A -Z of Services

Arts & Culture in West Dunbartonshire

Social History in West Dunbartonshire

This history of West Dunbartonshire, like any area, is extremely varied.

The earliest historical evidence of settlement comes from the Stone Age cairns on the Kilpatrick hills and the standing stones on Dumbarton Muir. Iron Age forts can also be found on Sheep Hill, near Bowling and Dumbuie near Dumbarton. The Antonine Wall, built in the fifth century, also winds its way through West Dunbartonshire.

The settlement in Dumbarton dates from the Early Middle Ages and the fort on the rock was known as "the fort of the Britons" or Dun Breatann.

In 1034, King Duncan, immortalised in Shakespeare's MacBeth was crowned in Dumbarton, unfortunately most of the story is made up! William Wallace may have been imprisoned in the castle in 1305, before being sent to London for trial. Robert Bruce captured the castle in 1313 and died in West Dunbartonshire, of leprosy, in 1329. He had a home, possibly near Castlehill in Dumbarton.

The town itself, has been associated with ship building since the Middle Ages, King James IV (1488-1513) fitted out his expeditions to the Western Isles in Dumbarton and many Scots started their journey to France here, including Mary, Queen of Scots, who sailed in 1548.

Changes in transport systems and new industries resulted in easier accessibility and more people travelled to the area. Dumbarton Bridge was finished in 1765, while Bonhill was finished in 1836 and Balloch in 1841.

These road bridges were followed by the Bowling to Balloch railway in 1850, which was linked to Glasgow in 1858.

Glassmaking was the most important non-cottage industry in Dumbarton before shipbuilding. The distinctive cone shaped glass kilns dominated the sky line in the eighteenth century. These were built in 1777 and owned by the Dixon family, who became some of the richest people in Scotland. In 1787 they entertained Robert Burns in their house, Leven Grove. In the 1830s after a quick succession of Dixon family deaths, the glass making industry disappeared from Dumbarton.

Around this time, ship building became increasingly ascendant in Dumbarton. The most successful of whom were Wm Denny & Bros in founded in 1844 and Archibald MacMillan &Sons, founded in 1834.

The most famous of the Dumbarton-built ships was the Cutty Sark, completed in 1869, and was one of the fastest clippers of all time. In the twentieth century, Denny's invented a type of hovercraft that was tested on Gareloch in 1961.

Clydebank was founded in 1871 when the Thomson brothers moved their shipyard down to opposite the mouth of the River Cart and the name, Clydebank, came with them. In 1882, Singer started to build their sewing machine factory and this produced machines for the whole of Europe. By 1900, there were 18,000 inhabitants of the new town.

In 1899, Thomsons was taken over by John Brown & Co, who went on to produce ships such as the Lusitania (1906), HMS Hood (1918), the Queen Mary (1934), the Queen Elizabeth and the QE2. From 1905, William Beardmore had a shipyard in Dalmuir and launched ships such as the Agamemnon. He also experimented with aeroplanes and airships.

World War II also had a great impact on West Dunbartonshire, especially in Clydebank, with the infamous Blitz of the 13th and 14th March 1941.

Only seven out of 12,000 houses were undamaged and many people were evacuated to "rest centres" around Scotland: the population fell from 50,000 to 2,000 in a couple of days. Bowling, Cardross and Dumbarton also suffered although nowhere near as catastrophically.

After the war, the greatest problem in West Dunbartonshire was that of housing. Most of the housing stock in Clydebank had been damaged during the Blitz, and the old nineteenth century housing in Dumbarton was in poor condition. There had been no slum clearances, unlike other towns. From 1945-56 14,000 new homes were built.

DOWNLOADS
Below, you can download a factsheet about West Dunbartonshire's social history:

A Brief Social History of West Dunbartonshire

West Dunbartonshire - from the banks of Loch Lomond to the shores of Clyde

Text Size: