Video: ‘May the green sod of Bellaghy rest gently upon him’

NOBEL Laureate Seamus Heaney was laid to rest in his native South Derry this afternoon.
Marie Heaney and daughter Catherine arriving at the graveyard.Marie Heaney and daughter Catherine arriving at the graveyard.
Marie Heaney and daughter Catherine arriving at the graveyard.

The 74-year-old, acclaimed by many as the best Irish poet since Yeats, died in a Dublin hospital on Friday.

Following funeral mass in Dublin, he was brought north for burial in his native Bellaghy.

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Along the way the cortege paused outside Barney Devlin’s forge on the Hillhead Road, immortalised in one of Heaney’s poems.

Marie Heaney and daughter Catherine arriving at the graveyard.Marie Heaney and daughter Catherine arriving at the graveyard.
Marie Heaney and daughter Catherine arriving at the graveyard.

Several hundred crowded into the graveyard for the arrival of the cortege which was led by a lone piper.

NI Deputy Minister and former Mid-Ulster MP Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and former SDLP leader John Hume were among those attending.

There were many mourners from the world of arts and entertainment including Paul Brady, Tommy Sands and Brian Coll.

Those attending heard the officiating priest say: “May the green sod of Bellaghy rest gently upon him.”