confirmed by King Brude of the Northern Picts, who about the same time defeated King Conall in battle. Aidan, Conall's successor, was crowned by St. Columba 'Moneist the angell to bleis him—and quhan Sanct Colme laid his hand on the said Aidanis heid, he blessit him and crownit him and prophecet mekill of him his kinrik and his freinds.' There is no doubt that the whole district of Knapdale was in high favour with the immediate successors of St. Columba and those who came after them. Indeed, as has been well pointed out by the late Captain White in his work on Knapdale, no district in the West Highlands possesses such a rich treasure of ecclesiastical remains. Many chapels and hermits' cells were dotted along the margin of Loch Suibne and upon the islands that gem its bosom. Most of these were dedicated to St. Cormac, a disciple of St. Columba, or to St. Maelrubha, who was his kinsman.[1] Upon 'St. Cormac's isle' there are still ruins of a chapel and cell. Fordoun, who appears to have visited it, says that there was a sanctuary here. A hundred years ago parts of the altar and the piscina were still intact, and also the stone covering of a coffin with the effigy of a priest in his cope. Tradition says that 'Cormac's grave' was here, and into a rocky chamber known as the saint's study no Highlander would dare set foot, believing that whoever did so would remain childless. Two old broken crosses, one of them said to have been brought from Iona, stood near the chapel. An old legend says that one of them was carried off by sacrilegious hands, and taken by boat as far as the Mull of Cantyre. A fierce storm arose, and the craft was unable to make way round that dangerous headland until the terror-stricken sailors cast the cross overboard. Needless to say, the storm abated and the cross floated quietly back to St. Cormac's isle. Castle Suibne, variously spelt as Swen, Sweyn, or Swen, although manifestly the work of different ages, is believed to date from the eleventh century. It is supposed to have been erected by Sweno, Prince of Denmark,
- ↑ May not the hill of Dunrostan overlooking Castle Suibne hold a memory of St. Columba's kinsman and disciple?
