West Dunbartonshire is a county in the West of the ‘Central Belt’ of Scotland near Glasgow. Its population is 91,000 and it is the second smallest county in the whole of Scotland. Major towns are Clydebank, Dumbarton, Alexandria, Bowling, Bowling, Milton, Dalmuir, Faifley and Old Kilpatrick.
Clydebank is a new town built in the 19th century to house the workers at the local ship building yards such as John Browns, Thompsons and Beardmores plus the Singer sowing machines factory. The town has a population of over 45,000 and is just outside the suburbs of Glasgow. The area was important enough economically to be targeted by the Germans in World War II and large areas were ‘Blitzed’ having to be rebuilt in subsequent years. While the area never regained its reputation for ship building and engineering lost after WWII, it is now an important commuter town for Glaswegian workers and has cinemas and shopping centres.
20,000 people inhabit Dumbarton which lies on the banks of the Clyde where the River Leven meets the Clyde. Dumbarton has one site of serious historical interest-Dumbarton Castle which sits on Dumbarton Rock and was used by Mary Queen of Scots and William Wallace. Mary stayed at Dumbarton prior to her escape to France while Wallace was imprisoned there after his capture by the English. |
