FIREWORKS
The Smithonian Science Education Centre website tells us that it appears that firecrackers fireworks were created by accident... and by the search for immortality. Around 200 BC, the Chinese unintentionally invented firecrackers by tossing bamboo into fire, but it took another thousand years before true fireworks came alive. As the story goes, around 800 AD, an alchemist mixed sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (a food preservative) hoping to find the secret to eternal life. Instead, the mixture caught on fire, and gunpowder was born! When the powder was packed into bamboo or paper tubes and lit on fire, history had its first fireworks.You can find out much more on their website. See the link below.
West Dunbartonshire celebrates fireworks night annually, although budgetry constraints have limited it in recent years and funding has been sought through the Common Good Fund.
The EPIC website turns out attention to its use in Britain. The story of fireworks in the UK goes back a long way, influenced by Chinese and European traditions. These early fireworks might have been simple, but they were impressive for their time, filling the air with bursts of colour and noise.
During the Tudor and Stuart periods, fireworks became a big deal during royal events and important national moments. They were a symbol of celebration and an opportunity to dazzle crowds. As their popularity grew, people started figuring out new ways to make them more elaborate and breathtaking.
Younger people are probably unaware of the association of fireworks night and Guy Fawkes. Probably just as well as although it was in many ways an English event, the throne was occupied by King James VI of Scotland and I of England so it has a Scottish resonance. Although the reference may be somewhat flippant, some see a degree of sectarianism in it. Something that taints Scottish society to this day.
Wikipedia tells us more : Guy Fawkes 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. ........
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was an unsuccessful attempted regicide against King James VI of Scotland and I of England by a group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby.
The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday 5 November 1605, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which King James's nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was to be installed as the new head of state.
There were 5 co-conspirators, but Fawkes is the name we find most associated with the attempt. Their capture, torture and hanging makes gruesome reading.
Long before this we find James IV becoming interested in fireworks. His fascination with artillery ran in the family. His grandfather, James II, had famously been obsessed with cannons, a passion that cost him his life when one exploded near him in 1460. [Daily Record]
Previously experts believed that fireworks were first used in Stirling in 1566, however, new evidence suggests that it was actually around 59 years earlier and in the Scottish capital. It is thought that ‘fireballs’ featured in a great tournament staged by King James lV, which took place at the base of Castle Rock, in 1507, in the area which is now the King’s Stables Road.
Records also exist which detail a display that was planned for the castle to mark the coronation of James V’s first wife, Queen Madeleine, in 1537, which included giant Catherine wheels. Sulphur, oil, petrol, mercury, aqua vitae, canvas, thread and other items were used to create and build the fireworks which are thought to have spun on the horizontal unlike the Catherine wheels of today, which spin on the vertical. [Medievalists.net]
You can find fireworks being set off for all sorts of celebrations these days, but it has an interesting history.
They come with dangers though.... and some anti-social behaviour. The Scottish government, local authorities and the Fire and Rescue service all give detailed guidance and in some situations also restrictions. Violations can lead to up to £5000 fines and/6 months imprisonment.
Fortunately we can enjoy them though within these parameters. The nights may be cold by November, but not too much to prevent us geting out. A great experience for the whole family.
Some from the show at Levengrove Park Posties Park as seen from the Riverside Walk on the Dumbarton side of the Leven. November 2025. Various fairground attractions were also available within the park.
EPIC : https://epicfireworks.com/blogs/news/the-history-of-fireworks-in-the-uk
MEDIEVALISTS.NET : https://www.medievalists.net/2015/08/fireworks-in-scotland-date-back-to-1507-researchers-find/
NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND : https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/guy-fawkes-night-in-scotland
SMITHONIAN SCIENCE EDUCATION CENTRE website : https://ssec.si.edu/stemvisions-blog/evolution-fireworks
WIKIPEDIA : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes
