DUMBARTON CASTLE
The Main Gate to Dumbarton Castle lies at the bottom of a giant rock on the north side of the river at the Firth of Clyde. There isn't much of a castle to see, but the main attraction of the site is the narrow stair climb up the rock to several viewpoints that have been used strategically for thousands of years. The rock itself formerly contained the ancient city of Dumbarton, the heart of the kingdom of Strathclyde from the 5th Century to 1018.
This narrow ravine winding between rock cliffs appears to be the primary route to the top of Dumbarton Rock, and would have been heavily defended by locals under attack by the Vikings and other invaders. Access to the top by any other means would have been extremely difficult...portions of the Rock (outside the monument area) now serve as a world-class rock climbing venue.
Many of the homes and civilian buildings of Strathclyde were tucked in this area near the top of the Rock.
Looking westward toward the Firth of Clyde from one of the battery fortifications at the top of the Rock.
The story is that Mary Queen of Scots was harbored briefly at Dumbarton Castle as a young child in 1548 before embarking for France, where she spent her childhood.INCHMAHOME PRIORY
Inchmahome Priory, the ruins of an Augustinian monastery extending back to the mid-1200's, lies on a small island in the only body of water in Scotland called a lake - Lake Menteith (haven't heard a decent explanation for that). Access is by small boat that carries a maximum of 12 passengers.
Visitors to the Priory wait at the dock for the small ferry boat to pick them up and deliver them to the island.
Ruins of the Priory...
More ruins...
This tree is one of three 400+ year-old chestnut trees still living on the island near the Priory. They may have been around when - none-other-than Mary Queen of Scots - visited back in the mid-1500's.
Drizzly weather kept the crowds away, but that just made for a nicer & quieter walk around the island.DOUNE CASTLE
I didn't made it to Doune Castle until after it closed, but I was able to walk around and explore the grounds a bit. It's recognized as one of Scotland's best preserved medieval castles (dating back to the late 1300's), but it's more famous to some as the site of several key scenes from the "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" movie.
2 comments:
It's incredible how OLD those castles are and to try to imagine life in those times. Nice variety of pictures and I wasn't even tempted to yawn! Thanks for sharing.
It does seem odd that people lived so long ago in places like castles and remember, they didn't have half of the things that we do today. Seems you are getting such a globle view of things in this world. We are lucky if we get down town Salem....gramps
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