Heaney drafts sell for €27,000

Hand-written drafts of a poem by Seamus Heaney tonight fetched €27,000 to help a small Irish village develop an arts and heritage centre.

The Co Derry poet and Nobel laureate donated the scribblings to a group near in his adopted Wicklow home who are converting an old Garda station for the project.

The Ashford Development Association (ADA) said they were celebrating after the documents sold at twice their expected value during the auction.

"We are absolutely thrilled," said treasurer Noel Keyes, also a member of the Heritage Council of Ireland.

"This will really kick-start the development and we can have this place up and running over the next few weeks. It's great."

Mr Keyes paid tribute to his neighbour Heaney - who attended the sale briefly - for donating the drafts of his 1970s poem, Glanmore Sonnet VII.

"He has a great sense of community about him. There are few others of his type who would donate documents as important as this. It's very generous," he said.

Heaney has lived in a cottage in the village of Glanmore, near Ashford, since moving from Belfast in 1972.

Signed books by his wife Marie were also among the sale which included fine art paintings and photographs as well as signed publications from other artists and writers who live in the area.

Works by Peter de Rosa, Vera Pettigrew, Richard Nairn and Michael Kane, Stanley Pettigrew, Barry Perry, Peter Knuttel, Susan Mary Webb, Alan Kenny and Martin Bernon all helped raise an overall total of €54,000.

ADA will spend the money converting the former Royal Irish Constabulary barracks - used as a garda station until it was damaged by fire five years ago - into a community-based arts centre.