“’In a churchyard on Boa Island, you can still look the old gods in the face. They watch you in silence. They want to speak to you of their power.’ Join Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney as he explores the islands of Lough Erne, Northern Ireland. He encounters an ancient and mysterious stone statue and imagines what the old gods in Ireland were like. The monastic round tower of Devenish Island is a reminder of those early Christian missionaries who, ‘startled the nature gods and put them to flight.’

This is an excerpt from BBC Northern Ireland programme Ulster in Focus: The Loughsiders. Originally broadcast 14 June, 1972.”

Watch here.