had come to the area with information that would lead him to discover the petrified body of the giant that built the Giant’s Causeway. To add creedence to his story he set about undertaking several local expedition in local bogs but nothing was found, as this was part of the ploy. The giant which Sala had created was 12 feet 2 inches tall, the chest measured 6 feet 6 inches, the arms were 4 feet 6 inches long and for curiosity one foot had six toes. The overall weight was over two tons, the giant figure was placed in a coffin like wooden structure which it was transported in. In late June 1876 Dyer announced locally that he had found the petrified body of a giant which he believed was the giant Finn Mac Cool who had built the Giant’s Causeway.

This news create a big stir locally and a groundswell of interested people wanted to see the body. Dyer then exhibited it locally which attracted hundreds of people, after this he took it to Dublin, then to Liverpool and Manchester. He was making a tidy sum of money charging sixpence per head to see the ‘Petrified Body’ of the giant Finn MacCool. He then took a partner named Kershaw who invested in the enterprise but the two had some kind of disagreement which resulted in Dyer shipping the giant to London by train. While at the Broad Street Railway Depot of the London & North-Western Railway Company awaiting collection by Dyer, Kershaw took out an injuction preventing the removal of the giant until the legal ownership was settled.

The story came to light when the 'Strand Magazine' published an article on Lost Luggage in 1895. The bill for storage was £138, a colossal figure for 1895, plus carriage costs and £60 legal fees incurred by the company. The case was never settled, Kershaw and Dyer both died and the giant remained with the Railway Company. Forty years later in 1935 the company tried to find descendants of Kershaw or Dyer to claim the giant and pay a charge of £2,000 for its release. Others suggested that the authorities had become suspicious about the authenticity of the 'petrified body' and suspected a scam, so the two partners fled the scene. Anyway, no-one came forward to claim the giant and it was eventually used to fill in a bomb crater in London during the Second World War.

Back to Giants Causeway