North End Park, also known as Colliers Den, is a disused

playing field Play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functio ...

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

. Between 1888 and 1917 the site was a football ground and the home venue of Cowdenbeath F.C. It was later the home ground of Fife amateur club Hearts of Beath and was also used as a greyhound racing stadium from the 1930s until the 1970s, before the site was sold for development.

History

Cowdenbeath moved to North End Park from their previous ground, Jubilee Park, in 1888.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p205 A stand was built on the northern side of the pitch, but the pitch was later rotated 45º to allow for the creation of a

whippet The Whippet is a dog breed of medium size. It is a sighthound breed that originated in England, descended from the Greyhound. Whippets today still strongly resemble a smaller Greyhound. Part of the hound group, Whippets have relatively few ...

racing track. The original stand remained in place and an open seated stand was later built on the south-eastern side of the pitch. Cowdenbeath joined the Division Two of the Scottish Football League (SFL) in 1905, and the first SFL match was played at North End Park on 19 August 1905, a 1–0 win over Leith Athletic. In 1917 the club moved to

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

. As the SFL had been suspended since 1915 due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the final league match at the ground had been played on 20 February 1915, a 2–1 win over Clydebank. After Cowdenbeath left the site, it became a playing field and continued to be used for football. It later became known as the North End Greyhound Stadium for a number of years starting in 1938. The track was independent (unlicensed) and was in direct competition with Central Park until the latter closed to greyhound racing in 1965. North End Park continued to host the racing on Tuesday and Friday evenings at 7.15pm until the 1970s. The circumference was 400 yards with race distances of 289 and 489 yards. In 2013

Fife Council Fife Council is the local authority for the Fife area of Scotland and is the third largest Scottish council, with 75 elected council members. Councillors are generally elected every five years. At the 2012 election there were 78 councillors ele ...

gave permission for a supermarket to be built on the site, with a replacement football facility being built in nearby

Lumphinnans Lumphinnans (Scottish Gaelic: Lann Fhìonain) is a small, former mining village along the B981 road, from west to east between the towns of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly, in central Fife. Lumphinnans Primary and Community School is the local prima ...

. Although the new facility was built and Hearts of Beath moved to the new site,

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

pulled out of building the supermarket, selling the site to a property developer in August 2015.North End site sold and move could mean jobs
Central Fife Times, 21 August 2015

References

{{Football in Fife Defunct football venues in Scotland Cowdenbeath F.C. Scottish Football League venues Sports venues in Fife Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing in Scotland 1888 establishments in Scotland 2013 disestablishments in Scotland