King's Park (, ) is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the city of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland. It is situated south of the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

and borders the Glasgow areas of

Croftfoot Croftfoot (, )
is a residential area on the southeaster ...

Cathcart Cathcart (; , )
is an area of

Simshill Simshill is an area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is on the South Side of the city, approximately south of the city centre. Adjacent areas are Cathcart, King's Park, Croftfoot and Castlemilk. Linn Park is to the south-west of Simshill. The area h ...

Mount Florida Mount Florida () is an area in the south-east of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Origins The Glasgow district of Mount Florida originated on the "Lands of Mount Floridon", which were described in detail when offered for sale at auction on 21 ...

and

Toryglen Toryglen is a district in southern Glasgow, Scotland, falling within the Langside ward under Glasgow City Council. It is approximately south of the city centre, bounded to the west by Mount Florida, the north-west by Polmadie, to the north-ea ...

and the neighbourhood of Bankhead in the adjoining town of

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

History and geography

King's Park is a residential area first developed for housing around 1930 a short time after the territory, historically within the civil parish of

Cathcart Cathcart (; , )
is an area of

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

, was brought into the city of

, and retains much of the same appearance in the 21st century. It includes a mixture of semi-detached houses and bungalows, flats (including

cottage flat Cottage flats, also known as four-in-a-block flats, are a style of housing common in Scotland, where there are single floor dwellings at ground level, and similar dwellings on the floor above. All have doors directly to the outside of the buildi ...

s) and luxury detached villas and is considered an affluent suburb of Glasgow, with median house prices and income well above average. In 2014, it was rated one of the most attractive

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

areas to live in Scotland. Living in the shadow of Hampden Park - geograph

As of 2005, it had a population of 14,552 residents. The ethnic makeup was approximately 98% White, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Oriental and 0.6% mixed race. In 2007, residents of the cottage flats in the area were told they would not be entitled to the substantial council tax refunds which had been awarded to householders in almost identical properties in neighbouring

Croftfoot Croftfoot (, )
is a residential area on the southeaster ...

, as theirs was considered a more affluent part of the city and consequently the higher payment 'band' applied was correct. The district was named after the medium-sized park of the same name (68 acres in size) which lies within its boundariesKing’s Park History

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

and is also spotted with further green areas rather than entirely built upon. A scrapbook at the

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library located in the Charing Cross area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the largest public reference library in Europe, and the centre of Glasgow's public library system. History The library was initiall ...

entitled ''Old Glasgow Street Songs etc'' and dated to 1850 contains the song: ''The Dairy Maids Of Hundred-Acre Hill''; this hill can be found as a green space in modern-day King's Park, located at Kingsacre Road offering views towards the tower blocks and tenements of

Castlemilk Castlemilk () is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. It lies to the far south of the city centre, adjacent to the Croftfoot and Simshill residential areas within the city to the north-west, the town of Rutherglen - neighbourhoods of Rutherglen#Sp ...

from its south-facing slope. There is another green space on the north-facing side of the same incline at Ardmay Crescent which overlooks Scotland's national football stadium

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

, the

district and the wider Glasgow urban area. Its name is recalled in a local public house, the ''100 Acres'', which technically is just outside the local authority boundary in Bankhead.

Public park

The "King's Park" after which the area is named features the landmark , nowadays converted to private apartments and

Category A listed Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) * Category ( ...

. Designed by the architect David Hamilton it was built in 1806 for the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

merchant and prominent Glasgow Tory politician, John Gordon.The Glasgow housebuilder who gave city a park for free
Michael Gallagher, Glasgow Times, 28 June 2023 The estate, featuring a walled flower garden, stone sundial and centuries-old trees came into the ownership of the MacTaggart & Mickel housebuilders at the time of the district's construction as a residential suburb, and was donated by them for use as a public park in 1930. The local 9-hole golf course (a sector of the public park but actually located in Croftfoot which was developed for housing in the same era) was notable for being dug into a hillside 20-35° steep in some places. Donated to the city by the Western Heritable Investment Company which managed the housing and established in 1934, it became derelict and was used as an area of common ground for dog walkers etc. In 2020, the local authority carried out a landscaping project to enhance its woodland aspects by planting more trees and adding formal footpaths to coincide with flood prevention work required in the area (however, local residents noted with concern that a number of older trees of high aesthetic value were felled in the course of this work).King's Park residents hit out at Glasgow City Council for felling 20 trees
Glasgow Live, 2 September 2019

Amenities

The local eponymous

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

parish Church (1930) and St Oswald's Episcopal church (1931) are both found in the east of the district on Castlemilk Road (there is also a Kings Park

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church on Castlemilk Road, but this is the continuation of the same road in Croftfoot, half a mile to the south). Opposite the churches is a row of convenience stores, cafes and a post office, formerly a small public library (on the Rutherglen side of the local authority boundary so operated by

South Lanarkshire Council South Lanarkshire Council is the unitary authority serving the South Lanarkshire council area in Scotland. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and an annual budget of almost £1bn. Th ...

) which closed in 2010, and the site of the State Cinema, later a bingo venue, which was a prominent landmark in the area from the 1930s until its demolition in the early 21st century. Another imposing structure in the area which has survived is the Cathcart Old Parish Church dating from the late 1920sOld Cathcart: Illustrated Guide
ScotCities (not to be confused with the ruin of its predecessor a short distance to the west at Manse Brae, including a graveyard dating back centuries) which stands out in its surroundings, a flat area mostly consisting of bungalows. Owing to the occasional but significant influxes of patrons whose primary destination is Hampden Park, there are two large public houses in its proximity within King's Park's boundaries, ''The Montford'' and ''The Beechwood'', both of which adjoin another cluster of shops, with a children's play park and the Kingswood Bowling Club (founded 1929) also next to the Beechwood. Another local club, Mount Florida, is a short distance further west, although falling membership and great interest from developers in the site made its future extremely doubtful by 2019. As of 2020 the club has closed, the future plans for the land are unknown as of yet.

Education

King's Park Secondary School King's Park Secondary School, on Fetlar Drive, in the King's Park, Glasgow, King's Park area (or specifically in the Simshill area) of south Glasgow, is a Scottish non-denominational State school#Scotland, state school. It was established in 1962 ...

in nearby

, established in 1962, is the local non-denominational comprehensive. The area is also served by

Holyrood Secondary School Holyrood Secondary School is a Roman Catholic secondary school in the south-side of Glasgow, Scotland. It is notable for its comparatively large secondary school enrollment, having had over 2,000 pupils and 150 teaching staff. Holyrood is located ...

in Crosshill a short distance to the north - a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

school serving the whole of south-east Glasgow, it is one of the largest secondary education institutes in Europe. Primary schools in the area include King's Park (near the railway station, on the site of Meikle Aikenhead farm), St Fillan's (close to Cathcart Old Church) and St Mirins (Simshill, adjacent to its affiliated Catholic church and its function hall, Christ The King). Also located in King's Park, 32F Squadron are the first Scottish Squadron of the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

who share some facilities with the Territorial Army base on the same site.

Transport

The area is served by King's Park railway station on the

Cathcart Circle Lines The Cathcart Circle Lines form a mostly suburban railway line, railway route linking Glasgow (Central) to Cathcart via a circular line, with branches to Newton (Lanark) railway station, Newton and Neilston railway station, Neilston, on the sout ...

(its branch, two trains per hour), although parts are closer to on the same line which is also on a second branch towards and the south side circle itself so has five trains an hour. Several local buses pass along Aikenhead Road towards Glasgow city centre, with eastern parts served less frequently via Curtis Avenue. It is a ten- to twenty-minute bus or rail journey from Glasgow city centre.

References

External links

King's Park
at Glasgow City Council

at

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and co ...

Friends of King's Park
- Local Interest Group

{{Parks and gardens in Glasgow Areas of Glasgow Parks and commons in Glasgow Urban public parks in the United Kingdom Garden suburbs 1930 establishments in Scotland Parks established in the 1930s