Seamus Heaney ‘would have been proud’ of new literary centre where he spent his childhood

The family of Seamus Heaney have said he would have been proud to see a new arts and literary centre where he spent his childhood.

The £4.25m (€4.9m) building was officially opened by the Nobel laureate’s widow Marie Heaney and their children, Christopher, Michael, and Catherine on the site of an old RUC barracks in his native Bellaghy, Co Derry.

The Seamus Heaney HomePlace is surrounded by the rural lands which inspired much of his work.