Victoria Park, Glasgow

Victoria Park is a park located in Glasgow, Scotland.

Victoria Park is set in western Glasgow, adjacent to the districts of Scotstoun, Whiteinch, Jordanhill and Broomhill. The park was created and named for Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1886. It is 20 hectares (50 acres) in area. The main entrances to the park are from Westland Drive, Victoria Park Drive North, and Balshagray Avenue. Victoria Park is open from 7:00 am till dusk.

Friends of Victoria Park (FoVP) is a West Glasgow group set up protect and develop this community asset.

There are a number of features within Victoria Park:

Victoria Park has the following facilities;

At the instigation of the Council, the work of building the park was supervised by Isdale Robertson, builder (1848-1904) who had his premises in Anderson Street, Partick. The workforce was made up of unemployed men in need of an occupation to see them through a difficult period. It was this team of men who unearthed the fossil grove. It was also at the insistence of Isdale that the four faced clock was placed in the park. According to his adopted daughter, Meg Crerar, it bore the inscription "Now is the day of salvation, Now is the accepted time, Now is the day of Salvation". The gates were paid for by local women who subscribed a penny each, said to be partly in gratitude for providing work for their men and partly for keeping them sober, Whiteinch having been designated a "dry" area. Isdale Robertson was an active member of the Whiteinch United Free Church and a dedicated promoter of temperance. He joined Partick Town Council in November 1903 on that platform. By 1978 it was still a "dry" area.

(Note : Isdale was also responsible for building the square of houses in Jordanhill which comprises Crow Road, Southbrae Drive, King Edward Road and Woodend Drive. Robertson Street was named after Isdale, but was demolished to make way for the Expressway. This was a remarkable rise from humble beginnings as the son of a weaver in Ceres, Fife).

The park was formally opened by the Provost of Partick, Sir Andrew McLean on 2 July 1887. The arboretum section of the park was originally designed as an educational facility. During the 1960s, a large section of the park was removed in order to make way for the approach roads to the Clyde Tunnel and Expressway.

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