Photograph of Dumbarton Castle nestled within a large outcrop of rock known as Dumbarton rock. The ruins of another building at the top of rock may have once been used as a windmill. For foreground interest, the photographer has included the figure of a man on the right who stands with his back to the camera, wearing a bowler hat.

During a visit to Scotland in August 1803, the Romantic poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, were shown around Dumbarton Castle by a member of the garrison who were stationed there. Dorothy later wrote: '..we were invited into the guard-room, about half-way down the rock, were we were shown a large rusty sword, which they called Wallace's Sword, and a trout boxed up in a well close by, where they said he had been confined for upwards of thirty years. It was pleasing to observe how much interest the poor soldiers...seemed to attach to this antiquated inhabitant of their garrison.'