Queen's Park Secondary School

Queen's Park Secondary School was a secondary school in Glasgow, Scotland.

Queen's Park Secondary School
Location
City and royal burgh of Glasgow (ca. 1175–1893)
County of the city of Glasgow (1893–1975)
District of City of Glasgow (1975-1996)

Scotland
Information
Established1873
Closed1994
GenderCo-educational

History edit

Queen's Park School was built in 1873 for the Cathcart Parish School Board and opened officially in 1876,[1][2] with the original building located on Grange Road in the Battlefield neighbourhood of the city, opposite the public park after which it was named as well as the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary hospital. Extensions were added in 1902 and 1912 (the latter intended as the first section to entirely replace the older buildings, but the project went uncompleted due to World War I).[3][1] In its early decades Queen's Park School also educated young children of primary school age, before later being defined as a Senior Secondary school only,[4][5] its Junior equivalent being the buildings a few blocks away on Carmichael Place, which have survived into the 21st century as Battlefield Primary School.[2][6]

 
 
Grange Rd
Location of the school's two sites

In 1967, a new campus was constructed over a mile away to the east in the Toryglen area to serve as the local comprehensive school for the South East of the city.[7][8][2]

In 1989, Strathclyde Regional Council announced a plan for pupils from Stonelaw High School in the nearby town of Rutherglen – which at that time was within the boundaries of Glasgow – to leave their existing buildings (split over two separate sites) and move into the Queen's Park Secondary buildings at Toryglen,[9] while the Queen's Park pupils would be relocated to Adelphi Secondary School in the Gorbals district.[10][11] However, this plan never became reality, and within a few years a replacement for Stonelaw was under construction in Rutherglen,[12] the Adelphi buildings had been converted to other commercial uses[13] and Queen's Park was marked to be closed; it had already suffered from falling enrollment for some years due to its location on the periphery of its catchment area and persistent rumours concerning the likely closure,[14] and eventually this occurred in 1994.[7][8] Most feeder primary schools were realigned to Shawlands Academy. After several years as a derelict plot, a housing development was built on the site,[15] while its adjacent playing fields still have a recreational function as part of the Toryglen Regional Football Centre.

The Grange Road buildings were utilised as a filming location for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1968,[2] and the premises became a Teachers' Resource Centre[16] before suffering from an arson attack in the 1990s[2] and being demolished in 2006.[3] The site is now occupied by the New Victoria Hospital (or more precisely one of its car parks),[1] the only surviving feature being the exterior fence and its stone gate posts.[17]

Sport edit

The school's rugby union team, Queens Park F.P., existed from 1906 to 1974 when they merged with Cartha RFC to form Cartha Queens Park RFC which still plays today.

In football, the school still holds the national record for the number of Boys Under 16 Shield victories with six (their closest challengers being local rivals Holyrood Secondary School), although these wins were all achieved prior to World War II.[18]

Notable pupils edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Constituency: Mount Florida and Battlefield". James Dornan MSP website. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Langside Heritage Trail". Glasgow City Council. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Glasgow, 75 Grange Road, Queen's Park School". Canmore. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Queen's Park Secondary". The Glasgow Story. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Queen's Park Higher Grade School". Virtual Mitchell. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  6. ^ "Battlefield Primary School". The Glasgow Story. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i "The End for Stan Laurel's School". heraldscotland.com. 10 May 1994. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Reunion planned for Glasgow school that closed 23 years ago". Evening Times. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  9. ^ Jack Mclean (14 June 1989). "Forgotten citizens beyond the margin". The Herald. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Adelphi Terrace secondary school, Hutchesontown, Gorbals, Glasgow". RIBA. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Adelphi Secondary School". Virtual Mitchell. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Our History". Stonelaw High School. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Adelphi Centre 12 Commercial Road, Glasgow, G5 0PQ". City Property Glasgow. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  14. ^ "School closure". The Herald. 6 May 1993. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Crown Gardens". Barratt Homes. Archived from the original on 3 July 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  16. ^ "Queen's Park Secondary School Album". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  17. ^ "Langside & Battlefield". Scotcities. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Boys Under 16 Shield Winners". Scottish Schools' Football Association. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  19. ^ Barker, Dennis (12 December 2016). "Ian McCaskill obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  20. ^ John Burrowes (2011). Great Glasgow Characters. Random House. ISBN 9781780573410.
  21. ^ "Junior Omand Ballboy, player and president of Queen's Park FC". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  22. ^ McCrossan, Frank. "QUEEN'S PARK AND THE GREAT WAR 1914 TO 1918 – THE QUEEN'S PARK MEN WHO SERVED AND SURVIVED AS AT APRIL 2017 – APPENDIX 3" (PDF). p. 9. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  23. ^ a b "Queen's Park and the Great War 1914 to 1918" (PDF). p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  24. ^ "Lord Wallace of Campsie". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  25. ^ Helen Fraser, Spartacus Educational

External links edit