Dumbarton Castle

The Rock was besieged several times early in its history. The assault by Viking kings Olaf and Ivar of Dublin in 870 was by far the worst. The pair carried off slaves and looted treasure in 200 longships following a four-month siege.

Edward I of England captured the castle in 1296, but the Scots wrested it back after Sir William Wallace’s victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297). Three English knights, William Fitrzwarin, William de Ros and Marmaduke Tweng, were imprisoned afterwards. They were the castle’s first named prisoners.

In 1489, James IV laid siege to the castle twice in an effort to remove its rebellious keeper, John Stewart, Earl of Lennox. James eventually succeeded after a royal guns were transported from Edinburgh Castle, including the mighty Mons Meg.

A daring raid took place during the civil war which followed Mary Queen of Scots' flight to England. In the early hours of 1 April 1571, 100 daring men led by Captain Thomas Crawford scaled the dizzying heights of the rock's north-east side to take the castle from the ‘Queen’s Party’, led by the Archbishop of St Andrews.

Alexander II of Scotland built the medieval castle around 1220 as a defence against the threat from Norway. Norwegian kings ruled the Hebrides and the islands in the Clyde, just 10 miles downriver.

The Treaty of Perth (1266) gave control of the Western Isles to the Scottish Crown, removing the threat from Norway. This meant Dumbarton became less of a frontier post and more of a postern - a good back door through which Scottish rulers could come and go with relative ease during turbulent times.

The castle sheltered both David II (in 1333–4) and Mary Queen of Scots (in 1548) until ships could take them to France and safety.

Daring raiders have climbed up Dumbarton Rock centuries ago, but more recent conservation work carried out by Historic Environment Scotland has seen workers with a head for heights abseiling down!

The dramatic photos below show specialist rope contractors heading over the battlements to complete de-vegetation and light hand scaling works on the rock face. It's part of routine maintenance which ensures that vegetation growth doesn't damage this Site of Special Scientific Interest,

And how do you get heavy building material into a steep and narrow stronghold? Get to the chopper!

After a lofty turret was damaged by a lightning strike in 2017, a helicopter lifted materials to the upper levels of the castle so repairs could begin. The modern power of the helicopter combined with the traditional craft skills of our stone masons to allow us to re-construct the tower, retaining as much historic fabric as possible.

Find out more about our conservation work