The story of an almost forgotten Glasgow football stadium.
A pleasant wee park centred on more than a hundred & thirty years of Glasgow football history!
Cathkin Park is a small park less than five minutes walk along Cathcart Road from Crosshill station in Glasgow’s Southside. It has a circular path through a wooded area on the higher south side as well as open grass areas. It’s not comparable to the big destination parks nearby but seemed well used by pupils from a local school wanting a peaceful lunch in the open air and great for a little dog walk. Rudy spent a nice half an hour here investigating all the smells and waiting for photos to be taken.
The second Hampden & home of Third Lanark
The main thing here is the football pitch. Old terraces still stand, now mostly overgrown with trees, hinting that it was a major venue in it’s day. Queen’s Park FC first played here in 1884 after being forced to move when the Caledonian Railway built their Cathcart route through their existing ground. They took their stadium name with them though and this was the second Hampden Park. From 1904 to 1967 it was home to Third Lanark, another founding member of the Scottish Football Association! The grandstand and other infrastructure has been removed but the pitch is still maintained and pre-pandemic was regularly used for amateur league matches.
Our Cathkin Park photo gallery:
Long empty terraces. Looking out from the west terraces. Tree-lined path at Cathkin Park Rudy at Cathkin Park Rudy pretending he’s the loneliest little football fan at Cathkin Park.
Image credit: http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1247329
We discovered that the sign at Cathcart Park commemorating Third Lanark is slightly misleading, The team played here from 1904, originally calling it “New Cathkin Park” – their original ground was slightly north at what is now Warren Street. The dates refer to the club’s founding and final dissolution.