Minor Art Deco style, Wallace Street, Dumbarton:-

I can’t ever have walked down Wallace Street before as I don’t remember seeing this building until this visit in April.

Doorway detail:-

I had seen this one many times: the former Co-op on the corner of Greenhead and Glasgow Roads. The date above the lintel is 1922, a bit early for true deco:-

We also took a stroll along the quay in the town and spotted this children’s slide (chute) in the shape of an elephant, with a wooden play elephant behind. An elephant appears on the crest of the town and of the mighty Sons, Dumbarton FC. It’s a nice nod to that heritage to have these play objects reflect it:-

The entrance to Dumbarton Castle is up a flight of stairs which has a left turn on the way up. On the wall facing you as you turn is this War Memorial dedicated to the officers and men of the 9th Battalion (Dunbartonshire,) Princess Louise’s Argyll and Sutherland Higlanders:-

This photo appeared on the DFC website on Christmas Eve. I don’t know when it was taken as it doesn’t often snow in Dumbarton, it being on the confluence of two rivers, but it looks lovely.

I saw this picture posted on a friend’s Facebook page a while back, and now I’ve shamelessly appropriated it. Superb.

Dumbarton FC Stadium and Dumbarton Rock:-

John Frostbrug in Dutch, this is the famous bridge too far, except it’s a replacement for the original Rhine Bridge fought over in the Second World War during Operation Market Garden. It’s somewhere in The Netherlands I’ve always wanted to visit.

I must say the River Rhine looks not very wide here – not as wide as the Clyde at Dumbarton certainly. Still an obstacle to an army though:-

Eastern guard post. Slight Deco styling.  I assume this is original:-

Western guard post. Note groove up the middle of steps, for wheeling bicycles up and down.:-

Reverse view of bridge:-

Roadway:-

Commemorative plaque with inscription to John Frost by roadway on north side of bridge:-

This is something I didn’t know existed till our visit to Dumbarton last May. It’s the remains of a well in Levengrove Park.

The information board explained it all. Rediscovered after a tree fell during a storm in 2018 (long after I had stopped living in Dumbarton) it was part of the first system to bring water into the town from outside. In 1714 the land on which Levengrove Park now stands would have been beyond the boundaries.

The rest of the stone which had covered the well has been placed nearby:-

These ruins are in Levengrove Park.

The church is the supposed burial place of the viscera of King Robert the Bruce.

Information Board for the ruins:-

Remains of east wall:-

Reverse View of ruins:-

Aladdin Hot 4 U in Dumbarton High Street:-

They claim to sell not only Pizzas, Burgers and Kebabs but also Curres.

A surprising exhibit at the Dumbarton arm of the Scottish Maritime Museum was a model of a prototype helicopter:-

The blurb below explains:-

There were also some models of wooden ships (that could be a cue for a Crosby, Stills and Nash song):-

Plus another ship model, this one of HMS Dumbarton Castle:-

One of the reasons why Dumbarton is a site for the Scottish Maritime Museum, apart from its shipbuilding history,  is the location there of a ship model experiment tank built in 1882 by Denny & Brothers to test new ship designs.

View of tank machinery:-

The day we visited there was no access beyond the doors:-

There was, though, a display of various bow types:-

The site still builds and tests wooden hull models:-

This poster shows two of the innovations Denny’s came up with, the steam turbine and stabilisers:-