Knapdale and Dalriada - my heritage.

I’m very proud of my west Highland origins, being brought up in Argyll, in Knapdale, part of the old Kingdom of Dalriada. This was actually a Gaelic over-kingdom, including parts of the West of Scotland and the North East of Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the late 6^th and early 7^th centuries, it ranged over what is now Argyll and a part of Country Antrim in Ulster.

                              

Dunadd Fort was said to be its capital and the other royal forts were Dunollie, in Oban; Dunaverty in Southend, Kintyre; and Dunseverick, in County Antrim.

 In Argyll there were 4 main ‘kindreds’, each with its own chief:

Cenel Loairn  - the kindred of Loarn, now Lorne, Mid-Argyll.

Cenel n’Qenguse – the kindred of Oengus, Islay

Cenel  n Gabrain – the kindred of Gabrain, Kintyre

Cenel n Comgaill  - the kindred of Comgaill, Cowal, E Argyll.

                                      

Dalriada was said to have been founded in the 5^th century by the legendary Fergus Mor, Fergus the Great, and reached its height under Aedan mac Gabran (574-608) In 843, there was a disastrous defeat of the Picts by the Vikings, and after that Dalriada merged with Pictland to form the Kingdom of Alba.

So, why all this interest in our cultural heritage? Well, I remember being told that my paternal grandmother of Lismore, on going to primary school, had her first encounter with the English language - and was expected to muddle along and be educated in this, for her, alien medium. She had 10 children and the family moved to the mainland, Knapdale, where the Gaelic tongue was less in evidence. Consequently, the older children all spoke Gaelic fluently, while the younger ones - of whom my father was one – could understand the language but not speak it.

I’ve come to regret that that gift was not passed on to me, and so am trying to make some inroads into this highly complex linguistic system. I have two sources which entail completely different approaches and, as an applied linguist, I am what could be called a ‘polluted learner’: one who learns and analyses the process being undergone simultaneously.

 Over the next few posts I shall chart my progress – if any - and observations.

The information of Dunadd tells us of evidence of fine metal working. Here I leave you with a fine example of that: a silver belt buckle sporting the beautiful, spiral Celtic design.