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Fifteen miles downstream of
Glasgow, the town of Dumbarton sits at the
confluence of the rivers Leven and Clyde and is
dominated by an ancient castle atop a gaunt rock.
In the 8th and 9th centuries it was capital of the
Kingdom of Strathclyde. Henry V111 dubbed it the
‘key to the realm’. It witnessed the departure for
France of Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was just
six.
The mighty edifice is still
officially a Scottish Royal Fortress, as are the
castles of both Edinburgh and Stirling, and on
Coronation Day the reigning monarch has to hand
over the keys.
The town itself grew with the
development of shipbuilding and marine
engineering. Many types of ship were built here –
from the Cutty Sark to the hovercraft. The first
helicopter capable of flight was also built here
in 1909. A popular attraction is Denny’s Tank, the
world’s oldest working ship-model experimental
tank used to test scale models, although
whisky-making is one of Dumbarton’s staple
industries today.
Among places to visit are the Scottish Maritime
Museum (Denny Tank) and the Governor’s House,
which sits at the base of the castle rock.
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