Restoration - Week 33

Like something from an enchanted forest, parts of the old ground are coming back to what they once were and emerging from a blanket of moss and weed. With the wet weather I have been able to dig deep and get entrenched large roots cut out and removed from this East section of the terracing.

The moss particularly has been thickest here and on these riser steps and again most of the concrete has long gone, so we are bucketing out the ash infill and scrubbing what stone remains. As you can see from these close-ups, the moss is like a green sticky wool and a bugger to remove properly.

But another ten hours graft this week made another wee dent in this section and every little bit done greatly improves the look of the terracing. Working with wire brushes as it is the only way to remove the moss almost strand by strand, but it is a laborious process.

However the stonework underneath is in great condition and scrubs up really well. Been sifting all of the spoil from here as well but still not unearthed anything of historical interest! Then we remove all of the ash, stone and mud from each terrace step before repacking the earth underneath and then

covering with buckets of red blaes from the track. This is, I hasten to add only a temporary solution and this will need to be back-filled with concrete in the next 12 months before we can truly sign off the work here. But it looks 100% better than it did in January when we began the restoration!!

We aim to have this section completed by the end of 2018, which would be 1/3 of this terrace restored and both riser stairwells. The side sections will be cleared and fixed up once the trees have shed their leaves and we can see the terracing a bit more clearly.

Then the plan is to move on to the last remaining untouched section still extant, on the SE corner, which has all but disappeared under the trees and waist-high weeds. And again due to the soft earth due to the heavy rain we managed to get working again on the running track this week, clearing another 12 x ? ft section. This was then packed hard and levelled out and is an improvement on the bumpy, unsafe surface it has been for as long as I have been involved here. It's another BIG job and will take at least a year to put right. But already I can envisage the thundering footsteps of players

racing around the running track again....or perhaps that is just the ghosts of all of those footballers who trained and played here over the last 134 years? 

When New Cathkin was 2nd Hampden...

From the QPHistory blog: Queen’s Park’s new ground, also named Hampden Park, was to be opened on Saturday 18 October 1884. On the previous day, the North British Daily Mail gave some details of what it described as Queen’s Park’s “handsome new ground”

The ground was fully six acres in extent and a short distance from the Govanhill Car Terminus. It was also in the immediate vicinity of the proposed Govanhill Station of the Cathcart District Railway.The railway contractors had been responsible for levelling the pitch, which was a turfed two acres, practically flat and with just sufficient fall to allow natural drainage. The running track was exactly a quarter mile and was 15 feet wide.

The bicycle track would not be completed until the following spring. On the south side of the pitch, on rising ground, was a grand stand that was 80 yards long and had seating for 900.The area in front of the stand was terraced. On the north side of the ground was another grand stand, 100 yards long and seating 1,200.

There was a new brick pavilion in the south-west corner of the ground. As well as changing facilities, the pavilion had club and committee rooms. The Evening Times said that the entrances to the ground were at the north-west corner.

The new Hampden Park opened on Saturday 18 October 1884 as scheduled,with a match between Queen’s Park & Dumbarton. As the oldest member of the Queen’s Park side,Charles Campbell had the honour of taking the kick-off before a crowd of up to 6,000.Queen’s dominated but it finished 0-0.

One newspaper commented that the pitch was almost dead level, showing a remarkable contrast to the old Hampden Park. QPFC Team: G Gillespie; J McDougall and J G Wallace; C Campbell and J G MacDonald; R M Christie, D S Allan, W Harrower, W W Watt, W Anderson and N McWhannell.

Another bit of info from John Litster"s THIRD LANARK : "A new pavilion was built on the South side of the pitch (1883) and alongside it was erected the stand from 1st Hampden. In Nov 1887 a roof was erected over the South stand" Soooo, this is indeed the original stand from the first Hampden Park!

From A HISTORY OF QPFC 1867-1917 by Richard Robinson, we have this...On the 12/01/1886 Scottish Athletic Journal stated " A picture gallery has been added to the many attractions at Hampden Park. Quite a number of works in oil have been presented to Queens Park FC by the merchant friend of one of it's most influential members"

"it is confidently expected that the collection will receieve some valuable additions from the private galleries of the members. The exhibition will be open to the public soon" (1886)

The photo above shows the brick Pavilion in 1887 with the players from Sheffield and Glasgow at the Inter-City match at Hampden 2."1889, the pavilion at second Hampden Park was raised a storey, a gymnasium added, and a competent instructor installed."

The idea of a gymnasium for the members seems to have originated with Mr. James Lawrence, who was president of the Queen’s Park for three seasons. At the annual general meeting in May, 1889, he drew attention to the want of variety in the system of training, running being really the only form of exercise members could avail themselves of. The chairman, Mr. Stewart Lawrie, said that the erection of a small gymnasium had been thought of, and, as a substantial balance was in bank, the idea would probably take definite shape very shortly. It did take shape when the pavilion was enlarged in 1889, and a spacious gymnasium was built at the back, with Mr. Benson, Glasgow University Gymnasium, as instructor.

There were regular QPFC Sports Days: "In the late ‘eighties and early ‘nineties there was a great influx to the club of athletic and •cycling members, who found the conveniences of the Queen’s Park track met a much-felt want, and these took full advantage of its amenities.The club at first was reluctant to take such men into full membership, as its first and last business was football. Permits were issued for training on the track, with full use of the pavilion and trainer to non-members

It was a great satisfaction to the club to find its efforts in this direction so fully appreciated. The track was constantly being improved, widened, and the banking brought up to the latest speed requirements.Interestingly though, looking at the original Hampden 1 Pavilion below, it seems that the

roof was removed from here and shifted across Cathcart Road to Hampden 2 in 1884, when the world's first brick football pavilion was erected at the new ground. The second storey was built in 1889 with the profits from the large crowds Queens Park were attracting. According to Graeme Brown at the Hampden Bowling Club the roof was moved 5 times and taken to pieces each time!

Queens Park played their home games at Titwood Park, home of Clydesdale Cricket Club whilst waiting for their new ground to be completed in the 1883/84 season. The new 2nd Hampden was on ground leased from Messrs Dixon & Co Ltd. The pitch at the new ground was levelled by the Railway contractor and the grandstands on both sides of the pitch were erected.

The new brick pavilion was built at a cost of £95 and the old wooden pavilion placed at it's rear. In 1889 as we have seen previously, the pavilion was extended with a second floor added, spending £550 and taking the unusual step of covering the South stand. And in 1888 the first ever 'World Cup' was played here on the 19th of May, as Renton defeated English Champions West Bromwich Albion 4-1!

This world famous match is portrayed above in this sketch, courtesy of Robert Bradley & Douglas Gorman. The striking thing for me about the sketch is how imposing and impressive 2nd Hampden is sketched with the large QPFC flag above the players pavilion. This tradition would continue with Third Lanark when they moved into the ground in 1903 and renamed the stadium 'New Cathkin Park.'