Bellaghy Bawn

BELLAGHY BAWN

Bellaghy (Irish: Baile Eachaidh) is a village in County Londonderry. Baile Eachaidh means "Town of Eachaidh" or "mouth of the marsh" or "wet place". It lies north west of Lough Neagh and about 5 miles north of Magherafelt.
This 17th-century stronghold contains a guide to archaeology, history and nature around Bellaghy. It features Seamus Heaney's poetry films and broadcasts.

Its History:
When this area was granted to the Vintners' Company of London in 1619, Sir Baptist Jones rented the land and built the bawn and the accompanying village to secure the region. This is now a complex, multi-period monument. The main house was lived in until as recently as 1987, and excavation in 1989-90 clarified the site's complicated development.

The N bawn wall with the entrance has disappeared, but parts of the other walls survive. The house is probably of the 18th century, on the site of an original early17th-century house, and the excavated foundations of another 17th-century house can be seen against the W bawn wall. A 1622 drawing shows two large round towers at opposed NW and SE corners of the bawn, the SE one surviving, attached to the house. A gateway in the W wall leads to the outside of the bawn, where the recent brick buttresses are the latest in a long series of attempts to prop the leaning wall. Excavation showed it had been built over the ditch of a rath of the Early Christian period, also exploiting this eminence, and explaining the instability. In the house are historical and other displays featuring the work of Ulster poets, especially Seamus Heaney, who comes from this area.  On 2 April 2009 the poet himself unveiled a fine sculputrue located outside the Bawn Gates.  It is of a man digging turf, representing his poem on this subject.

 The resources include a film made for the bawn and a collection of Seamus Heaney's broadcasts.