Seamus Heaney HomePlace

About

This is a special place. A moving place. An inspirational place.

Seamus Heaney HomePlace takes you on an inspiring journey through the life and work of one of Ireland’s greatest writers.

Situated between Seamus Heaney’s two childhood homes at Mossbawn and The Wood, and only a few hundred yards from St Mary’s Church, Bellaghy, which he chose as his final resting place, HomePlace is at the heart of the area that inspired so much of the poet’s work.

It’s a place where you can sense the warmth of Heaney’s relationships with local people and landscapes; where you can immerse yourself in the Nobel Laureate’s literature.

Seamus Heaney’s distinctive voice guides you through the exhibition as you get to know the people and places that inspired him. Atmospheric video projections and touchscreen displays sit alongside precious items donated by the Heaney family.

Seamus Heaney’s ink-stained wooden desk from Anahorish Primary School, a recreation of his study in Dublin and the fax machine that delivered the news when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, are among the artefacts that transport you to each momentous moment in time.

Open Ground 

Explore locations linking the landscape and the literature of Seamus Heaney. Venture out to Open Ground, a series of five locations which held great significance for Seamus Heaney.

Discover places that shaped Seamus Heaney’s life and literature  — Toomebridge, Magherafelt, Moyola River, Lough Beg and Bellaghy Bawn  — and discover the smells, sights and sounds that make his poetry so uniquely of this place.

Seamus Heaney’s roots were in the Bellaghy area and many of his poems are equally rooted in these places. Throughout his career, he regularly drew upon the loughs, rivers and bogs he visited in his formative years.

Many of these places are unchanged and unspoilt since the time Heaney wrote about them, allowing you to see them for yourself through the poet’s eyes. Read Heaney’s work in the context in which it was inspired and see how the places of Open Ground are reflected in his writing.

Winner of NI’s Most Innovative Business (Large) at Tourism Northern Ireland's Giant Spirit Awards 2022.