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Dumbarton Castle

With RoadTour you can hear about Dumbarton Castle and over 1500 other UK Heritage sites via your SatNav or Mobile as you drive! Pub & Restaurant guides also available. Buy RoadTour now online for your vacation to the UK...

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“Dumbarton Castle holds a special place in castle history as the earliest ever recorded fortified site in existence in Britain today. Perched spectacularly on a twin peaked slab of volcanic rock, it rises 240 feet above the River Clyde and dominates the sky-line of the surrounding area. It’s easy to see why it was a natural site for a defensive stronghold. And defensive it needed to be with Viking forces established in the Hebrides and Ireland. Used at first as a trading post with the Romans in the 5th century, the castle became a busy settlement that also served as the capital of Strathclyde. A lengthy siege by the Vikings in the ninth century lasted four long months and ended only when the water supply was cut off to the embattled inhabitants. Defeated and heavily plundered, the castle was eventually re-built with greater defences, in the thirteenth century. Dumbarton has an important royal heritage too having provided shelter to the son of Robert the Bruce and his young queen Joan and later to the infant Mary Queen of Scots before she was safely taken to France. While little of the structures from the medieval castle survive today, buildings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can be explored up close by visitors prepared to negotiate the 547 steps. It’s well worth the effort though – the views from the rock are breathtaking! ”

Address:

Nr Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire
G82 1JJ
Visit Website

Opening Hours:

1 Apr-30 Sep: daily 9:30-5:30pm
1 October-21 Mar: daily 9:30-4:30pm

Prices:

Adult: £4
Child: £2
Concession: £3

Facilties:

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“Brilliant information, have used several of the pubs and visited many of the properties. Some that I didn’t know were so close to home. Keep up the good work.”
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John, UK

“The Audio commentary on the Garmin was well narrated and definitely had the feel of the audio guides you get when you are walking around the landmarks themselves”.
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