Battle of Alclud Ford

The Battle of Alclud Ford took place between the post-Roman Celtic Britons of Rheged and the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Bernicia around c. 580CE. The fighting may have taken place at an unknown ford near Alt Clut, the original name for Dumbarton Rock, which may also be used for the entire ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde. The battle is recorded in two poems in the Book of Taliesin.

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Dumbarton Football Stadium

The Dumbarton Football Stadium, known as the Marbill Coaches Stadium and commonly known as The Rock, is a stadium in Dumbarton, Scotland, used mostly for football matches; it is the home ground of Dumbarton Football Club. The stadium has a capacity of 2,020, and was built in 2000 after the move away from Dumbarton's former home, Boghead Park. It was built on part of the site formerly occupied by Denny's shipyard. The stadium is 5–10 minutes walk from Dumbarton East railway station on the North Clyde Line. Dumbarton have the third smallest stadium in the SPFL.

Dumbarton Castle

Dumbarton Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Breatainn, pronounced [t̪unˈpɾʲɛʰt̪ɪɲ]; Welsh: Alt Clut) has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It sits on a volcanic plug of basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is 240 feet (73 m) high and overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton.

Siege of Dumbarton

The siege of Dumbarton was a successful four-month siege of the Brittonic fortress at Dumbarton Rock in 870, initiated by the Viking leaders Amlaíb, King of Dublin, and Ímar. Dumbarton was capital of the Kingdom of Alt Clut, the only surviving Brittonic kingdom outside of Wales. It represented a valuable target for the Viking invaders, who were likely motivated by strategic considerations, as well as loot. The attackers may have wished to remove Alt Clut as a maritime power, and the location and defensiveness of Dumbarton itself was of major value. The siege lasted four-months, a length of time unprecedented in the history of Viking warfare in the British Isles, and ended when the defenders ran out of water. After the siege numerous prisoners were taken and sold into slavery in Dublin. Following this defeat, the power centre of Alt Clut moved to the vicinity of Govan, and it became known as the Kingdom of Strathclyde. The loss of Dumbarton caused the kingdom to increasingly fall under the influence of the Scottish Kingdom of Alba.

Rhapsody (climb)

Rhapsody is a 35-metre (115 ft) long traditional climbing route up a thin crack on a slightly overhanging vertical basalt rock face on Dumbarton Rock, in Scotland. When Scottish climber Dave MacLeod made the first free ascent in 2006, it became Britain's first-ever E11-graded route, and at the grade of 5.14c (8c+), Rhapsody was the world's hardest traditional route. It set a grade milestone in traditional climbing that stood for over a decade until the ascent of Tribe at grade E11-12 5.14d (9a) in 2019 and of Bon Voyage at grade E12 5.14d (9a) in 2024. Rhapsody shares the same central crack-line as another notable traditional climbing route called Requiem (the two routes deviate for the last 10 metres near the top as the crack-line peters out). Scottish climber Dave Cuthbertson made the first free ascent of Requiem in 1983, creating Britain's first-ever E8-graded route. With subsequent ascents, the consensus grade settled at E8 6b or 5.13b (8a), and Requiem is now recognized as being one of the world's hardest rock climbing routes—of any format (i.e. traditional or sport climbing)—at the time it was first ascended in 1983.