Dumbarton
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- For other uses, see Dumbarton (disambiguation).
| Dumbarton District 1975-96 | |
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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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[edit] 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, at the mouth of the River Leven, where it 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 one can behold a beautiful view of both the Clyde, and of 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 targeting the shipyards, and the area in the vicinity of the yards was consequently hit, with Clyde and Leven street being severely damaged. In an attempt to lure the German aircraft away from the shipyards, decoy lights were placed on the Kilpatrick hills above the town, lights were set out on reservoirs to mimic the lights of the shipyards reflecting on the waters of the Leven and Clyde, this was sometimes successful in fooling the bombers and many bombs fell harmlessly onto the moors and lochs.
[edit] Shipbuilding
In the 1800's the town became a centre for shipbuilding and remaind so well into the 20th century. There were many shipbuilding yards, although a number of them were later absorbed by larger yards. A great many ships were built in the town, the most famous of which is probably the Cutty Sark which was built by the Scott & Linton yard, she was one of the final 'tea clippers' to be built, and one of the fastest. The ship is the last survivor of its type and can be seen today at dry dock in Greenwich. The last major Dumbarton shipyard, William Denny and Brothers, closed in 1963, and the remaining smaller yards followed over the next few decades. 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. Denny's was an innovative company that had a reputation for research and development, high pressure turbines and hull stabilisation were two areas where they were highly respected. They even built an early design of helicopter in 1909 and in their final years they were involved in hovercraft development in the form of the Denny D2 Hoverbus, a film clip of this vehicle on its maiden trip to Oban exists in the Scottish Film Archive.
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.
During the Second World War Blackburn aircraft were to produce Sunderland flying boats from a factory adjacent to Denny's shipyard.
[edit] Whisky
As the ship industry declined, whisky production grew to become the dominant industry in the town. In 1938 Hiram Walker's built a large whisky distillery on the river Leven (on the site of some of the old shipyards), the town became known as a major centre of the whisky industry in the mid to late 20th century. Hiram Walker was acquired by Allied brewers in 1988 to form Allied Distillers, itself becoming part of Allied Domeq before eventually being taken over in 2005 by the French based alcohol giant Pernod Ricard. The large Dumbarton distillery had been mothballed since 2002 and not long after the Pernod-Ricard takeover the giant red buildings of the Dumbarton 'Ballantine's' distillery which had dominated the town for over sixty years were earmarked for demolition and redevelopment. However the large bonded warehouse complex to the East of the town and the bottling complex to the North West were retained. Other Whisky related site closures such as the Inverleven distillery which closed in 1991 and the J&B Scotch Whisky bottling plant and bond in the north of the town have contributed to the decline in Dumbarton's importance to the drink industry. However part of the J&B bond has found a new life as a film set for televison productions such as 'River City' and 'Still Game',.
Ballantine's Whisky have also become well known for the rather unusual 'security' guards used on their bonded warehouse complex at Dumbarton, these are a large flock of white Chinese geese that was first introduced in 1959, starting with just six individuals, this has risen to close to 100 birds today. They have the nickname 'The Scotch Watch' and have been widely used in promotional material for the Ballantine's blended whiskys
With the decline of the whisky industry, Dumbarton is becoming more a commuter town for those who work in nearby Glasgow and other locations. The Faslane naval base is also a major employer for the area.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- The town has a football team, Dumbarton F.C., who play in the Scottish Football League. There was at one stage another Scottish Football League club from the town, Dumbarton Harp F.C..
- The town has a basketball team Dumbarton Dodgers Basketball Club who play in the Strathclyde basketball league.
- 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.
- Natives of Dumbarton are known as "Sons of the Rock", in reference to the site of Dumbarton Castle.
- Overtoun Mansion is reputed to be haunted. In 2005 the Overtoun estate gained some notriety as it was uncovered by a local journalist that around fifty dogs had 'mysteriously' jumped from the Bridge over Overtoun burn over the years, the topic caught the public imagination and became the subject of a Channel five documentary in late 2006.
[edit] Areas of Dumbarton
There are a number of distinct areas of the town:
Bellsmyre; Brucehill; Castlehill; Crosslet; Dennystown; Dumbarton East incl. Newtown; Kirktonhill; Silverton; Townend; Westcliff.
