Statement of National Importance
The national importance of the monument is demonstrated in the following way(s) (see Designations Policy and Selection Guidance, Annex 1, para 17):
a. The monument is of national importance because it makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the past as the remains of an early to mid-20th century football stadium with late 19th century origins. In particular, it adds to our understanding of the development of the modern football ground and the sport's history in Scotland. It can help us understand the chronology of this site and the development of early football grounds across the country.
b. The monument retains structural and other physical attributes which makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the past. The overall plan form is clear and several elements of the infrastructure survive as upstanding remains. There is potential for the survival of buried archaeological deposits within and beneath the surviving elements.
c. The monument is a rare example of an early 20th century football stadium with its origins in the late 19th century, with evidence of later development and use. The embankments and terracing are a rare survivor.
d. The monument makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the historic landscape by its placement in an urban setting, its association with other football grounds in the area and by its proximity to supporting communities. It is part of a network of urban and semi-urban football grounds of earlier and later date. Glasgow and its football clubs are recognised globally, as a centre for the professional development of the game. The relative density of such grounds in the Glasgow area is a reflection of the game's popularity and this example is characteristic of the successful growth of such clubs in the early and mid-20th century.
e. The monument has significant associations with historical, traditional, social or artistic figures, events or movements. It was the site of the ground for Queens Park club (known as Hampden Park) playing there between 1884 and 1903. It became home for Third Lanark Athletic Club, one of the founding members of the Scottish Football Association and one of the earliest professional clubs in Scotland, from 1903 onwards. The club, which closed in 1967, has legendary status in the history of Scottish football. Cathkin Park survives as a monument to one of Scotland's earliest football teams that helped shape the modern game.
Assessment of Cultural Significance
This statement of national importance has been informed by the following assessment of cultural significance:
Intrinsic characteristics (how the remains of a site or place contribute to our knowledge of the past)
The monument comprises the elements of a football club ground, located in a modern public park in the Mount Florida area, around four kilometres south of Glasgow City centre. It survives as the upstanding remains of earthen embankments and sections of concrete terracing and barrier walling, representing the remains of terraced stands. The terracing is formed by sections of multiple shallow steps with narrow sunken ramped walkways, running from top to bottom. The overall plan of the monument is clear and the buried remains of a grandstand and pavilion, located along the north side of the playing pitch are of high archaeological potential. The site includes structural elements of former club grounds dismantled and transported to this location. The remains at Cathkin Park represent a major sports stadium which has its origins in the late 19th century. The site was constructed as a football ground in 1883 and hosted its first football game on 18 October 1884 as the home of Queen's Park Football Club.
By 1903, the football ground became the new home of Third Lanark. This club originally formed in 1872 from the Third Lanark Rifle Volunteers and move here from their previous ground (also known as Cathkin Park, to the north of this site). Prior to the arrival of Third Lanark, Queen's Park's ground was dismantled including the removal of the original embankments, the pavilion and grandstand. An entirely new stadium was then built for Third Lanark which was smaller and offset to the south of its predecessor. A pavilion and grandstand were dismantled from Third Lanark's previous ground and re-erected in this new location.
This development sequence can be understood from mapping produced at the time. The ground is first depicted on Ordnance Survey Large Scale Town Plan (1892-94) when it was Queen's Park's ground. It is labelled 'Hampden Park' and shows an enclosed sub-rectangular area with an oval pitch and embankments on the eastern and western sides, a grandstand and pavilion, a bicycle track with a lawn tennis ground at the south-eastern end. The 3rd edition OS map shows the Third Lanark ground and is labelled 'Cathkin Park' and depicts the change in layout with the creation of new embankments and relocated pavilion and grandstand. The 1936 map edition indicates further change - the site expands to the east and additions are made to the western embankment. Stepped terracing is depicted surrounding the pitch on the embankments and in front of the grandstand.
Further changes to the ground took place after the Second World War including additional terracing and a more oval plan to the pitch, also documented in a 1949 historic match programme (Litster, 2010). The eastern embankment was substantially increased in size and the slope of the southern terrace was steepened. Records show a total of 60 concrete formed steps with concrete crush barriers surrounded the pitch. The ground underwent further development during the late 1950s to early 1960s and thereafter – including rebuilding of the grandstand and a covered terrace on the southern embanked terracing. After Third Lanark's demise in 1967, Glasgow District Council purchased the ground (1972) and the stadium remained largely intact but in a deteriorating state. By the 1980s, Cathkin Park had become a public recreation ground.
There is significant potential for the survival of archaeological features and deposits, including structural remains of the pavilion and grandstand and its related assemblage, as indicated in the results of recent archaeological investigations. The monument therefore has potential to add to our understanding of the development and use of 20th century football grounds, including construction materials and methods and the sequence of changes since its first construction.
Contextual characteristics (how a site or place relates to its surroundings and/or to our existing knowledge of the past)
Cathkin Park has significant contextual character when related to football sites within a small area of this part of Glasgow. The site is linked to the development of Queen's Park and Third Lanark clubs. During the mid-nineteenth century both clubs established their first dedicated grounds. Queen's Park football club first developed Queen's Park recreation ground (NGR NS 58337 61807). The club then moved to Hampden 1 (NGR NS 58776 61991) in 1873 before moving to the present site in 1883/4.
The first ground for Third Lanark Rifle Volunteers club was at the Third Lanark Drill Ground from 1872 (NGR NS 58220 62960). Linked to this is the Third Lanark Drill Hall (now a listed building LB33688, NRHE ID 172565). The site of Third Lanark's second playing pitch, Cathkin Park 1, was built in 1875, to the north of the New Cathkin Park (NGR NS 59001 62540).
Cathkin Park was originally known as 'Hampden Park' (1883/4 – 1903) for Queen's Park and then 'Cathkin Park' for Third Lanark (1903-67), subsequently changed to New Cathkin Park after Third Lanark ceased playing. In 1903, Queen's Park moved to what is now known as Hampden Park (later developed into the national stadium known of today - NRHE ID 44242). This sequencing highlights the central importance of Cathkin Park in the context of major football grounds in Glasgow.
Queen's Park is recognised as the oldest association football club in Scotland, founded in 1867, shaping club football at Cathkin Park (Hampden 2) from 1883 onwards. Later, from 1903 onwards Third Lanark developed this when they adopted the site as their home ground. They remodelled the ground into a modern football stadium. Many similar sites dating to the same period have subsequently been developed to make way for modern facilities or for other land uses.
Cathkin Park is therefore a rare survivor of a late 19th / 20th century football ground, much of it dating from the 'golden era' of Scottish football, following growth in the economy and population after the Second World War and with an increase in football attendance. Football grounds which have survive and continue as playing stadia today have undergone significant changes and do not display as much character. Safety improvements in the 1980s have introduced, for example, all seated stands. The considerable loss of life at Ibrox in 1971 (66 lives lost from crushing in an exit stairway) was a key event driving this change in stadia design. The stadium at Cathkin Park was abandoned in 1967 and although much altered has not undergone the changes and improvements seen in other grounds and stadia. It is physical reminder of a period when 10,000s of supporters could be seen standing in terraces.
There is the potential to study Cathkin Park with contemporary sites and modern grounds to understand their layout, structure, development and phasing. It is part of an original, regional cluster of grounds in and around Glasgow. Contemporary surviving grounds which are still in use have necessarily changed beyond the final phase at Cathkin Park because of modernisation and safety constraints. There is additional research potential here to focus on the study of how the football grounds of Glasgow are related, why their forms are so different and how that is related to a specific club history or date.
The football ground today forms the majority of the public park within which it sits. The monument is a focal point in the local urban landscape of this area of Glasgow. It was a centre for the football community when in use as a professional stadium and still has a community focus as a municipal park and the historic home of a former professional football club.
Associative characteristics (how a site or place relates to people, events, and/or historic and social movements)
Football is recognised as the national sport in Scotland, with its origins in the medieval period. This monument represents the recognised home of one of Scotland's most historically important football clubs, in a country recognised as the home of the modern game of football and a pioneering nation in the development of the sport.
The development of association football took place in the early 1860s in and around London. Association football had set rules agreed upon and adhered to by clubs. This developed in Scotland towards the end of the 1860s / early 1870s particularly in the west of the country. Queen's Park is the oldest club in Scotland and the second oldest surviving club in the world. New Cathkin Park was the site of their home ground (Hampden 2) from 1884-1903. In 1872, Third Lanark Athletic Club was founded as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, making them one of the earliest established clubs in the country, using the site from 1903 and renaming it Cathkin Park.
In 1873 the Scottish Football Association (SFA) was formed and the Scottish Cup established. The SFA is the second oldest national football association in the world and the Cup is the second oldest association football competition. Third Lanark were a founding member of the SFA, along with seven other clubs: Queen's Park, Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Eastern, Granville and Kilmarnock. Only Queen's Park and Kilmarnock survive today as clubs, playing in professional leagues. In 1890, the Scottish Football League (SFL) was formed with eleven clubs: Third Lanark, Abercorn, Cambuslang, Celtic, Cowlairs, Dumbarton, Heart of Midlothian, Rangers, Renton, St Mirren and Vale of Leven. In 1893 the League expanded with sufficient further clubs to form a second division – the origins of the organisation of modern Scottish Football.
As founding members of the SFA and SFL, Third Lanark played a central role in the development of Scottish Football. It also has one of the longest histories as most founding members ceased running in a professional capacity, long before the demise of Third Lanark in 1967. Cathkin Park is therefore significant through its association with Third Lanark and in the role it has played in the modern game.
Football is recognised as the national sport of Scotland and continues to hold deep connections within and across communities. Cathkin Park is a link to the early days of Association football and its importance to and impact on communities. It is a monument to the national game and to the clubs that used it as their home ground.