DUMBARTON, a county in Scotland, situated between 55. 53. and 56. 25. north latitude, and between 3. 55. and 4. 53. west longitude from Greenwich, consists of two districts, six miles distant from each other, part of Lanarkshire running between them. The western, which is much the larger, is about forty miles long and twelve broad, and is bounded by Perthshire on the north; by Argyleshire, from which it is separated by an arm of the sea called Loch Long, on the west; by the river Clyde and Lanarkshire on the south-west and south; and by Stirlingshire on the east. The eastern district is completely enclosed by Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire. The whole county contains 298 square miles, or 190,848 English acres, of which the smaller division contains about forty-two miles, or 28,000 acres. It is divided into twelve parishes, of which there are only two in the eastern district, Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld. This last belonged to Stirlingshire. till the Earl of Wigton, whose property it was, became heritable sheriff of Dumbartonshire, when he procured it to be annexed to this county.

The prevailing winds are from the west and south-west, but easterly winds are frequent in the spring months. Showers are very common, but heavy and continued rains of rare occurrence. Frosts are seldom severe, and, except on the mountains, snow never lies long. The climate is upon the whole salubrious. The range of the barometer is about 2∙80, and of the thermometer from 6° to 80°. The soils of the lower grounds are schistoze clay mixed with small stones, rich black loam on the banks of the Clyde, and gravelly soil on the river Leven; but about two thirds of the county consist of lofty mountains, some of them 3000 feet high, part of the ridge which crosses the island from Forfarshire to the Frith of Clyde, known in the districts to the eastward by the names of the Siedlaw, Ochil, and Campsie Hills.

Coal, iron ore, limestone, freestone, and slate, are its most valuable fossil productions. There are pits for working coals at Langfauld and Lawmuir in East Kilpatrick, and at Duntocher in West Kilpatrick, where great quantities are raised for the consumption of the cotton works at Duntocher, and for calcining lime at the neighbouringlime works. Ironstone is raised in considerable quantities in the parishes of Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld, which meets with a ready market at Carron foundery.

Limestone is found in the higher grounds at Kilpatrick, Dumbarton, and Row; but it is only wrought at Langfauld, Lawmuir, and Duntocher, where coal is quarried along with it, and also at Row, Netherwood, and Cumbernauld. White and red freestone are met with in several places; the finest quarries are at Garscube, on the banke of the Forth and Clyde Canal; and at Levengrove and Dalreoch, in the immediate neighbourhood of Dumbarton.

Several slate quarries have been wrought with success, at Luss and Camstradden on the estates of Sir James Colquhoun, and at Roseneath on the estates of the Duke of Argyll. The principal markets are at Glasgow, Greenock, &c. to which the slates are conveyed in lighters by the Leven and the Clyde.

The only river of any note which can be said to belong to this county is the Leven, the outlet of Lochlomond, which, flowing for about five miles through a fine valley, joins the Clyde at Dumbarton Castle. Its waters, which are singularly pure and soft, are well adapted to the business of bleaching and printing cottons, branches which are established to a great extent along its course. The other streams are Luss, Froon, Finlays, Douglas, Falloch, and Luggie. Clyde, Endrick, and Kelvin, flow along its borders. Lochlong and Gareloch are arms of the sea, the first of which separates this county from Argyleshire; and the other, penetrating the land for about seven miles, nearly detaches the peninsula of Roseneath from the mainland. Whilst this extent of sea-coast affords the benefit of water carriage to so large a portion of the county, the inland tracts are benefited in almost an equal degree by the Forth and Clyde Canal, which passes through it for more than sixteen miles. This canal is about thirty-five miles in length, and it rises and falls about 160 feet, by means of forty locks. It is carried over the valley where the Kelvin flows, by an aqueduct sixty-five feet in height and 420 feet in length. The only remarkable lake is Lochlomond, which is about twenty-four miles long, and in its greatest breadth, towards the south, above six. About two thirds of the shore, and most of its islands, thirty in all, are in Dumbartonshire; the rest belong to Stirlingshire. It is probably not to be equalled by any lake in Britain for the variety and magnificence of its scenery; the picturesque beauty of its wooded banks and islands affording a striking contrast to the rugged and lofty moun-tains[7:8:259] that rise in its vicinity. It covers about 20,000 acres, and its surface is supposed to be increasing. The best view of the lake is from a promontory above Luss, a village on the western shore.

The landed property of this county is divided among about a hundred and fifty individuals, exclusive of feuars in towns and villages. One third of the estates are of considerable extent, and the remainder are small. The valued rent is L.33,327. 19s. Scots, of which about a third is held under the fetters of strict entails. In 1811 the actual rent of the lands was L.56,972. 15s., and of the houses L.5791. 15s., total L.62,764. 10s.; and the annual value of real property in 1815 was L.71,587 sterling. There are a number of beautiful seats belonging to the larger proprietors, among which Roseneath, the splendid mansion of the Duke of Argyll, and Garscubc, the residence of Sir Archibald Campbell of Succoth, are by far the finest specimens of architecture. There are also a great many fine villas, the property of manufacturers and merchants.

The county sends one member to parliament, who, prior to the passing of the reform act in 1832, was elected by about seventy voters upon superiorities; but by the reform measure the constituency has been increased to 924.

The arable lands of Dumbartonshire are divided into farms ranging in extent from 50 to 250 acres: and of late years great improvements have been made in agriculture, and in the breed of all kinds of stock. The land is generally laboured and manured according to the improved system of husbandry; two crops of grain seldom or never being taken without the intervention of a green crop properly tilled and manured. The usual rotation is, first, oats; secondly, potatoes or other green crop; thirdly, wheat or barley sown with rye-grass and clover; fourthly, hay; and, lastly, pasture. Wheat, oats, and potatoes, are the principal crops. The land is well inclosed and subdivided, principally by hedge and ditch, and partially by stone-walls. The tenants generally hold leases for nineteen years. Within the last twelve or fifteen years the breed of draught or farm horses has been greatly improved; a circumstance which is ascribed partly to the emulation excited among the tenantry to ride good horses at the yeomanry drills, and partly to the annual competition for prizes given by the landlords of this district. The dairy stock is principally of the Ayrshire breed; and great improvements have also been made in this department, which is a source of much profit to the farmers nearest to the city of Glasgow. The accommodation to the tenantry has kept pace with these improvements. Many excellent steadings have been erected, generally in the form of a square, having in front the dwelling-house, which communicates with the offices, forming the other three sides of a square.

There arc in this county many excellent tracts of pasture land. Sheep of the black-faced breed, and a limited number of black cattle, are reared with great success. The saccp are disposed of in Glasgow, where there is a weekly sale; and the cattle are sold at the Carman market, held in the Moor of Carman on the first Tuesday of June. From 12,000 to 17,000 head of cattle, principally of the Argylcshire breed, arc generally disposed of at that market, for the purpose of being fattened on the rich pastures of the south. In the highland district, farms for grazing are necessarily of great extent. But it is not uncommon for fishermen and mechanics to hold pendicles, or “poffles” as they arc called, below L.12 of rent; and the cottars, who are usually employed as labourers on the larger farms, possess small patches of arable ground for raising potatoes, with hill pasture for a cow, at a rent of L.5, and sometimes less.

Great improvements have been made on the roads intersecting this county. A new road along the upper part of Lochlomond, and passing through Glenfalloch, communicates with the great military road through Perthshire, Argyleshire, &c. and renders all parts of this county of easy access.

The woods and plantations of this county are extensive and valuable. According to the agricultural survey in 1810, their extent appears to be near 7000 English acres, of which about the half is coppice; yielding to the proprietors a yearly income almost equal to the rent of the arable lands. On spots unfavourable to oak, these coppice woods consist of ash, yew, holly, mountain-ash, birch, hazel, aspen, alder, crab, thorn, and willow. The age at which they are cut is from twenty-two to twenty-four years, when they are worth from L.40 to L.45 an acre; but there are instances of woods, of considerable extent, selling at much more, where proper attention has been paid to inclosing them, and afterwards thickening them by means of layers, or thinning them, as may be necessary. It is the usual practice to reserve a certain number of young trees at each cutting, the greater part of which are cut down at the second fall, when they are nearly fifty years old, and the rest left to grow up to timber trees. The soil and climate of this county are particularly favourable to plantations, which begin to make a return to their owner in ten or twelve years, and.in thirty years afford supplies to the carpenter. The most extensive plantations are on the estates of Luss and Bonhill. There is a very fine ash in Bonhill church-yard, the branches of which cover an area one hundred feet in diameter. Its trunk is about nine feet high, the smallest diameter is six feet, and its three principal branches are from ten to twelve feet in circumference. On the banks and islands of Lochlomond there is a considerable number of yew trees, some of them of great size.

The manufactures of this county are various and extensive. The cotton works at Duntocher, belonging to Mr Dunn of Duntocher, are the most extensive works of that description in Scotland. He gives employment to a population of 2500, and he is the second landed proprietor in the county. There are two paper-mills at Dalmuir; two extensive ship-building yards, three large glass manufactories, and two tan-works, at Dumbarton; a manufacture of alkali at Burnfoot of Dalmuir; and a distillery of pyroligneous acid at Milburn. On the short course of the river Leven, not much exceeding three miles in a direct line, there are twelve large print-fields and bleachfields. The extent of the whole, in 1810, is thus stated:
[table]

Besides these large establishments, there is a number of lint-mills, two woollen-mills, chiefly employed in carding, and several fulling-mills.

The gross produce of the salmon-fisheries of this county may be about L.1000 a year; the principal are upon the rivers Leven and Clyde. Those on Lochlomond are comparatively of little importance. About fifty boats are employed in the herring fishery, of which the annual value may be about L.4500.

The rates of wages are higher in this than in most of the Scottish counties. In 1810, farm servants, who are for the most part unmarried, had from L.35 to L.42 a year; and when manufactures are prosperous, many of the workmen[7:8:260] in them earn nearly twice as much. Provisions are also dear; and fuel, which consists principally of coal, the greater part of it brought from the adjoining counties, is in many parts higher priced than in our largest cities. There were about 274 paupers in the county in 1811; but few of them were maintained solely on parochial charity. Such as are able to gain their subsistence in part by their own industry, receive only what is necessary to support them in addition to their own earnings; and those who are altogether incapable of work are in most cases relieved by the charity of individuals, the parish paying only for clothes and house rent. The whole sum expended by the parishes does not much exceed L.1000 a year, of which a small part is raised by assessment. The rent of land and interest of capital amount to L.200, incidental funds to L.120, and the collections at the churches to L.390.

The following is a tabular view of the population of this county :—
[table]

Dumbarton, the capital of Dumbartonshire, in Scotland, is situated at the confluence of the rivers Clyde and Leven. It is a very ancient place, and is said to have been once the capital of a kingdom of the Britons, established in the vale of the Clyde. Alcluyd was the name of this ancient capital of the Strathclydenses; but whether it was situated on the site of the present town, or confined within the precincts of the castle, cannot be exactly ascertained. Dumbarton is built upon the eastern bank of the Leven, which almost encircles it. The greater part of the town is composed of one main street, lying in a semicircular form round the head or west end of the peninsula. At the height of the tides it is flooded by the waters of the Leven. It was erected into a royal burgh by Alexander II. in the year 1221, and declared to be free of all imposts and burgh taxes; it afterwards received other charters front succeeding monarchs; and, finally, it obtained a confirmation of the whole from James VI. The subsequent history of the burgh is destitute of interest. It naturally partook of the fortunes and misfortunes of the adjacent part, of which it was in reality a dependency. Besides the main street, there are some bye thoroughfares, lanes, and detached houses, and a suburb on the western side of the Leven, leading to Renton. It is connected with the latter by a good stone bridge of five arches, 300 feet long. The waters of the Leven form a commodious harbour, and, for the benefit of trade, an excellent quay and capacious dock have been formed. Ship-building is carried on to some extent. The principal article of manufacture and export is glass. The glass-works, which are situated to the north-west of the town, give employment to a great number of individuals; and the article made is considered as equal to any manufactured in Britain. The other and inferior manufactures of Dumbarton are leather, glue, some linen, beer, &c. with a considerable quantity of goods for the Glasgow market. In recent years the intercourse and trade with Glasgow have been much extended by means of steam navigation. Dumbarton has an important cattle market every year on the 4th of June. There are two other fairs throughout the year, and the town has a large weekly market on Tuesdays. The burgal government of the town consists of a provost, an elder and younger bailie, a dean of guild, a treasurer, five merchant councillors, and five trades councillors from the same number of incorporated trades. The town has an excellent grammar-school, and a good subscription library. A branch of the Commercial Bank is settled here, and there are a number of agents of insurance offices. A very excellent jail has recently been erected. The church of the burgh and parish is a handsome modern structure with a spire and clock. There are also in the town and its vicinity a burgher and relief meeting house, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The town is the seat of a presbytery in the synod of Glasgow. By the late reform act Dumbarton joins with Kilmarnock, Rutherglen, Renfrew, and Port Glasgow in returning a member to parliament. The situation of Dumbarton Castle is eminently picturesque. The buildings composing the fort are perched on the summit of a rocky mount, shooting up to the height of 206 feet sheer out of the alluvial plain on the east side of the débouché of the river Leven. To the west of the castle there are rocky eminences on the verge of the Clyde, of a similar fabric, though less detached. The rock of Dumbarton measures a mile in circumference at the base. It diminishes in breadth near the top, which is cloven into two summits, of different heights. The rock is basalt, and has a tendency to the columnar formation. Some parts of it have a magnetic quality. The fortress, naturally strong, possesses several batteries, which command a most extensive range. The defences arc kept in constant repair, and it is garrisoned by a limited body of soldiers and functionaries. The rock of Dumbarton has been occupied by works of a warlike character during the successive dynastics of 1800 years, and, as such, it is the most ancient stronghold in the country of which any record or tradition is preserved; nor is it necessary to observe, that it was the scene of many a gallant exploit to be found recorded in the annals of the country. Dumbarton is fifteen miles north-west of Glasgow, and fifty-nine west of Edinburgh. The population of the burgh and parish amounted in 1821 to 3481, and in 1831 to 3623.