HUNDREDS of history lovers of all ages journeyed back in time at Dumbarton Castle at the weekend to experience the past up close at the Rock of Ages 2018 event.

An array of exhilarating re-enactments and characters brought Scottish history to life for visitors, covering more than 2,000 years, from Vikings and Romans to the world wars.

And Dumbarton Castle itself was the perfect location with its own rich history as one of Scotland’s oldest strongholds, having experienced brushes with Vikings and played host to nobles and military campaigns.

This year’s two-day event, organised by Historic Environment Scotland, saw a new addition to its billing, with a mock World War I trench to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War.

Visitors got to meet soldiers, who shared stories of life in the trenches, and experienced battle scenes in "no man’s land" to discover what life was like on the front line.

There were various camps and time periods to wander through, from Roman soldiers, who were stationed along the Antonine Wall in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, to Vikings.

And there were fun activities aplenty, with visitors getting the opportunity to try their hand at everyday medieval skills, including stone carving, calligraphy, coin and flour making, and Viking games

The spirit of Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragette movement was also captured with costumes, stalls and rousing speeches recreated to mark around 100 years since some women in the United Kingdom won the right to vote.