The settlements of Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven are close neighbours and yet their histories are very different. Dumbarton, a Royal Burgh since the thirteenth century and the county town of Dunbartonshire was, by the 1840s, in a poor state.

Its famous Glassworks had been closed for some years and an emerging shipbuilding industry had yet to make a significant impact. In contrast, the bustling villages of the Vale were the home to a thriving cloth bleaching, printing and dyeing industry.

Works were located along the River Leven, which provided the constant supply of fresh water essential to their success. To attract workers to this rural area, settlements had to be built on 'greenfield' sites to accommodate them.

By the mid-1850s, shipbuilding was transforming Dumbarton, and that too required migrant labour. People arrived from all over Scotland and from Ireland, to work in the yards and foundries.

Meantime, migrants continued to arrive in the Vale. This book is primarily about these incomers: Where had they come from?Where did they live?How did they make a living?What were living and working conditions like?How did their presence transform the settlements they lived in?How did this compare to what was happening elsewhere in Scotland?.