Dingwall (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: ''Inbhir Pheofharain'') is an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

of approximately 600 residents in the Aspy Bay region of the

Municipality of the County of Victoria The Municipality of the County of Victoria is a county municipality on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It provides local government to about 7,000 residents of the eponymous historical county except for the Wagmatcook 1 reserve. The ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is situated just off the

Cabot Trail The Cabot Trail is a scenic highway on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a loop around the northern tip of the island, passing along and through the Cape Breton Highlands and the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It is named ...

, 84.68 kilometers northeast of county seat

Baddeck Baddeck () is a village on Cape Breton Island in northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated in the center of Cape Breton, approximately 6 km east of where the Baddeck River empties into Bras d'Or Lake. Baddeck is the shire-town of t ...

. The federal electoral riding is

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History

Dingwall was founded as Young's Cove in the late 1820s, an carried that name until 1883. One of the first settlers and land grantees was Walter Young in 1827, and the community that emerged around him came to bear his name. Young had a

Brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

of 147 tonnes build in 1847, named the ''Richard Brown'' which Young utilized as a cargo ship. The ''Richard Brown'' was at one time believed to have been lost at sea in a gale while on a voyage from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

to Halifax, but despite heavy damage reached its destination after being blown far off course. Later, in the late 1870s, merchant Robert Dingwall settled in Young's Cove and opened a general store. Mr. Dingwall soon made an application for a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and then lobbied the government to change the town's name. By provincial statute chapter 55 in 1883, the name of Young's Cove was thus changed to Dingwall.

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

in origin, the name "Dingwall" comes from Ting (parliament) and Voir (valley).

Overview

Located on northeastern

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

in the Aspy Bay, Dingwall has traditionally been a

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

community, which remains the town's primary industry, along with tourism. St. Joseph's

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was opened in 1901 and rebuilt in the mid-1980s after being destroyed by arson. Dingwall was once a somewhat booming industrial town in the early 20th century when it was home to the National Gypsum Company Quarries, the remnants of which are still quite prominent within the town. The Dingwall quarry was in full production after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but harsh winters and a shallow port limited production to the months of May through November. Each spring the channel had to be dredged and, toward the end of the shipping season, cargo size was reduced to keep the vessels afloat. Dingwall's gypsum deposit was last worked in 1955. Once the gypsum boom had run its course, many residents moved elsewhere to find employment. In 1960 the Department of Public Works of Canada requested the

National Research Council (Canada) The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...

devise a means of reducing sediment deposition in the harbour entrance caused by the littoral drift on a bar in front of the entrance. Prior to this, shoaling of the entrance of this harbour was so severe that it was often possible to walk across the harbour entrance in rubber boots within a few months of completion of dredging to a depth of 13 feet. Model studies were carried out and a breakwater configuration was evolved which appeared to have some "selfdredging" characteristics. The recommended structures were built in 1962 and over time appeared to be successful in maintaining minimum depths of 5 feet at low tide which was adequate for the fishing fleet using the harbour at the time. Based upon the Dingwall channel design, entrance structures were later built at

Inverness, Nova Scotia Inverness (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile Inbhir Nis'') is a Canadian rural community in Inverness County, Nova Scotia. It is about an hour's drive north from the Canso Causeway and about an hour south from Cape Breton Highlands National Park. In 2021, ...

in 1965 and at Pleasant Bay, Nova Scotia in 1967.

Swordfish The swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as the broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are the sole member of the Family (biology), family Xiphiidae. They ...

ing was carried out extensively in Dingwall and other communities North of Smokey from the 1930s to the 1980s. Swordfish were so plentiful that boats traveled from

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a port town located on the Bay of Fundy in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. Yarmouth is the shire town of Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Yarmouth County and is the largest population centre in the region. History Originally inhab ...

and as far as the

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to fish. The season would start in late July and would run until late September, sometimes October. In 2010, plans were announced to repatriate the St. Paul Island lighthouse to the St. Paul Island Museum in Dingwall. St. Paul is an uninhabited island located about 24 kilometres northeast of Dingwall. Built in 1917, the lighthouse guided ships through the Gulf of St. Lawrence for approximately 100 years before being moved to Dartmouth at the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

Maritime base.

Communications

*The

Postal Code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

is B0C 1G0 *The

Telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits ...

902 __NOTOC__ Year 902 (Roman numerals, CMII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Adalbert II, Margrave of Tuscany, Adalbert II, margrave of March of Tuscany, Tuscany, revol ...

-383-xxxx *

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

provided by

Bell Aliant Bell Aliant is a brand name used by Bell Canada for Telecommunications in Canada, telecommunications services in Atlantic Canada. Prior to 2015, Bell Aliant Inc. (formerly Aliant Inc.) was a separate company providing telecom services in the Atl ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Dingwall at Google Maps
Communities in Victoria County, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia