Seamus Heaney’s famed pen was bought in Donegal

A FOUNTAIN PEN purchased in Donegal may have been one of the foundation stones of the internationally acclaimed career of Poetry Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, it emerged this week.
On a visit to the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, County Derry recently, Buncrana man Terry Tedstone happened to mention to the guide that he was from the Inishowen town. The guide brought him to a display case in the exhibition saying ‘you must see this’.
The guide brought Terry and his family to the first display case where a hand-written poem, with a typed transcript and a fountain pen are on show.

Speaking to the Donegal News this week Terry explained how the guide told them about Seamus Heaney’s parents bringing him to Buncrana as a treat on his way to start boarding in Saint Columb’s College in Derry.
“She explained that when they were in Buncrana they bought him a Conway Stewart fountain pen, then and now an expensive luxury item. I asked her if she knew what shop it had been bought in. She told us she recently got an email from a researcher telling her it was bought in the Souvenir House on Main Street in Buncrana owned by the McConnell Family, now closed.
“I spoke to Eunan McConnell on my return and while he is too young to remember the sale, he did recall that was one of the luxury pen brands they sold back in the day. He thought it was probably his late father or mother, Leo or Bridie who would have sold it to the Heaneys.
“It was the pen he always used. It would have been quite a gift for a young boy back then as today they sell for upwards of £450. It’s a lovely connection to have,” Terry said.

Manager at Seamus Heaney HomePlace Brian McCormick told the Donegal News that the story of the pen purchase in Buncrana is one they love to tell visitors.
“Seamus wrote his poem ‘The Conway Stewart’ in 2010 to recall that event in his life and he tells how the pen was demonstrated to him in the shop. The original pen has long since vanished but this is exactly the pen he describes. It was Inishowen historical researcher Sean Beattie who got in touch with me this time last year to tell us where he believed the pen was purchased. He sent us an advert for Souvenir House advertising Conway Stewart pens.”
Seamus Heaney writes of that trip to Buncrana with his parents in the book ‘Stepping Stones’.
According to the commentary in the display case the Conway Stewart pen is linked in its subject matter to one of Heaney’s earliest and most celebrated poems ‘Digging’.
“In both poems the pen provides a connection to the past and is a metaphor for communication that goes way beyond a simple writing instrument.”

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