Dunbartonshire (Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatainn in Gaelic) or the County of Dumbarton, is a lieutenancy area and a registration county of Scotland. Until 1975 it was a county. The area had been previously been part of the historic district of Lennox, which was a duchy in the Peerage of Scotland.
Dumbarton was formerly the county town, and the county was originally also spelled Dumbartonshire. By the eighteenth century the names "County of Dunbarton" and "County of Dumbarton" were used interchangeably. Different county bodies used the two spellings: the Dunbarton County Constabulary were formed in 1857 by the Commissioners of Supply for the County of Dunbarton.Dumbartonshire County Council, set up under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 adopted the spelling "Dunbartonshire" by 1914, a fact recognised by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947.
The name "Dumbarton" is thought to derive from the Gaelic Dùn Breatainn (Fort of the Britains), but the town stuck with the name Dumbarton, and some people continue to refer to the county as Dumbartonshire.
Wording courtesy of http://www.wikipeia.org/
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