Dalmore Daytime

Dalmore Daytime
Sandy Beach

Friday 1 February 2008

Sgorr Dhomhnull Duncan.

John Sinclair,the farmer of Dalbeg/Dalmore had two sons,Peter and Hector,and towards the end of the 19th century,it was Peter Sinclair who inherited the farm.The name "Padruig Sinclair" was,during my childhood,often mentioned in hushed tones as if his spectre was ever present.I should mention here that my paternal grandmother "Bean Shoudie" (1864-1945)worked for the Old Sinclair as a maid in the Dalbeg farmhouse around 1880.
In the hill above Tigh Glass(No.5 Dalmore) there is a large passage,caused by the rocks here having split an eternity ago.It was known as"Sgorr Dhomhnull Duncan"(Donald Duncan's Rock)and supposedly afforded one a shortcut to the top of Beinn Dhail Mor - it didn't.It was long and damp and the sides were covered in a cold green moss.Half way along the floor the level rose abruptly by about 2 feet,and then continued to the top.We were told that Domhnull Duncan was a shepherd for the Sinclairs, a godly man and possessing powers of the Second Sight.It was here within this large cleft in the rock that Donald went to pray.
One day,standing on top of the hill,he looked over the valley,and what he saw was field upon field of ripe corn and barley swaying in the breeze.Back at the farmhouse in Dalbeg,he told Mrs Sinclair what he had seen.It is said that she cried quietly,realising that their time here was coming to an end. Another example of Donald Duncan's power as a seer would at that time have been impossible to explain. He witnessed some people carrying the body of a drowned man from the beach at Dalmore out to a house in the village.As he watched those same people carried a large box back into the shore,where they left it.They then returned back to that same house in the village.Hard to fathom such strange behaviour unless we know what actually happened one beautiful day(around 1930?).Calum Dhomhnull Chalum(Calum Macleod No.8 Dalmore),a strong lad,and excellent swimmer was tragically drowned in Dalmore Bay.His body was taken out to his house in the village (not there in Donald Duncan's day).Later at his funeral,his coffin was carried into the trigh and left there.In 1912 a cemetery was inaugurated at Dalmore(not there in the seer's day) and it was there that Calum Macleod was laid to rest.

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