Dumbarton
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- For other uses, see Dumbarton (disambiguation).
| Dumbarton District 1975-96 | |
| Image:Scot1975Dumbarton.png |
Dumbarton (Dùn Breatainn in Scottish Gaelic) is a burgh in Scotland, lying on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. Dumbarton Castle, sitting on top of Dumbarton Rock, dominates the area. As of 2001 the town had a population of roughly 20,550.
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History
Dumbarton functioned as the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde, and later as the county town of the county of Dunbartonshire (formerly known as "Dumbartonshire"). The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "Fort of the Brythons (Britons)". The Britons themselves knew it as "Alclud" (Ail Chluaidh), the "Rock on the Clyde".
Dumbarton Castle sits on Dumbarton Rock, close to the spot where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. The Castle has an illustrious history and many well-known figures from Scottish and British history have visited it. These include Mary Queen of Scots, William Wallace, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. From the top of the Castle you have a beautiful view of the Clyde and Leven Grove Park. The Park itself was a gift to the town by the Dennys who owned the shipbuilding company (now a waste ground soon to be turned into housing) which was about 100 yards away from the Castle.
During World War II Dumbarton was heavily bombed by the German air force. The Germans were trying to bomb the shipbuilding yard therefore the area around it was hit quite a few times with Clyde and Leven street being severly damaged. Today the new Knoxland Primary school has been built on the area which is now known as Leven Street.
Shipbuilding
In more recent times, the town became a centre for shipbuilding at Denny's yard, which closed in 1963. The old Denny's shipyard tender The Second Snark is still in use on the Firth of Clyde as a passenger ferry and cruise boat.
The last surviving part of the Denny's shipbuilding company is the Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank which forms part of the Scottish Maritime Museum. This was the first commercial ship model testing tank built in the world and it retains many original features today: a water tank as long as a football pitch, clay moulding beds for casting wax model ship hulls and the original Victorian machinery used for shaping models.
Whisky
After the decline of the ship building industry, the town became known as a centre of the whisky distillery industry. However in recent years this has gone into similar decline, with sites such as the J&B Scotch Whisky bottling plant in the north of the town closing, as well as the Inverleven distillery which shut in 1991.
With the decline of the whisky industry, Dumbarton is becoming more a commuter town for those who work in nearby Glasgow and other locations.
Local government
From 1975 Dumbarton lent its name to a local government district in the Strathclyde region of Scotland. In 1996 the administrative functions of this district transferred to the West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute unitary councils (See Subdivisions of Scotland). Dumbarton town currently serves as the administrative centre of the West Dunbartonshire authority.
There is also a Dumbarton constituency of the Scottish Parliament and a former Dumbarton constituency of the House of Commons.
Miscellaneous
- The town has a football team, Dumbarton F.C., who play in the Scottish Football League and were the fist EVER Scottish champions jointly with Rangers F.C..
- The Denny Civic Theatre is used by a number of local groups, including the Dumbarton People's Theatre.
- The famous ship the Cutty Sark was built in Dumbarton at the Denny's Shipbuilding Company.
- Dumbarton is the birthplace of David Byrne from Talking Heads, and of the motor-racing driver Jackie Stewart.
Areas of Dumbarton
There are a number of distinct areas of the town:
Bellsmyre; Brucehill; Castlehill; Crosslet; Dennystown; Dumbarton East;Kirktonhill; Silverton; Townend; Westcliff.