News

Heaney townland doesn't exist

PEOPLE living in a south Derry townland made famous by two Seamus Heaney poems have vowed to fight to save the district's name after it emerged it doesn't officially exist.

Heaney was laid to rest in his home parish of Bellaghy in Co Derry last Monday after Requiem Mass was earlier held in his adopted Dublin home.

Since then hundreds of fans have flooded to St Mary's graveyard to pay tribute to the literary legend.

Many more have gone on a Heaney heritage trail in his home county to see for themselves the places and people made famous by the Nobel laureate's poems.

However, shock-waves have been sent through the tiny town-land of Anahorish, made famous by no less than two of Heaney's most best-known poems, after it emerged it does not appear on Ordinance Survey maps - meaning it does not officially exist.

Anahorish natives are also up in arms after Magherafelt District Council erected roads signs declaring the ancient district as part of a neighbouring townland known as Creagh.

Council spokesman Andrew Cassells said that while some maps do make reference to a "district" called Anahorish the official townland name is in fact Creagh.

He confirmed that the council is seeking legal advice on whether the townland name can now be changed from Creagh to Anahorish.

"The early indications are that the council does not have the power to change townland names," he said. "We are not unsympathetic to local feelings on this."

One of Heaney's most famous poems is called Anahorish which first appeared in his 1972 volume, Wintering Out.

The name Anahorish is translated from the Irish, anach fhior uisce, means 'place of clear water' - a phrase used in the opening line of the poem.

In his 2006 collection District and Circle Heaney published a second poem about the district called Anahorish 1944.

Heaney also attended Anahorish Primary School. While not actually located in the disputed district it is named after the town-land where the original school house was established.

Although born in a neighbouring townland.

Heaney spent much of his youth in Anahorish with the landscape and people having a huge impact on his later writing.

His second poem about the district, Anahorish 1944, takes on a darker tone as the narrator talks about watching young American soldiers stationed in the area during the Second World War ahead of the D-Day landings as neighbours kill pigs at a nearby slaughterhouse.

That slaughterhouse was then and is still owned by the Gribbin family who have lived in the Anahorish area for at least six generations.

Anahorish native Malachy Gribbin revealed that the men involved in slaughtering the pigs referred to in Heaney's poem were his uncles, Derry GAA legends, Owen and Roddy Gribbin, who both took part in the 1958 All Ireland final against Dublin.

Mr Gribbin says detailed re-search he has carried out proves Anahorish was historically regarded as a townland.

"In my opinion it is a townland and at the very least was a place name," he said.

"If you look at the 1766 religious census it is listed there as a townland.

"Early Ordinance survey maps also show Anahorish as a townland.

"I think from a point of record and accuracy the whole connection between Seamus Heaney and Anahorish now needs to be recognised and marked."

Mr Gribbin is the owner of a number of books signed by Heaney and has in his collection a recent signature by the poet which includes the message 'Anahorish Abu' - which translated from the Irish means 'up Anahorish'.

Magherafelt Sinn Fein councillor Peter Bateson said he has been contacted by people concerned that townland is no longer officially recognised.

"Local people are keen to have the name officially established again," he said.

"People are precious about townlands and the history of townlands and it needs to be put right.

"I am working to try and resolve the puzzle of how Anahorish disappeared from the maps."