Spiders Add support To Celebrate First Hampden Site
Spiders Add support To Celebrate First Hampden Site
QUEEN’S PARK has joined the support for the club’s first Hampden Park home to be preserved as a monument to modern football.
Just two minutes north of our current base at The city Stadium, and a long throw-in away from our second home at Cathkin, the southside spot is currently home to Hampden Bowling Club and an adjacent rose garden.
A century-and-a-half ago it was home to the early-day Spiders, and the modest site hides a historic past with archaeological digs confirming it as the world’s first ever purpose-built international football stadium.
‘First’ Hampden Park – named after the nearby Hampden Terrace – was used by the club for ten years before moving east to Cathkin Park, allowing the expansion of Glasgow’s railway in 1883.
Hampden bowling club moved in around 20 years later but will close the doors of the historic clubhouse permanently in early 2026 – and Queen’s Park are supporting the campaign to save and celebrate the famous Spiders site as the birthplace of the modern game.
This adds to the recent announcement from The National Trust for Scotland, which has appealed to all parties concerned, as well as Historic Environment Scotland and the Scottish Government, to come together to find a way forward that will ensure this pivotal site is saved and its historic role shared and celebrated.
Club director Gregor Hall said: “Queen’s Park stands proudly as Scotland’s oldest football club, with a history engrained in the modern game.
“That dates all the way back to our founding years as a club created on the southside of Glasgow and it is important now, as it always has been, to recognise our roots within the community as well as our role within the global game.
“This is clearly an important site within our club history, within Scottish football history and by that regard within the history of football as we now know it.”
It remains a place of global football significance, forms part of ‘Football’s Square Mile’ open air museum where QPFC is also an Alliance Member, and is a stopping point for guided walks run by current club partners Glasgow Football Tours.
Queen’s Park also notes the community spirit shown by local residents, who are putting together a plan to create a community-focused site,
whilst also preserving it as a monument to the club, Scottish football, and the modern game.
Announcing the decision in October, club secretary Graeme Brown – the man who discovered the site’s importance via old railway maps and logs – said: “The future of the bowling club in its current form is not sustainable and will close in February 2026. Over the coming months, the committee will work with all parties to explore three important and intersecting pathways for the site going forwards. These include the football and wider sporting heritage, community and culture, and sporting activities.”
If you would like to follow Football’s Square Mile campaign to save the First Hampden – click here.
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