Lesser Hampden

Lesser Hampden is a football stadium in Glasgow, Scotland, which is located immediately beside the western end of Hampden Park.

In 1923, Queen's Park were looking for a venue for their other teams other than the main stadium. The club purchased a farm to the west of Hampden Park and built a pitch and stands.

When it opened in 1924, Lesser Hampden had a capacity of 12,000. To save money, the original farmhouse was retained and was converted into a pavilion and dressing room. This farmhouse, which dates back to the 19th century is believed by many football historians to be the oldest football building in the world.fact|date=June 2008

During World War II, Lesser Hampden was commandeered by the British Government to serve as a base for the Home Guard.fact|date=June 2008 The ground was returned to the football club at the end of the war in 1945. There had been proposals to convert the site back to agriculture if there were food shortages.fact|date=June 2008

During the 1970s, several Queen's Park first team games were played at the stadium. During the redevelopment of the main stadium in the 1990s, the club played Scottish Football League matches at the ground.

In 2002, it was discovered that Lesser Hampden was tainted with chromium. This was cleaned up at a cost of around £40,000. The ground served as a staging area for pre-game tailgate parties hosted by the Scottish Claymores American Football side when they played at Hampden Park.

The stadium is now hemmed in by housing and commercial development. It has some areas of terracing, floodlights and a small covered grandstand adjacent to the farmhouse.

External links

* [http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/news.cfm?curpageid=1126&newsid=1898 Scottish Football League - Lesser Hampden: Living in the Shadow]
* [http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=55.825663,-4.255518&spn=0.002281,0.005032&t=h&om=1 Lesser Hampden at Google Maps]