Protests at demolition of Heaney's old home
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Your support makes all the difference.The Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney's former home in Belfast, where he wrote one of his best-known works, has been torn down despite a spirited campaign to save it.
The demolition, at Ashley Avenue in south Belfast, produced a storm of condemnation from government ministers and heritage activists.
A wrecking crew was sent in within hours of the local Environment minister, Dermot Nesbitt, saying he wanted to survey the property. Mr Nesbitt said he lacked the power to halt the demolition because the house was not listed.
Seamus Heaney lived in the house in the late 1960s and early 1970s while he lectured at the nearby Queen's University. While living there he wrote much of his second major collection, Door Into the Dark.
His friend, the musician David Hammond, has described the house as a centre for poets, writers and artists, saying: "The house pulsed with energy and warmth, and the door was always open."
The developers said they had given the authorities time to have the house listed. It had been derelict for some time.
Michael McGimpsey, the local Culture minister, said: "It beggars belief that anybody would carry out an act of vandalism of this nature. The behaviour of the developer, never mind the legalities of it, has been self-centred and selfish to the ultimate degree."
The Northern Ireland Secretary, John Reid, joined in the condemnation: "Like everyone else I believe if we have symbols of our culture and our history ... they should be preserved wherever possible."
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