Palmerston Park

Palmerston Park

The main stand at Palmerston Park
Palmerston Park Location in Dumfries and Galloway
Location	Dumfries, Scotland
Coordinates	55°04′13.22″N 3°37′28.56″W / 55.0703389°N 3.6246000°W / 55.0703389; -3.6246000
Owner	Queen of the South FC
Capacity	8,690 (3,377 seated)
Surface	Artificial Turf
Opened	1919
Tenants
Queen of the South F.C. Heston Rovers F.C.

Palmerston Park is a football stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Championship club Queen of the South, who have played there since 1919. South of Scotland League club Heston Rovers have shared Palmerston since 2013. The stadium has a capacity of 8,690 of which 3,377 are seats.

Palmerston Park was first opened in 1919, when Queen of the South were formed, although football had been played on the site since the 1870s. The site of the ground was formerly a farm called Palmers Toun. This is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith in Dumfries. Jimmy McKinnell, Tom Wylie and Willie McCall were all sold to Blackburn Rovers around the same time by Queen of the South. This combined with the sale of Ian Dickson to Aston Villa helped to fund the purchase of Palmerston Park in 1921 for £1,500.

The Portland Drive Terrace was covered in the late 1950s. Soon afterwards, floodlights were installed and these were first used in a match against Preston North End in October 1958. These are the tallest free standing floodlights in Scottish football, standing at 85 feet. The current main stand was constructed in 1965, soon after the original had burned down.

On the east side of the ground "Jimmy Jolly's Bullshed", later known as the "Coo Shed", was originally named after one of the founder members of the club in 1919, when it was built around 1933 as the club reached the first division for the first time. This was replaced by an all seater stand in 1995 and was named the East Stand. A challenge game was held in April 1995 to commemorate the opening of the new stand and Queens' 75th anniversary against Rangers. Guest players for Queens in the 2–2 draw included Davie Irons, future managers Rowan Alexander and Ian McCall, Ted McMinn, Andy Thomson. Scenes from the film A Shot at Glory, starring Robert Duvall, were shot at Palmerston Park during 1999.