Westmarch was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium located on Greenhill Road in

Ferguslie Park Ferguslie Park is a residential suburb at the north-west extremity of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It is bordered by the town of Linwood to the west and Glasgow Airport to the north. Ferguslie Park has history of being among the most ...

, Paisley,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was the home ground of St Mirren from 1883 to 1894.

History

St Mirren moved to Westmarch from their Thistle Park ground in 1883.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p227 The first match was played on 25 August, with the visiting Queen's Park team beaten 2–1.Former Grounds
A History of St Mirren Football Club St Mirren were amongst the founders of the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

in 1890, and the first league match at Westmarch was played on 20 September 1890, in which local rivals

Abercorn Abercorn (Gaelic: ''Obar Chùirnidh'', Old English: ''Æbbercurnig'') is a village and civil parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around west of South Queensferry. The parish had a p ...

were beaten 4–2. By that time the ground had a stand at the western end of ground, some way from the pitch, which was surrounded by a racing and cycling track. On 22 October 1892 the club recorded its highest league attendance at Westmarch when 8,000 saw a 3–1 defeat to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. In 1894 the club decided to move after the landlord doubled their rent. After attempting to buy their former Shortroods ground,Smith & Smith, p216 a site was found and developed on

Love Street "Love Street" is a song performed by the American rock band the Doors. Sequenced as the second album track on ''Waiting for the Sun'', its lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison and as with other songs, it was dedicated to his girlfriend ...

. The final league match was played at Westmarch on 17 February 1894, with St Mirren beating

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

10–3, also the highest scoring league game to have been played at the ground. The final game was against Abercorn in the final of the Paisley Charity Cup, a match that ended in a 10–0 victory for St Mirren. The ground was subsequently used for

trotting The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is someti ...

before being purchased by the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

in order to build a line between Paisley St James and

Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed when ...

. The new line opened on 1 October 1902.

Other sports

The Scottish Athletics Championships were held at Westmarch on Saturday 27 June 1885. The ground was reported as, "really good going," but the arrangements were thought to be, "unworthy of a gathering of such importance." David Duncan, ( Royal High School), the president of the Scottish AAA, won the mile for the third successive time."The Referee", Sun 28 Jun 1885 p. 5

References

{{Football venues in Scotland Defunct football venues in Scotland Sports venues in Paisley, Renfrewshire St Mirren F.C. Scottish Football League venues Sports venues completed in 1883 Athletics (track and field) venues in Scotland