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Carntyne Stadium
Location	Carntyne, Glasgow
Opened	17 September 1927
Closed	1972

Carntyne Stadium^[1] was a multi-sports stadium situated in the Carntyne area of Glasgow, Scotland, used mainly for greyhound racing and speedway.

Origins and opening

The Carntyne Greyhound Racecourse was situated between the Parkhead and Carntyne areas of Glasgow and opened for greyhound racing on 17 September 1927.^[2] The stadium ran along the railway track sandwiched between the railway and Myreside Street and was built on the site of a former running and trotting track. There were entrances on Myreside Street and at the far end of Duke Street just before the railway bridge and on the east side was a large wheel and axle works.^[3]^[4]

Greyhound Racing

History

The Scottish Greyhound Racing Company Ltd led by Jack Nixon Browne (later Lord Craigton) constructed the new stadium and became a National Greyhound Racing Society (NGRS) affiliated track. An odd shaped speedway track was built inside the greyhound circuit and greyhound racing took place five nights a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 7.45pm with a 6d entrance fee for the main enclosure. There was an M.S Cable outside hare and a Union totalisator.^[5]

Within a year of opening the Scottish Greyhound Derby was inaugurated^[6] and the first greyhound to lift the crown was the Powderhall Stadium trained Glinger Bank.^[7] In 1927 the St Mungo Cup was added to the tracks major competitions.^[8] Ballycurreen Soldier trained by Patrick McKinney became a local superstar after a series of victories including the All England Cup in 1939, the Scottish Derby for trainer H Irving in 1940, the Scottish Derby in 1942 when trained by Michael Conroy and two more St Mungo Cup wins. After the war the track was valued by the owners at £3,700 but the taxman valuation set the figure of £4,500.^[9]

A casino was added in 1962 along with a new grandstand bar before the Greyhound Racing Association property trust claimed ownership of the track with the intentions of selling the site for redevelopment and lucrative returns. With little warning Carntyne ceased trading during the month of May 1972.^[10]

Competitions

Speedway

Stadium Manager Jack Nixon Browne (later an MP who went to the House of Lords as Lord Craigton) staged two dirt track speedway meetings in 1928. A new promotion built a new track in 1930 and four meetings were staged in ten days before it closed.

Stock Cars

On 24 June 1966 Spedeworth Scotland introduced Stock Car racing to the venue using a tarmac oval circuit. The final was for the West of Scotland Championship with Tiger Thomson the victor.^[11]^[12]

Football

Scottish Junior football club Bridgeton Waverley F.C. played their matches at the stadium for two years from 1960 after leaving their New Barrowfield ground (about one mile to the south), until disbanding in 1962.^[13]

Closure

The site was sold and knocked down in 1972 but no redevelopment took place; all that remained for 40 years was the small brick Duke Street entrance with the badly faded words 'Carntyne' above. This was not saved for heritage purposes and was cleared following the cleanup for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. A modern housing development, Eastfields, now occupies the site.^[14]

Track records

Distance yards	Greyhound	Time	Date
300	Man Friday	16.80	20.06.1931
400	Telepathy	25.38	05.08.1931
500	Jesmond Cutlet	28.20	20.09.1937
525	Telepathy	30.40	13.07.1931
525	Cheerful Comedy	29.02	01.11.1947
525	Poetic Licence	28.71	12.05.1962
525	Dusty Trail	28.54	1970
700	Robins Reward	41.15	12.08.1933
700	Well Schooled	40.18	09.1937
700	Bounce About	39.54	20.10.1962
880	Jersey Beauty	52.50	15.08.1936
260 H	Molly Munro	15.50	23.09.1933
500 H	Rich Cream	29.33	30.07.1938
525 H	Hawkswood Hill	30.76	24.05.1947

References

^ "Greyhound Board of Great Britain | GBGB".
^ "View of Carntyne Stadium, Glasgow, facing west, 1932". RCAHMS - Britain from Above. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^ "OS County Series Lanarkshire 1933". old-maps.co.uk.
^ Glasgow, Myreside Street, Carntyne Stadium, Canmore
^ "Track Information". Daily Record and Mail. 1931.
^ "Carntyne Scottish Derby". The Scotsman. 26 April 1928. Retrieved 30 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Genders, Roy (1975). The Greyhound and Racing Greyhound, page 97. Page Brothers (Norwich). ISBN 0-85020-0474.
^ "Arancez wins St Mungo Cup". The Scotsman. 12 December 1927. Retrieved 1 April 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Particulars of Licensed tracks, table 1 Licensed Dog Racecourses. Licensing Authorities. 1946.
^ Barnes, Julia (1988). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. p. 427. ISBN 0-948955-15-5.
^ Stock Car Journal, July 1966
^ Living with Spede (Spedeworth Publications)
^ "Sporting Venues Around Parkhead". Parkhead History. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
^ "Anger in Carntyne as residents oppose road closure which council is powerless to stop". Evening Times. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.