For years, thousands of visitors left coins for luck in Giant’s Causeway’s ancient rocks. Years later, more than 10,000 have been removed

For years, visitors to Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway pushed coins into gaps between its famous basalt columns as a gesture of luck or affection. The tradition eventually left a mark on the ancient rock formations, prompting conservation teams to remove more than 20kg of coins, or roughly 10,000 pieces, in a painstaking operation.