Dalelia is most famous as the birthplace of
Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, who along with
Sorley MacLean remains one of the two most important figures in the history of
Scottish Gaelic literature.
The Clanranald Bard, as he has since been dubbed by
Hamish Henderson, is also notable for having been chosen, due to his "skill in the
Highland Language", to teach Scottish Gaelic to
Prince Charles Edward Stuart during the
Jacobite rising of 1745. When the Bard was born at Dalilea in about 1700, his father, Maighstir Alasdair MacDhòmhnaill (Rev. Dr. Alexander MacDonald, 1st of Dalilea), was the
Non-Juring Episcopalian Rector of
Kilchoan and held the
tack of Dalelia. After his death c.1724, Maighstir Alasdair MacDhòmhnaill was succeeded as
tacksman by his eldest son, Aonghas Beag MacDhòmhnaill (Angus MacDonald, 2nd of Dalelia), who married Margaret
Cameron, a devoutly
Roman Catholic woman from
Achadhuan, in
Lochaber (). According to Father Charles MacDonald, "She is represented to have been a lady of singular piety, and of a gentleness of manners which was well-calculated to have had a beneficial effect on the fiery characters surrounding Dalilea. The natives still point out a certain spot on the top of the knoll behind Dalilea House, where this estimable person used to spend many of the summer evenings in reading and in devotional exercises. It was here, too, that she used to withdraw on Sundays to pray, when circumstances prevented her from going to church." After Aonghas Beag MacDhòmhnaill converted from the
Scottish Episcopal Church to
Roman Catholicism, he served as Captain over the men of Dalelia during the
Jacobite Rising of 1745. Like his younger brother, Aonghas Beag survived the
no quarter given to the
Jacobite Army after the final defeat of the uprising at the
Battle of Culloden in 1746. During the year that followed the Battle, which is still referred to in the
Highlands and Islands as
Bliadhna nan Creach ("The Year of the Pillaging"), the Bard's birthplace at Dalilea was plundered by
Hanoverian redcoats. Despite this, Aonghas Beag returned to his native district, where he had to remain in hiding for two years and only rarely dared to visit his family. After the act of indemnity was passed, Aonghas Beag MacDhòmhnaill returned to Dalelia, where he finished his days in peace. Today, Dalilea is a working farm with self-catered accommodation for tourists and boats for hire. ==References==