Bellaghy Bawn

Photos: Bellaghy Bawn; Seamus Heaney's "Life & Work" display; original hand-written drafts of Seanmus Heaney's poetry

Bellaghy Bawn
Castle Street
Bellaghy
Magherafelt, Co. Londonderry
Tel. 028-7938-6812

If you don't get to meet the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney in your Irish travels, a visit to Bellaghy Bawn is the next best thing. Set deep in the Northern Ireland countryside almost mid-way between Derry and Belfast, Bellaghy Bawn is a locally-inspired and maintained literary museum focusing on the works of Heaney who grew up in Bellaghy and wrote his earliest poetry about the surrounding countryside.

Step into the small 25-seat theatre and watch the 15-minute audio-visual, "Where Are You Now," written and narrated by Heaney. It's almost like having a chat with the poet who tells all his fondest memories of the area and then recites many of his well-known poems such "The Thatcher," "Bellaghy Graveyard," "The Strand at Lough Beg," "The Forge," and "The Old School Bag." Visitors are welcome to wander upstairs through the Heaney Archives and see mounted copies of his works, a photo gallery on his life, rare publications, and copies of his original manuscripts in his own handwriting. His "old school bag" is there, too!

Bellaghy Bawn is also a museum of local history. The building itself is a genuine English-style bawn or fort, built in the 1620's with a lookout tower and thick walls for defense. Nowadays the tower is used for poetry readings-in-the-round. Other exhibits spotlight the history of the area from 5,000 BC to the present. Open daily during April - September and Mondays-Saturdays during October-March. Web site: http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/bellaghy.shtml

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