#dumbarton castle

[myfairynuffstuff]

Masayuki Hara (b.1956) - Memories of Dumbarton Castle No.12.

[scotianostra]

On the Rock

Dumbarton Castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland the recorded history goes back 1500 years then known as Alt Clut Rock of the Clyde'Later known by the Gaelic name Dun Breatann from which the name Dumbarton derived

[maypoleman1]

17th March

St Patrick’s Day/St Withburga’s Day/Passion Sunday

Source: RWS website

Today is St Patrick’s Day. A Scottish myth claims that Patrick was born near Glasgow, and that he was so holy, the Devil sent witches and demons to kill him. Patrick fled to Ireland and the infuriated forces of darkness lobbed a mighty rock after him which missed and became the hill on which Dumbarton Castle now stands. The Welsh say Patrick was born in Dyfed, while the English claim he was born in in Battersea in London. In actual fact it appears Patricius was a Romano-Briton, probably born in 389 near Norton in Northamptonshire. His Irish connection comes by virtue of the fact Irish pirates, a common problem for Roman Britain in the fourth century, raided deep into the province and kidnapped the 16-year old Patricius and sold him as a slave in Ireland where he became known as Padraig, or Patrick. Freed in adulthood, Patrick set up base in Armagh and set about converting the Irish to Christianity. His efforts met with extraordinary success and Patrick ended up not only founding Celtic Christianity, but was also canonised after his death and became the deserved patron saint of Ireland.

Various stories are told of Patrick, including how he rid Ireland of snakes by gathering them all up in a box and casting it into the Irish Sea. The frenetic attempts of the serpents to escape their prison is apparently what explains the Sea’s choppy nature. He is also supposed to have used the native three-leaved shamrock as a device to explain the tricky concept of the Holy Trinity to his pagan audience. Two shrines to Patrick exist, one containing his bell, the other one of his teeth and both are in the National Museum in Dublin.

Today is also St Withburga’s Day. A seventh century Abbess, Withburga was rumoured to have cured a draught in East Dereham Norfolk, by conjuring up two deer to provide an endless supply of milk to her starving nuns. She also appears as a dead ghost: her corpse can be seen being carried in an open coffin by her grieving devotees along the banks of the Little Ouse, near Ely, Cambridgeshire.

In 2024, today is also Passion Sunday, also known as Carling Sunday. In the north east of England carlings, or grey peas, are sold this week in pubs and supermarkets. Although local tradition says this practice commemorates a shipwreck in which a cargo of carlings were washed up on the beach, it is more likely explained by a pagan tradition of eating beans to remember the dead, Christianised on this day to commemorate the upcoming Passion of Christ.

[fotoflingscotland]

Dumbarton Rock & Castle by FotoFling Scotland Via Flickr: Dumbarton Castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Great Britain. It overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton, and sits on a plug of volcanic basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is 240 feet (73 m) high. Throughout Dumbarton Castle’s long history it has been a royal residence and a fortress, and has many fascinating connections from the Vikings to the Scottish Wars of Independence. Mary Queen of Scots sailed to France from here as a child in 1548. Dumbarton Castle was the centre of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde, supposedly visited by Merlin. It was later sacked by Vikings. It became a cornerstone of medieval royal power and latterly served as a military base and prison.

[jacqui-dennett]

Dumbarton Castle

This was about architecture / History / culture

Dumbarton Castle holds both Scheduled Monument and A-Listed Building Status.

Dumbarton Castle was built on a volcanic plug, made of basalt, which sits where the rivers Clyde and Leven meet in the West of Scotland.

The castle / fort has a documented history reaching back to the 13th century, but Dumbarton Rock itself, has a history of human occupation going back to prehistory. From at least the 5th century AD until 1018 it was known variously as Alt Clut, ‘Clyde Rock’, and Dùn Breatann, ‘Fort of the Britons

[mediumaevum]

Dumbarton Castle on Dumbarton Rock where Robert Stewart and King David took refuge in 1333. South of the centre of Dumbarton rises the 240ft high twin peaked volcanic plug of Dumbarton Rock, with the River Clyde on one side and the River Leven on two more. The castle is in the care of Historic Scotland.

* Robert II was born on this day, March 2, 1316.

[scotianostra]

Dumbarton Castle, Dunbartonshire

A we visit to The Rock today, the weather held out while I was there, which I was glad of, it's not the best castle to visit if it's raining, you wont find much in the way of shelter, it's pretty much open to the elements.

The name Dumbarton translates as “The Fort of the Britons” - between the fifth century and 1018 The Rock was the centre of the independent Kingdom of Strathclyde.  A royal castle stood here until the middle ages, although little remains currently survive. 

Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed here briefly in 1548 and in 1571 Dumbarton Castle was captured from her followers in a night raid. 

Dumbarton Rock is 240 feet high, and stands imposingly at a strategic point on the River Clyde. I reckon in all in there between four and five hundred steps to climb to explore it in full.

[scotianostra]

On 29th July 1548 the French fleet sail from Dumbarton, taking the infant Queen Mary to the safety of France.

When Mary left for Scotland, she travelled with the children of Scotland’s nobility, including the ‘Four Marys,’ the women who would stay with her throughout her later imprisonment and execution. With her are her guardians, the Lords Erskine and Livingston, her nurse Jean Sinclair, her governess Lady Fleming, the four Marys, Ladies Fleming, Seton, Livingston and Beaton, three of her half-brothers and other children of the Scottish nobility.

Mary Seton was the only one to die unmarried and lived on until 1615, praying for Mary’s soul and giving alms in her memory. The group arrived in France in August 1548.

Mary was given a royal welcome in France by King Henry II. He ordered that she would have precedence over his own daughters as she was sovereign of an independent country and also because she was to wed his heir, the Dauphin. The king also became very fond of the child, saying, ‘The little Queen of Scots is the most perfect child I have ever seen.’ While in France, Mary’s maternal grandmother, Antoinette de Guise, wrote to her daughter in Scotland that Mary was ‘very pretty, graceful and self-assured.’

Mary was 5 when she first met the four-year-old Dauphin, her betrothed husband. According to most contemporaries, they were close and affectionate with one another even as children. They traveled from one royal palace to another – Fountaineblea to Meudon, or to Chambord or Saint-Germain. They were always attended to by a retinue of servants and, even then, Mary had developed a fondness for animals, especially dogs, which was to continue throughout her life.

Mary was also educated in the traditional manner of French princesses; she spoke French and learned Latin, Italian, Spanish and a little Greek. She learned to dance, sing, play the lute as well as converse on religious matters. Her religious tutor was the prior of Inchmahome, a Scottish priest. When she was seven, her mother came to France to visit her; when Mary of Guise returned to Scotland, neither realized that they would never see each other again.