Dumbarton Castle

Dumbarton Castle

Dumbarton Castle Aerial Tour of Dumbarton Castle / Rock - Sky View Video (Scotland) Castle Road, Dumbarton, United Kingdom/Dumbarton Castle guards the point where the River Leven joins the River Clyde. Its recorded history reaches back 1,500 years. At that time the place was known as Alt Clut, ‘Rock of the Clyde’. Later it became known by the Gaelic name Dun Breatann, ‘Fortress of the Britons’, from which the name Dumbarton is derived.In the Middle Ages, Dumbarton Rock became an important royal castle. When it was first built in the 1220s, the Norwegian frontier lay just 10 miles (16km) downriver, and Dumbarton served as a Border stronghold. The Battle of Largs in 1263 effectively removed the threat from Norway, but it was soon replaced by an even greater menace from England.In later centuries, the rock became a formidable garrison fortress, its defences bristling with guns. It last saw military action as recently as the Second World War.Dumbarton Rock is everything one imagines a mighty Dark-Age stronghold to have been. The volcanic rock rises up almost sheer from the murky waters that swirl around its base, and from its twin peaks – White Tower Crag and the Beak – you can see for miles.From the 5th century AD until 1018, Dumbarton Rock was the capital of the British kingdom of Strathclyde.

The Hovering Scotsman