Handwritten Heaney drafts raise €27,000 for arts centre

Handwritten drafts of a Seamus Heaney poem fetched €27,000 at an auction on Saturday night to help fund a new arts and heritage…

Handwritten drafts of a Seamus Heaney poem fetched €27,000 at an auction on Saturday night to help fund a new arts and heritage centre in Ashford, Co Wicklow.

Three working drafts and a holograph copy of Heaney's 1970s poem Glanmore Sonnet VII were sold at the auction at Mount Usher House on Saturday.

The Derry poet and Nobel laureate donated eight items to the auction organised by the Ashford Development Association, which needs to raise about €135,000 to convert a disused Garda station into an arts centre for the village. Mr Heaney, who attended the sale briefly, spends much of his time writing at his home in nearby Glanmore. He has lived in a cottage there since moving from Belfast in 1972.

Wexford collector Liam O'Leary beat off competition from a telephone bidder from Northern Ireland to win the main attraction.

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Sheila Clarke, of the Ashford Development Association, said the poet had done the group a "wonderful favour".

Treasurer Noel Keyes, who is also a member of the Heritage Council of Ireland, also praised Mr Heaney's generosity. "He has a great sense of community about him," he said. "There are few others of his type who would donate documents as important as this. It's very generous."

The auction is expected to raise close to €55,000. In January, the association was given two years to raise the funds, otherwise the property will revert to the State.

Ms Clarke said that while extensive renovations are required, 23 groups had already expressed an interest in using the facility.

The auction of 50 paintings, photographs and signed items from artists and writers linked with the area included works by Mr Heaney's wife Marie, Peter de Rosa, Vera Pettigrew, Richard Nairn, Michael Kane, Stanley Pettigrew, Barry Perry, Peter Knuttel and Susan Mary Webb.