Lesser Hampden
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| Full name | Lesser Hampden |
| Nickname | |
| Built | 1923 |
| Opened | 1924 |
| Capacity | ~900 |
| Home of | Queens Park F.C. youth |
| Pitch size | xxxx |
Outside of Hampden Park sits a smaller, much lesser known ground with a bizarre and interesting history. This small part of footballing history is called Lesser Hampden.
The ground dates back to 1923 when Hampden's owners, Queen's Park F.C. were searching for a subsidiary venue that would house all of Queen's Park's teams except the first team (which would continue to play at Hampden). The club purchased a farm to the west of Hampden, this land was soon converted into Lesser Hampden. Lesser Hampden opened the next season, with a capacity of around 12,000. One of the most unique features of the stadium is the farmhouse, which the club retained to save money, this building originally served as the pavilion and dressing rooms for Lesser Hampden. This farmhouse, which dates back to the 19th century is believed by many football historians to be the oldest football building in the world.
World War II saw Lesser Hampden commandeered by the British Government to serve as a base for the Home Guard. The ground was returned to the club in 1945. Queen's Park found themselves relieved that the stadium wasn't converted back to its original state as a farm, a plan that was on the cards if the nation faced a food shortage.
In the 1980s Lesser Hampden nearly became home to the Queen's Park first team, as the government backed out of a promise to help fund the redevelopment of Hampden Park. Eventually the money did come, and Hampden was redeveloped. During the redevelopment Lesser Hampden did host league football as the Spiders were granted dispensation to host league matches at the National Stadium's sister ground.
In 2002 it was discovered that Lesser Hampden was tainted with chromium, this was cleaned up at a cost of around GBP40,000. A steep price for a side the size of Queen's Park.
The ground served as a staging area for pre-game tailgate parties hosted by the Scottish Claymores when they called Hampden home.
Today Queen's Park are hopeful over the future of Lesser Hampden, a ground which has meant a great deal to the sport of football but is known by very few. The club are hoping that Glasgow is granted the 2014 Commonwealth Games so that some money can be secured to renovate the younger sister of Hampden.
