Seamus Heaney

Come and experience the landscape, sights and sounds that inspired one of Ireland’s greatest writers.

Heaney’s poems are rooted in Mid Ulster

You’ve read Seamus Heaney’s poetry. Now see it, live it, breathe it at Seamus Heaney HomePlace. The people and places of Mid Ulster were a consistent source of inspiration for the poet. When you visit, you’ll be instantly transported to a time and place that inspired works such as ‘Digging’, ‘A Lough Neagh Sequence’ and ‘Two Lorries’.

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.

Be moved and inspired at Seamus Heaney HomePlace

Step into the Nobel Laureate’s life and literature at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, an award-winning arts and literacy centre in Bellaghy, between the poet’s two childhood homes at Mossbawn and The Wood.

A carefully curated collection of poetry, photographs and stories guide you from his formative years in the Bellaghy area to becoming one of Ireland’s greatest writers. Let Seamus Heaney’s distinctive voice guide 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.

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.

A cultural beacon at the heart of Mid Ulster

Browse the Seamus Heaney HomePlace library, where you’ll see on display hundreds of books donated by the Heaney family from Seamus Heaney’s own collection, as well as a handpicked selection of books by the poet’s friends, contemporaries and those he enjoyed reading, including Spike Milligan and Bob Dylan. Undoubtedly one of the best Northern Ireland tourist attractions for bookworms.

And why not time your visit to coincide with an event or performance at Seamus Heaney HomePlace’s 190-seater performance space? Van Morrison, Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Palin, Sally Rooney, Michael Morpurgo and Fiona Shaw are among those to have trodden the boards of The Helicon’s distinctive traverse stage.  See what’s on when you’re visiting.

Visit places that inspired Seamus Heaney poems

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 - 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.

Discover how each of these places, so much a part of Seamus Heaney’s formative years, influenced the rich legacy of his literature. In each location, interpretation panels tell you about the places you’re visiting.

Download the Open Ground app to explore locations linking the landscape with the literature of Seamus Heaney. Listen to recordings of the poet reading work inspired by each place as you follow in his footsteps. The sights and sounds of each place are brought to life through augmented reality.