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[This is one of a linked series of articles about Dumbarton Rock. See the end of Link for a list of the reference works that are cited here in abbreviated form.]

The building shown here serves as a ticket office for Dumbarton Castle, and as a museum. Like King George's Battery, the Governor's House was built in 1735 (John, 8th Earl of Cassillis, was the governor of the castle at that time) [MacPhail, p144].

The house was built upon the site of the medieval gatehouse, which had likewise housed the governors of the castle from early times [OSG92, p11].

Little is known about the history of occupation and fortification on the Rock between the sacking of a fortress here by Viking forces in 870 and the building of the first medieval castle. However, among the exhibits on display in the Governor's House are fragments of two tenth-century recumbent cross-slabs (NS4074 : Dumbarton Castle: ancient stones).

They were found in the lower slopes just behind the house, an area that is the traditional location of an early chapel of St Patrick; the fragments may have been associated with that chapel, or they may have brought from elsewhere [HD, p11, 18, 73].

Previous: NS4074 : Dumbarton Rock: King George's Battery.
Next: NS3974 : Dumbarton Rock: The Guard House.