The Dalriada.
1439 Edinburgh Road, Cranhill, Glasgow.
The Dalriada. 1991.
The Dalriada opened in the 1960s and was demolished in the 1990s. At the end there was a lot of violence in the pub, someone was severely attacked in the lounge, this was the last straw, the place closed down shortly afterwards.
Interior view of the Dalriada, the bar was massive.
Janet Munro email me on the Dalriada, Janet has an extensive knowledge on Cranhill and surrounding area. .. The Dalriada Hotel on Edinburgh Road was not in Easterhouse. The front door was in Carntyne Road between Springboig and Carntyne. The Hotel had seven bedrooms this was the requirement for a 7 days licence. There were very few places opened on a Sunday. When the Dal was owned by Rio Stakis and was named by his friend Mr Phillips who was a French teacher at Cranhill Secondary School, it was named The Dalriada because that is what the Roman's called this part on Scotland.
It was said the Dalriada had the longest bar in Scotland at one time. I worked in the Public Bar in 1974 as a bar-maid. The upstairs lounge could hold around 500 people and there was live music on every week-end and also during the week. Some great bands played in the Dal.
On a Sunday night the Public Bar was so crowded it was about 6 deep at the bar with men trying to order drinks. Many a time I told a man "If you want a pint find a glass." Every Sunday night at least two boxes of pint glasses had to be opened so that drink could be served. In 1974 a pint of Tennents lager cost 2/6p.
Dalriada or Dál Riata (as it was called in Ireland) was the kingdom of the Scots who migrated from County Antrim in Ulster to Argyll and eventually gave their name to Scotland. Aidan mac Gabhráin who reigned from 574 to 608 as king of Dál Riata built a strong navy and waged aggressive war raiding as far as the Isle of Man and the Orkney Islands. He was less successful in land battles and lost the Battle of Degsastan in 603 to the Angles. The kingdom's power in Ulster was greatly diminished by a decisive defeat by the O'Neill (Uí Néill) in 637 at the Battle of Mag Rath.
From then on the Dalriadans focused on their lands in Britain. Their rivals were the Picts to the north and the Angles of Bernicia to the east. On the south they were bordered by Strathclyde a British kingdom. Dunadd, in Argyll, was probably the seat of the kings of Dalriada. It has been excavated archeologically and in addition to fortifications many moulds for the manufacture of jewellery were found. A census of Dalriada exists, the Senchus fer n'Alba.
Dalriada was conquered militarily by the Picts but eventually overwhelmed them culturally. Kenneth MacAlpin, a Dalriadan, was first King of the united Picts and Scots reigning from 840 to 857, as the king of Alba or Scotland. The Viking raids of the 10th century broke the sea communication between Ireland and Scotland and contact was lost with the western lands of Dál Riata, but not before the Stone of Scone was brought over.
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Dalriada Hotel advert 1976.
Mr. J. M. Black was the manager of the Dalriada in 1976.
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