Dumbarton Castle – info boards

Posted on 13 January 2024 by Katrina

If you want to see some photos of the castle, including the Georgian part which I took back in 2018 on a blue sky day have a look here.

There are plenty of information boards to read if you visit Dumbarton Castle. If you want to read them more easily click on the photos.

The photo below was taken from inside the guard room which has only fairly recently been opened to the public.

Dumbarton Castle has had famous prisoners over the years, including William Wallace and Mary, Queen of Scots. I believe that it was one of the many places that she managed to escape from. In fact she escaped from so many places that I suspect that it was a bit of a cat and mouse game which was being played on her.

Dumbarton Castle and environs

Posted on 5 January 2024 by Katrina

Back in September Jack wanted to go to Dumbarton to watch a football match there, he’s a loyal supporter of Dumbarton Football Club – through thick and thin and at the moment it’s quite thin! Anyway, I’m not a huge football fan so I opted to visit Dumbarton Castle which is situated right at the football ground. As you can see below the info board names it Dun Breatann, Fortress of the Britons. Over the years the town which grew around the fort became known as Dumbarton, it’s a bit easier to say I suppose.

Although it’s called a castle it isn’t anything like Stirling or Edinburgh, but in its day it was one of the most important fortresses in Scotland. Ships sailed from here to France and elsewhere. Mary Queen of Scots sailed for France from the castle, she was also imprisoned here, and of course escaped. There have been lots of drawings of the area over the centuries and in some of them the patch of grass in the photo below has a house on it, it was demolished long ago. Behind the wall to the right are steps, when I was wee they used to say there was a step for every day of the year but now they say there are over 400. As a wee girl I tried to count them, but I always got a different tally.

And here are some of the steps in the photo below, these ones are right at the beginning and are possibly some of the steepest. It’s not a good place to visit if you aren’t good with stairs! On the other hand it will keep you fit.

The photo below is of a small part of the rock face. The whole thing is a volcanic plug.

At the moment some areas are cordoned off. The building below is known as the French Prison because during the Napoleonic wars it was used to house French prisoners, it’s apparently going to be refurbished and will then be open to the public, it never has been in my lifetime. The sunken area below with the metal bars in it is part of it too but is in much worse condition.

More rockiness!

There are still cannons in place. This has always been a very strategic place, at the confluence of the River Clyde and River Leven. The Romans were here, and the Vikings and it’s amazing how often it’s mentioned in historical fiction.

It was low tide at the River Clyde when I was there.

Below is a photo of some of the stairs seen from above. The small white building is a guard house and that hadn’t been open to the public before. Looking at this photo it strikes me that you need a head for heights!

Below is the River Clyde again. It’s a pity it was such a grey day as the views are spectacular when it’s bright.

Looking to the other side of the river in the photo below is a small part of the town, Dumbarton. I lived close to this area and it was my playground when I was a wee girl, but all of these houses and flats are new, sometimes the rivers pay them a visit! The Sunderland aircraft factory took up a lot of the land where these houses are now.

If you cast your mind back to when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married you might remember thet the Queen bestowed the Scottish title on them of Earl and Countess of Dumbarton on them. It was supposed to be an honour for the town I’m sure but they were unimpressed. It was expected that they would pay a visit to Dumbarton soon after they married as that’s what normally happens, but apparently (if you can believe the tabloids) the couple took it as an insult instead of the honour it was meant to be – something to do with the word ‘dumb’ apparently. Honestly, how daft can you get!

Aberdour Castle, Fife

Posted on 10 December 2023 by Katrina

It was back in October when we visited nearby Aberdour Castle for the second time, it must have been about 15 years since we first went there. It’s just a ruin now but there are parts of it which are quite habitable – well almost. If you want to enlarge the photos click on them.

The gardens are well maintained now and they even have an orchard.

The photo below was taken from the Doocot (Dovecote)

But there are habitable rooms in the castle as you can see below. With a few rugs, tapestries and curtains I could quite happily move in!

There is a rare painted ceiling

And a large hall which is actually bigger than these photos make it look.

I’m sure you can hire this place for a wedding, if you are so inclined.

James Douglas, the 4th Earl of Morton acquired this castle in 1564. He loved gardens and his travelling in Europe and particularly Italy had influenced him when he set about planning his garden. Sadly it doesn’t take long for gardens to disappear once a property falls into disuse.

Blackness Castle – part 2 – Fort William in Outlander

Posted on 12 September 2023 by Katrina

We’re back at Blackness Castle which is apparently in Clackmannanshire, the smallest county in Scotland, it’s not far from Stirling. From the photo below you can see how solid and high the towers are. The gateway that you can see is where there’s a we drawbridge that leads out to the river walkway where supplies used to be unloaded for the castle, directly from ships.

All of the rooms in this castle seem to be barrel vaulted, no doubt for strength. I’m sure that some of the rooms were used in filming Outlander most recently.

There are stairs all over the place as you can see below. It was an incredibly blustery day as it almost always is at the River Forth but strangely as soon as we got inside the castle it felt very safe, quiet and – warm! Some of the walls are around nine feet thick, where they were in most danger of getting attacked by cannon I suppose.

It could feel quite cosy with tapestries on the walls and heavy curtains and maybe a nice carpet underfoot, or at least rushes. I’m not sure if the room below originally had a low ceiling in it. On the right hand and above the window it looks like the remains of a fireplace.

As is often the way with old castles a lot of the rooms have a medieval ‘en suite’ off the main rooms as you can see in the photo below. All mod cons, well it’s a long way up and down to the ground floor. No ‘garde looing’ here! But it does look a bit cold to be dangling your ‘bahookie’ over the hole.

Below there’s even an alcove where you can wash your hands, but I don’t think it’s within the toilet area, maybe a good thing.

I particularly like the windows, the shutters open if you need fresh air.

And I can just imagine this as a good place to read – if there were plenty of cushions on the window seats.

The castle has been modified a lot over the centuries and the photo below show what was the original entrance, which is now blocked up. It’s much bigger than it looks in the photo.

The garden, below was the last bit which we visited, as you can see the weather had cleared by then. It looks quite industrial on the other side of the river, because it is. The blue crane thing to the right of the middle is actually at Rosyth, the naval dockyard. So this area of the River Forth is still about defence!

Blackness Castle became Fort William in Outlander, and it was where Jamie received the lashes from the dastardly Captain Randall – ooh err!

Dirleton Castle, North Berwick, East Lothian

Posted on 3 September 2023 by Katrina

A couple of weeks ago we decided to knock a few more Scottish castles off our list of places we hadn’t visited yet. So we headed for North Berwick in East Lothian, it’s maybe 20 miles from where we live as the crow flies but it’s over 60 by road since the Firth of Forth is in the way. It was our 47th wedding anniversary (I know!!) and we felt the need to get out of the house and do something different. Dirleton Castle was our first port of call. It’s a 13th century castle and at some point the English Edward I captured it – for a while.

As you can see it has taken a bit of battering over the years. It’s now owned by Historic Environment Scotland.

Like many castles it has been built onto an area of rock, a strong foundation.

Dirleton is one of the many historic buildings which had been closed to the public for a few years while they were inspected for safety, there are some areas that you aren’t allowed to go into. The photo below is of the kitchen/storage areas and it was a wee bit unnerving as I could hear and see small bits of masonry falling from the ceiling near a fireplace! I’m sure it’ll be safe though.

The decorative alcove below was where the silver plate would have been displayed when there was entertaining going on. Really it’s not all that different from the stone ‘dresser’ at Skara Brae.

Below is the dovecote, or doocot as they are named in Scotland. This is where the pigeons roosted, they were an important source of meat for the castle during winter months.

Below is the interior of the doocot. I’ve been told that pigeons, (or doves if you want to be genteel) breed all year round which is why there are so many of them. All of the wee niches would have contained pigeons sitting on eggs. Castles had a lot of people living in them although I doubt if the workers ever got to taste much in the way of meat.

But the poor souls who were in the dungeon which is below would have been on a bread and water diet if they were lucky.

Within the dungeon there’s a hole in the floor which prisoners were thrown down, if you were down there I doubt if you would survive for long!

Dirleton Castle is surrounded by greenery, as it probably always has been.

Below is the Victorian garden, very formally planted, very pretty.

Pining for the West

Meanderings about recipes, books, craft and more

Category Archives: Castles

Dumbarton Castle – info boards

Dumbarton Castle and environs

Aberdour Castle, Fife

Blackness Castle – part 2 – Fort William in Outlander

Dirleton Castle, North Berwick, East Lothian