Queen's Park (, ) is a park situated on the south side of 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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, between

Strathbungo Strathbungo is a mainly residential area of southern Glasgow, Scotland, bordered by the neighbourhoods of Crossmyloof to the south, Govanhill to the east and Pollokshields to the north and west. The settlement grew up as a small isolated vil ...

Shawlands Shawlands () is a Southside suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, located two miles south of the River Clyde. The area, considered the "Heart of the Southside", is known for its independent restaurants and cafés, art scene, public parks, period terrace ...

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troop ...

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 Crosshill. The park lies about south of the city centre, and gives its name to a nearby railway station and several other local businesses and institutions, including the football team Queen's Park FC.

History

The lands of the park were part of the lands of Langside, belonging to the Maxwells of Pollok. During the 17th Century, the western part was sold to form Camphill Farm. This was sold again in 1799 to Glasgow manufacturer Robert Thomson who built , which still stands at the edge of the park grounds. His son purchased the adjacent Pathhead Farm in 1834, and the merged land was sold by grandson Neale Thomson to

Glasgow Corporation Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the local government authority for Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was formerly governed by a corporation, also kno ...

in 1857 for the purpose of developing Glasgow's third park. The park was developed in the late 19th century in response to the increasing population density of Glasgow in general, and the South Side in particular, with the growth of

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...

housing supplying the increased demand for middle-class homes. Victorian Glasgow took the provision of open spaces extremely seriously, with the result that parks such as Queen's Park sprang up across the city. It is surrounded by several residential city districts, mostly consisting primarily of tenements, namely

, Crosshill, Crossmyloof,

Govanhill Govanhill () is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, situated south of the River Clyde between Pollokshields, the Gorbals, Strathbungo, Crosshill, Polmadie and Queen's Park. Historically part of Renfrewshire, Govanhill had the status of a police ...

Langside Langside is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde, and lies east of Shawlands, south of Queens Park, west of Cathcart and north of Newlands. The district is residential and primarily middle-clas ...

and

. The buildings of the

Glasgow Victoria Infirmary The Victoria infirmary was a teaching hospital situated at Langside/Battlefield in the south-east of Glasgow from 1880 until 2015. It was managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. History A competition was held to design a 120-bedded hospital an ...

hospital (both the 19th and 21st century facilities) are also nearby. The park was designed by

Sir Joseph Paxton Sir Joseph Paxton (3 August 1803 – 8 June 1865) was an English gardener, architect, engineer and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Member of Parliament. He is best known for designing the Crystal Palace, which was built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde ...

, also responsible for noted public parks in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

and the grounds of the Spa Buildings at

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

. The original plans for the park included a winter garden and an artificial loch, but these were considered too extravagant and were removed in amended plans developed by the city architect, John Carrick. The park was dedicated to the memory of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

- Mary lost the

Battle of Langside The Battle of Langside was fought on 13 May 1568 between forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, and forces acting in the name of her infant son James VI. Mary’s short period of personal rule ended in 1567 in recrimination, intrigue, and disast ...

near the park, and the park given its present name in place of the original 'South Side Park'. In 2008 local resident Moira Jones was abducted outside her home and killed in the park, and this crime and the hunt for the killer were given considerable media coverage In 2014, several thousand women marched through the park and surrounding streets at night to highlight and protest against several sexual assaults which had occurred in the area over the preceding months during hours of darkness. However, further rare but serious incidents of a similar nature occurred following that event.

Current usage

Today the park is used by many thousands of people annually, and remains a focal point for the people of the South Side of Glasgow and beyond. The park holds the regular farmers markets and a wide range of family events, many of these in the redeveloped bandstand which is now known as Queen's Park Arena. The park also contains a wide range of leisure and sports areas and facilities. Since 2019, 'Queen's

Parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of 5K run, events for runners, walkers and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across five continents. Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinto ...

', a weekly free 5 km event, has taken place in the park every Saturday morning at 9.30am. There are three

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

clubs, a

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

centre, a

five-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four Outfield#In association football, outfield players and a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper). Other differences from association football ...

facility and a

pitch and putt Pitch and putt is an amateur sport very similar to, and derived from, golf, where the hole length is typically up to and just 2–3 clubs are normally used. The game was organised and developed in Ireland during the early 20th century, before ...

course within the park, as well as (a former mansion built 1806, now private apartments), and , a former bank office which was originally in Glasgow city centre before being moved to its current location in 1889; it is now a

community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

. Both buildings are

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 ( ...

. The tennis courts are managed by Queens Park Community Tennis Club and

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 ...

who funded the refurbished tennis courts in 2015. The park is popular in snowy weather, when the public make use of the park's steep hills for sledging. From various points of the park, it is possible to view the full expanse of Glasgow in a given direction. The most comprehensive viewpoint is marked by a flagpole, and affords views of tens of miles to the north, east and south. In good visibility this view encompasses the

Campsie Fells The Campsie Fells (also known as the Campsies; ) are a range of hills in central Scotland, stretching east to west from Denny Muir to Dumgoyne in Stirlingshire and overlooking Strathkelvin to the south. The southern extent of the range falls wi ...

. Although the current viewfinder indicates that

Ben Lomond Ben Lomond (, ), , is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros. Ben Lomond lies within the Ben Lomond National Memorial Park and the Loch Lomond and The Trossach ...

is visible, this is incorrect. What is actually visible are the twin summits of

Stob Binnein Stob Binnein is a mountain in the southern Highlands of Scotland, near Crianlarich. It forms a twin-peak with Ben More 3,852 ft (1,174 m), from which it is separated by the Bealach-eadar-dha Beinn, meaning ''pass between two hills''. ...

and Ben More by

Crianlarich Crianlarich (; ) is a village in Stirling council area and in the registration county of Perthshire, Scotland, around north-east of the head of Loch Lomond. The village bills itself as "the gateway to the Highlands". Etymology The name ''Cria ...

. Ben Lomond is further west, and would be completely obscured behind the

Kilpatrick Hills The Kilpatrick Hills are a range of hills in central Scotland, stretching from Dumbarton in the west to Strathblane in the east. Strathblane divides the Kilpatricks from the Campsie Fells to the east, while to the north is part of the Loch Lo ...

, if they themselves were not hidden behind nearby trees.

Archaeology

An earthwork runs over the top of the hill in the park enclosing an area approximately . Excavations in 1951 revealed 14th century pottery. By comparison with similar archaeological sites in the area, it is suggested by Eric J Talbot, then of Glasgow University, that this was a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

ringwork earth and timber castle.

References

External links

Queens Park Churches

Southside Festival

Life in the Southside of Glasgow

Glasgow City Council Queen's Park information page

Friends of Queen's Park Glasgow

Queen's Park Arena
{{Parks and gardens in Glasgow Parks and commons in Glasgow Urban public parks Areas of Glasgow Tennis in Scotland Govanhill and Crosshill

History

Current usage

Archaeology

See also

References

External links