THE craftsmanship of Monea man, Michael Hoy was put to the test earlier this year when the family of Irish poet and Nobel Prize winner, Seamus Heaney approached him to carve a personalised headstone fitting of a man loved the world over.

Michael, who set up his own business for hand-carved memorials and headstones in 2011, was commissioned by the Heaney family at the beginning of the year.

“There could be no bigger endorsement,” the 46-year-old stone carver agreed.

“People of my generation would have studied him in school. He achieved stratospheric fame. Everyone everywhere knows him.” Despite his fame, Mr. Heaney’s family had their hearts set on a gravestone that would echo his humble beginnings in Bellaghy.

Michael’s interest in masonry and scupting began after he studied art and design at the University of Ulster in the late 80s.

He then spent three years studying masonry, stone carving and letter cutting at Weymouth College in Dorset, gaining distinctions in all disciplines.

Prior to this though, he had been working with a friend on fireplaces.

But once his course in Dorset was complete, he began travelling across England, doing mainly restoration work on old stone buildings.

And after a return to Fermanagh and the responsibility of a young family, Michael decided to set up Ernestone.

Renowned for perfection in his craft, Michael has built up a strong body of work at Ernestone, proving there is clearly a demand for personalised carved headstones in Fermanagh.

“It’s something different,” he says, “The client is able to decide on something which is specifically personal to the deceased person.” And for Michael, there is the satisfaction of creating a piece that pleases his clients.

“I enjoy the whole process, especially when people take the time to write you a letter or a card saying ‘thank you for your involvement’. That’s something you just don’t get if you are working in the construction industry. When you’re finished in construction you get a pat on back and ‘all the best see, you on the next job’. In this line of work you are working with individuals, not a faceless company.” His hobby of sculpting allows him to adopt more of a licence to be creative, but Michael leaves nothing to chance when he is working on a headstone to ensure 100 per cent customer satisfaction.

“It is the customer’s vision that leads each project,” he explained, “Everything is drawn out and agreed upon beforehand.

“We decide on the overall shape, talk about the finer detail, decide on the actual epitaph or text. I produce a drawing for the customer to see and once they are happy then it is ready to go into production.” Having no connection with the Heaneys, Michael says he has no idea how the family came to hear of his work.

“They could have gone to any sculptor on the planet but they kept it local. All they would say was that they had received my name from three to four different people.

“But he and TP Flanagan, the Enniskillen born painter, would have been good friends and I made his headstone too.” Describing the commission as an “absolute honour”, Michael says he worked closely with the family to ensure the final piece was to their exact requirements.

“I wasn’t really under any pressure because I had talked and discussed it all with the family and knew exactly what they wanted,” he explained.

“They didn’t want anything too grand. He was quite a humble person on the face of things and they wanted to reflect those humble beginnings in Bellaghy.” The finished product was unveiled last week as his family marked the second anniversary of Mr. Heaney’s death.

The inscription simply includes his name, the years of his birth and death and a quotation from one of his poems, ‘The Gravel Walks’.

It reads: “Walk on air against your better judgement.”