No-one knows the precise whereabouts of Rocabarra (“stone of the sea-tangle top”), so the national grid reference for this site is intended to give the rough area rather than the precise location. Indeed, according to Otta F. Swire (Skye: The Island and its Legends, 1961, pp.120-1), Rocabarra has only ever been glimpsed twice by human eyes: once by St. Columba, who was saluted by it, and once by a person about whom Swire remains completely silent. There is a saying: “When Rocabarra appears again the world is due for destruction”, although a different folk tradition says that the stone is the Isle of the Blessed, its coming heralding a golden age. The only clue Swire gives as to its location is to say that it is “in this Loch Dunvegan”.
