Dumbarton Castle
Dumbarton Castle | |
---|---|
GB grid reference NT250734 | |
Coordinates | 55°56′10″N 4°33′46″W / 55.9360°N 4.5628°W |
Site information | |
Owner | Scottish Government[1][2] |
Controlled by | Historic Environment Scotland |
Open to the public | Yes |
Site history | |
Built | Site occupied since the Iron Age |
In use | Still in use today |
Dumbarton Castle (
History
Dumbarton Rock was formed between 330 and 340 million years ago, during the
Iron Age
At least as far back as the Iron Age, this has been the site of a strategically important settlement, as evidenced by archaeological finds.
The people that came to reside there in the era of
Early Medieval era
David Nash Ford has proposed that Dumbarton was the
In 756, the first (and second) losses of Dumbarton Rock were recorded. A joint force of
Medieval era
In medieval Scotland, Dumbarton (Dùn Breatainn, which means "the fortress of the Britons") was an important royal castle. It is believed to be the place Sir John Menteith took William Wallace on the way to London after Wallace's capture.
The Governor of the castle in 1333,
Wigtown was still Governor in 1361 when the Black Death again swept into Scotland and a third of the castle's garrison died.[12] Following his own death a year later he was succeeded as Sheriff of Dunbartonshire and Governor of Dumbarton Castle by his nephew, Malcolm Fleming of Biggar.
In 1425 the castle was attacked by
James IV and Dumbarton
The former supporters of James III under the leadership of
In March 1495 James IV was provided with a camp bed for use at sea and a boat carried cannon to Dumbarton.
On 18 May 1515 the James or the Margaret with six other ships brought John Stewart, Regent Albany to Dumbarton. These royal ships were repaired at Dumbarton in July and new docks were made for them. John Drummond of Milnab brought fourteen of their guns to Glasgow.[17] In September Regent Albany held court at Dumbarton, and received Thomas Benolt, the English Clarenceux King of Arms. The Carrick Herald and Clarenceux were sent to Lord Maxwell.[18] In March 1516 Albany issued six letters of remission (forgiveness) to those who had held the castle for Lennox against the king in 1489.[19] Regent Albany returned to France from Dumbarton in 1524.[20]
In 1526
Lennox and Mary, Queen of Scots
Matthew, Earl of Lennox had been an ally of the French party in Scotland led by Mary of Guise but committed himself to the pro-English faction. In 1544 munitions and ten thousand French crowns of the sun arrived with
In May 1545 Lennox tried to take the castle, with soldiers commanded by his brother,
Thereafter the castle was in the hands of Regent Arran and he held court in person there in July giving legal remission to the keeper of the Castle and in March 1547 acknowledging the good service of George Stirling of Glorat in rendering the castle to him.[29]
As the war of the Rough Wooing continued, Mary, Queen of Scots was lodged in the castle by 22 February 1548. Alexander Cunningham, 5th Earl of Glencairn wrote to Mary of Guise from Dumbarton that he had received a French cargo, and it would be as safe as if it were in Stirling Castle.[30] The English commander Grey of Wilton proposed basing warships at Lamlash on Arran as a convenient base to watch for French ships coming for Mary.[31]
Mary of Guise was at the castle in the first days of May 1548 and Mary, Queen of Scots was kept at the castle for several months before her embarkation for France for safety on 13 July 1548. The Castle Governor at this time was
Regent Arran made Andrew Hamilton captain and keeper of Dumbarton. In 1557, there was war between England and Scotland again. According to a rumour heard by Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis, five hundred Gascon soldiers arrived at Dumbarton destined to serve on the borders against the English for Mary of Guise.[34]
Marian Civil War, Regent Morton, and the Dukes of Lennox
Mary, Queen of Scots stayed at Dumbarton Castle in July 1563.
The first siege of Dumbarton was lifted because of the assassination of Regent Moray in January 1570. The assassin
Dumbarton Castle was used as prison for
James VI made John Hamilton, 1st Marquis of Hamilton, captain of Dunbarton Castle in 1595, an office he was obliged to relinquish to the king's cousin and favourite Ludovic Stuart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, in January 1598.[41] The king later visited Dunbarton during his progress and ate dinner at the castle on 24 August 1598.[42] By 1620, Sir John Stewart, an illegitimate son of the 2nd Duke of Lennox, had been made constable and keeper of Dumbarton Castle.[41]
Seventeenth century
Although few buildings remain from this period there are records of works in 1617, 1618, and 1628–9. A replacement Wallace Tower was built superseding the medieval building. In June 1618 masons were working on the upper storey and it was decided to make the tower larger. Externally it was finished with lime plaster called
In November 1645 the Committee of Estates approved the recruitment of thirty extra soldiers by the keeper John Semple to guard the increased number of prisoners.[44] The castle's strategic importance declined after Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658. However, due to threats posed by Jacobites and the French in the eighteenth century, new structures and defences were built and the castle was garrisoned until World War II. Some documentation for these later works is preserved in the National Archives of Scotland.
Inventories
Several lists of the castle's contents survive, including inventories from 1510, 1571, 1580, 1644, and 1668. These list guns and furniture and name many locations in the castle.[45] There is also a list of cannon transported by John Drummond of Milnab to Dumbarton in 1536.[46] In 1510 St Patricks chapel contained an old parchment mass book, a pewter chalice, and liturgical cloths. The hall had four tables and next to that was a chalmer of Dess, a 'solar' in English terms with a bed. The Wallace tower was protected with an iron yett and draw bar, there were bedchambers within and a bell at the head of the tower; the 'Wynde Hall' contained another bed.[47]
In August 1536 George Stirling of Glorat took delivery from John Drummond the king's Master Wright of four great guns and six falcons on carriages with wheels, thirty three bronze hagbut hand-guns and four iron culverins, with ammunition and powder and ramrods for the big guns. John Drummond took away an old brass gun that was 10 feet (3 metres) long.[46]
In 1571 amongst the cannon and guns there was a "gross culverin", two small "batteris", and a French "moyen" mounted for use on the walls. Another moyen was suitable for action in the field. There were two Brittany-made falcons on the walls, a quarter falcon and a "double barse". Provisions included eleven hogshead of biscuit. Some of the guns were subsequently taken to besiege Edinburgh Castle during the Marian civil war.[48]
The document compiled in 1580 was "the inventar of the munitioun and uther insicht geir underwrittin left in the castell of Dumbertane be Johnne Conninghame of Drumquhassill and deliverit be the said Johnne to William Stewart of Cabirston in name and behalf of ane noble and potent lord Esme erll of Lennox lord Darnley and Obeigny on the 27 August 1580". There were six large cannon. The bed in the chamber of dais was now described as 'ane stand bed of eistland tymmar with ruf and pannell of the same', a bed made from imported Baltic oak.[49]
By 1644, when John Sempill was made keeper the 'Chamber of deisse' still contained a bed with a chamber pot and truckle bed for a servant, but it also contained armaments. There were twelve ram-rods, and three worms' - screws for unloading guns, three hagbuts and an iron flail. The hall contained twelve broken pikes, four without their iron blades. The contents of the armoury included thirty-three corslets, 105 helmets, and 43 swords.[50]
In 1668 the Governor Francis Montgomerie of Giffin recorded that the first floor of a lodging called the 'new chamber' contained 'a quantity of old rusty guns and sword, so rusted broke and spoiled that they can never serve for any use, above the beds were 'insufficient' and in the top room there was spoiled matches. The windows of this new lodging were broken. Montgomerie was worried about the water-supply from the loch and the 'laigh' low well.[51]
Governors and Keepers
Governors
- 1292: Sir Nicolas de Seagrave
- 1296: Sir Ingram de Umfraville
- 1296: Alexander de Ledes
- Lord Sir John Eustace de Maxwell II 6th Lord Caerlaverock
about 1285 – 17 October 1346
- 1303: Sir John de Menteith
- 1314-62: Sir Malcolm Fleming 1st Earl of Wigtown[52]
- 1357: Sir Robert Erskine
- 1362-82: Sir Malcolm Fleming of Biggar[53]
- 1377: Sir John Danyelstoun
- Sir Robert Danyelstoun
- 1400: Walter de Danyelstoun (later bishop of St Andrews)
- 1424: Sir John Colquhoun, 10th of Luss[54]
- John Cunningham, 11th Earl of Glencairn
- 1546- 1562 James Hamilton, Duke of Chatellerault, 2nd Earl of Arran[55]
- 1548: James Fleming, 4th Lord Fleming[56]
- 1562: Robert Anstruther
- 1565-72: John Fleming, 5th Lord Fleming[57]
- 1620: John Stewart of Methven
- 1633: Sir John Maxwell, 1st Baronet, of Pollok
- 1673: John Fleming, 4th Earl of Wigtown[58][59]
- 1696: Francis Montgomerie
- 1715: William Cunningham, 12th Earl of Glencairn
- 1764: Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton
- 1782: Sir Charles Grey[60]
- 1797: Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake[61]
- 1807: William Loftus
- 1810: Andrew John Drummond[62]
- 30 January 1817: Francis Dundas[63]
- 5 February 1824: George Harris, 1st Baron Harris[64]
- 22 May 1829: Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch[65]
Lieutenant-Governors
- 1756: Charles Hubert Herriot[66]
- Campbell Edmonstone
- 1796: Hay Ferrier[67]
- 1799: Samuel Graham[68]
- Ferrier again?
- 15 April 1824: John Vincent[69]
Keepers
- 1425 Sir John Colquhoun, 10th of Luss[54]
- 1497 Sir John Striveling (Stirling) of Craigbernard[70]
- 1510 William Striveling (Stirling) 1st of Glorat – murdered on Good Friday 1534)[71]
- 1534 George Striveling (Stirling) 2nd of Glorat[72][clarification needed]
- 1644: John Semple
- 22 December 1927: Sir George Murray Home Stirling, 9th Baronet of Glorat[73]
- 4 July 1949: Alexander Patrick Drummond Telfer-Smollett[74]
- 9 May 1955: Sir Angus Edward Malise Bontine Cunninghame Graham[75]
- 12 June 1981: Alastair Stevenson Pearson[76]
- 10 September 1996: Donald David Graeme Hardie[77]
Preservation
Today all visible traces of the Dark-Age Alt Clut, its buildings and defences, have gone. Not much survives from the medieval castle: the 14th-century Portcullis Arch, the foundations of the Wallace Tower, and what may be the foundations of the White Tower. There is a 16th-century guard house, which includes a face which according to legend is "Fause Menteith", who betrayed William Wallace.[78]
Most of the existing structures were built in the 18th century, including the Governor's House, built for John Kennedy, 8th Earl of Cassilis, and fortifications which demonstrate the struggle by military engineers to adapt an intractable site to contemporary defensive needs. The castle is open on a daily basis during the summer season and Saturday-Wednesday in the winter. There are 557 steps to the summit of the White Tower Crag, which has a good view of the area.[79]
Dumbarton Rock is in state ownership and is legally protected by the Scottish Government as a
Geodesy
Up to 1919 Dumbarton Rock was the origin (meridian) of the 6 inch and 1:2500 Ordnance Survey maps for Dumbartonshire. After that the maps for Dumbartonshire were drawn according to the meridian of Lanark Church Spire in Lanarkshire.[81]
In popular culture
In 1803 Dorothy and William Wordsworth visited the castle and were told that a ruin on the top of the highest eminence had been a windmill and were shown a trout, boxed up in a well close by to the guard room, that had been there for thirty years.[82] The castle features in The Scottish Chiefs.[83]
References
- ^ "Who owns Scotland's castles?". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
- ^ "Submissions to the Public Petitions Committee" (PDF). Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
- ^ "Geological Features of Dumbarton Rock: A Geological Trail" (PDF). Geological Society of Glasgow. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- ^ Ford, David Nash (2000). The 28 Cities of Britain. Britannia.
- ISBN 978-1-906566-78-4.
- ^ Leland, John, Collectanea, vol.1 part 2 (1770), p.510. John Leland's note of the Scalachronica: Sir Thomas Grey of Heton, Scalachronica, Edinburgh, (1836), p.318, French: "et lessa Hoel son neuew de la Peteit Bretaigne a Alclud en Escoz maladez."
- ^ Schultz Albert, ed., Historia Regum Britanniae (1854), pp.125-6
- ^ Ritson, J., Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots; and of Strathclyde, Cumberland, Galloway and Murray, (1828), pp.164-5, quoting Humphrey Llwyd
- ^ Stoddart, John (1800), Remarks on Local Scenery and Manners in Scotland. Pub. Wiliam Miller, London. Facing P. 212.
- ^ Fleming, J Arnold (1930). Flemish Influence in Britain. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Co. p. 41-47.
- ^ Grant, Francis J (1910). Charter Chest of the Earls of Wigtown. Edinburgh: Scottish Record Society. p. Charter 3.
- ^ Fleming, J Arnold (1930). Flemish Influence in Britain. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Co. p. 57.
- ^ McAndrew, Bruce A., p.5, Scotland's Historic Heraldry Retrieved November 2010
- ^ Campbell, Alastair, p. 113, A History of Clan Campbell, Volume 2 Retrieved November 2010
- ^ N. MacDougall, James IV, (Tuckwell, East Linton, 1997), 172–73
- ^ John Irving, Dumbarton Castle: its Place in the General History of Scotland (Bennett & Thomson Dumbarton 1917), pp. 21–24, quoting the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland.
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh 1903), pp. xxxii-xxxiii
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh 1903), pp. 223-4
- ^ Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 1 (Edinburgh 1908) pp.419-420
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (1917), 29
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (1917), pp. 29-30
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh), p. 282
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (1917), p. 30: Nicolas D'Arfeville's map at the National Library of Scotland
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle (1917), pp. 31-34.
- ^ Dasent, ed., Acts of the Privy Council, 1542-1547, vol. 1 (London, 1890), p. 379
- ^ James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 444.
- ^ Thomson, Thomas, ed., John Lesley's History of Scotland (Bannatyne Club, 1830), 190.
- ^ Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), lxxx, 453, 465: Letters & Papers Henry VIII, 21:2 (London, 1910) no. 6, Arran to the Pope.
- ^ Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh 1877), pp. 34-5, 66-7.
- ^ Annie Cameron, Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine (Edinburgh: SHS, 1927), pp. 36-7.
- ^ Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1547-1563, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 586
- ^ C. S. Knighton & David Loades, Navy of Edward VI and Mary I (Navy Records Society, 2011), pp. 88-9.
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle (1917), pp. 37-38.
- ^ James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh 1913) pp. lxiii-xliv, 212-3.
- ^ Thomas Small, 'Queen Mary in the Counties of Dumbarton and Argyll', Scottish Historical Review, 25:97 (October 1927), pp. 13-19.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), 177: The tressoun of Dumbarton, 15 May, Robert Lekprevik, Edinburgh, 1570.
- ^ Cranstoun, James, Satirical Poems of the Reformation, vol. 1 (1892) 170-173, & notes vol. 2 (1893), 113-7.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 383.
- ^ Lang, Andrew (1911). A History of Scotland. W. Blackwood in Edinburgh. pp. 64–68.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh 1910), pp. 161, 168, 309: J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, vol.1, (1917), 59-60: Bowes Correspondence, (London 1842), pp. 182, 188, 298-300.
- ^ ISBN 9781399500456
- ^ HMC Report on the manuscripts of Colonel David Milne Home of Wedderburn castle (London, 1892), p. 69.
- ^ J. Dunbar, ed, Accounts of the Masters of Works, vol.2 (HMSO Edinburgh 1982), pp. xciv xcvii
- ^ D. Stevenson,Government of Scotland under the Covenanters, (SHS Edinburgh, 1982)34-5
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (Dumbarton 1917), pp.99-108: Thomas Thomson, ed., A Collection of Inventories, (Edinburgh 1815), pp.299-302: Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh 1880), pp.319-320
- ^ a b J. MacPhail ed., Papers from the Collection of William Fraser, (SHS, Edinburgh 1924), pp. 221-2
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (Dumbarton 1917), pp. 99-100
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (Dumbarton 1917), pp. 100-101
- ^ Thomas Thomson, ed., A Collection of Inventories, (Edinburgh 1815), p.299
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (Dumbarton 1917), pp. 104 citing NLS Adv. Mss, Dennistoun
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle, (Dumbarton 1917), p. 107
- ^ Fleming, J Arnold (1930). Flemish Influence in Britain. Vol. 2. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Co. p. 36.
- ^ Fleming, J Arnold (1930). Flemish Influence in Britain. Vol. 2. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Co. p. 57.
- ^ a b Fraser, William (1869). The chiefs of Colquhoun and their country;. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Edinburgh [Printed by T. and A. Constable].
- ^ Info board at Dumbarton Castle
- ^ Fleming, J Arnold (1930). Flemish Influence in Britain. Vol. 2. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Co. p. 171.
- ^ Fleming, J Arnold (1930). Flemish Influence in Britain. Vol. 2. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Co. p. 197, 242.
- ^ Fleming, J Arnold (1930). Flemish Influence in Britain. Vol. 2. Glasgow: Jackson, Wylie & Co. p. 329.
- ^ Grant, Francis J (1910). Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown. Edinburgh: Scottish record Society. p. charter 317.
- ^ "No. 12333". The London Gazette. 21–24 September 1782. p. 2.
- ^ "No. 14046". The London Gazette. 16–19 September 1797. p. 896.
- ^ "No. 16396". The London Gazette. 14–18 August 1810. p. 1222.
- ^ "No. 17217". The London Gazette. 11 February 1817. p. 300.
- ^ "No. 18001". The London Gazette. 14 February 1824. p. 251.
- ^ "No. 18588". The London Gazette. 26 June 1829. p. 1192.
- ^ "No. 9599". The London Gazette. 10 July 1756. p. 1.
- ^ "No. 13911". The London Gazette. 9 July 1796. p. 674.
- ^ "No. 15199". The London Gazette. 29 October 1799. p. 1116.
- ^ "No. 18021". The London Gazette. 24 April 1824. p. 661.
- ^ Albert Mach Sterling The Sterling (ed. Stirling) Genealogy (Grafton Press 1909) p.99-101
- ^ J. Irving, Dumbarton Castle (Dumbarton 1917), p. 99; Albert Mach Sterling The Sterling (ed. Stirling) Genealogy (Grafton Press 1909) p.99–101[clarification needed]
- ^ Albert Mach Sterling The Sterling (ed. Stirling) Genealogy (Grafton Press 1909) p.99–101
- ^ "No. 33340". The London Gazette. 23 December 1927. pp. 8243–8244.
- ^ "No. 38660". The London Gazette. 8 July 1949. p. 3345.
- ^ "No. 40475". The London Gazette. 10 May 1955. p. 2728.
- ^ "No. 48669". The London Gazette. 3 July 1981. p. 8904.
- ^ "No. 54546". The London Gazette. 8 October 1996. p. 13346.
- ^ "The Betrayal of William Wallace". Lost Glasgow. Retrieved 20 March 2022.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Dumbarton Castle". Scotland Magazine. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Dumbarton Castle (SM90107)". Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- ^ "198 years and 153 meridians, 152 defunct" (PDF). Charles Close Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ D. Wordsworth, p. 60-61
- ISBN 9780684193403.
Further reading
- John Irving, Dumbarton Castle, Its Place in the History of Scotland, (Dumbarton 1917)
- The correspondence of Robert Bowes, of Aske, esquire, the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth in the court of Scotland, Surtees Society (London 1842)
- Dorothy Wordsworth (1894). Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland AD 1803. Edinburgh : David Douglas.
External links
- Media related to Dumbarton Castle at Wikimedia Commons
- Historic Environment Scotland: Visitor guide
- Clyde Waterfront Heritage, Dumbarton Castle
- www.rampantscotland.com Dumbarton Castle
- Electric Scotland on the castle
- Map of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Britain, including Dumbarton, Siân Echard, University of British Columbia
- Engraving of Dumbarton Castle from the West in 1693 by John Slezer at National Library of Scotland