Powderhall Stadium, formerly the Powderhall Grounds, was a multi-sports facility overlooking the Water of Leith on Beaverhall Road, in the Powderhall (Broughton) area of northern Edinburgh, Scotland. It opened in January 1870 at the height of professional pedestrianism and was modelled on the stadium at Stamford Bridge in London. It hosted professional sprint races, track and field athletics, including the Scottish Amateur Athletics Championships on a number of occasions, professional football, international rugby, cycling, and dog races as well as boxing, quoits and pigeon shooting. For 100 years it hosted the Powderhall Sprint, the most famous professional sprint handicap in the world. With the decline of pedestrianism as a spectator sport in the 1920s it was converted to a greyhound stadium, hosting the Scottish Grand National for over sixty five years, and it also hosted professional speedway. The stadium finally closed in 1995 and the site is now a housing estate.
Origins In 1695, James Balfour, the Laird of Pilrig, obtained a charter from King William III that gave him the exclusive right to manufacture gunpowder in Scotland. This required the construction of a factory, known as a powder-mill, which was built to the north of the city of Edinburgh on the shore of the Water of Leith, a small tributary of the Firth of Forth. James Balfour had sixteen children, and one of his sons, also James Balfour, was grandfather to the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson.Powderhall & Pedestrianism (1943) David A. Jamieson
In 1742, Thomas Mylne, the Surveyor of the City of Edinburgh, built a house with gardens on eight acres of land near this powder-mill, just over one mile west of James Balfour's Pilrig House, which he named Powder Hall. This in turn lent its name to that part of the city, and when, in due course, some running grounds were built there they took their name, as was the custom, from their location, and thus they were called the Powderhall Grounds.
In the summer of 1869 a syndicate was formed for the purpose of constructing an athletic grounds in Edinburgh to rival those in London. The syndicate consisted of W. M. Lightbody, and four members of the Bauchope family from Leith, led by Charles R. Bauchope, an amateur sprinter of some repute who claimed to have set a Scottish grass-track record of 10 1/5 for 100 yards. It is certain that at the inaugural Edinburgh University freshman sports in 1866 he won the shot put and pole vault. The other members of the syndicate were R. G. Bauchope, and W. Bauchope, both prominent businessmen in the city, and John Bauchope, a school teacher. It is thought that Lightbody was the principal financial investor in the scheme.
An Edinburgh firm of builders, W. & D. McGregor, had purchased a plot of land that had previously formed part of Thomas Mylne's Powderhall estate, and the syndicate took out a five-year lease on this piece of land where they laid out their running grounds, about one mile to the west of Pilrig House and right on the Water of Leith. The senior Bauchope and Mr Lightbody toured the running grounds of England and Scotland and decided to base their design on the famous grounds at Stamford Bridge in London. The Powderhall Grounds therefore had a cinder track of 440 yards with a sprint straight of 180 yards on the southern side, and a roofed grandstand for 1400 spectators. Much of the materials for this they purchased from the recently defunct Newington grounds at Powburn Toll for the sum of one hundred pounds.
The first meet, called the New Year Pedestrian Gala, was held over three days in January 1870 with three events, a 1-mile handicap won off the scratch mark by John Ridley of Gateshead in the very good time of 4:25. An 880 yards handicap won by J. Watt of Glasgow, and the event that would come to be called the Powderhall Sprint was initiated at 160 yards, the inaugural champion being Dan Wight of Jedburgh, barely nineteen years of age and running off 12 yards. On the day there was no particular reason to suppose that it was anything special, it was just one of a number of professional sprint handicaps held at various distances at a number of different venues that year, and the first edition was just called the 160 yards handicap. It subsequently went by a number of names but mostly it was referred to as either the New Year Sprint Handicap or the Powderhall Sprint. The event was held at Powderhall every New Year (with minor exceptions for wars and such) for the next one hundred years, becoming one of the most famous professional sprint races in the world. The only other serious contender for that crown being the Stawell Gift, held each Easter at Stawell, Victoria, Australia, since 1878. The Powderhall Sprint moved to Edinburgh's Meadowbank Stadium in 1971 and under its new name of the New Year Sprint it continues today at Musselburgh Racecourse.
Edinburgh University Athletic Club started training at Powderhall from as early as March 1871, and in February 1872 held their Spring Athletic Games there."Dundee Advertiser", Tue 21 Mar 1871 p. 7"Bell's Life", Sat 24 Feb 1872 p. 8
William M. Lapsley was a keen amateur sportsman from Edinburgh. He was a founding member of St Bernard's F.C., and played as goalkeeper for Hanover F.C., he was a cyclist, and an athlete. At a meeting held by Edinburgh Athletic Club in July 1872 he won the 880 yards handicap, finished third in the 150 yards and was also third in the hammer with a throw of 91 ft 2in (27.80m). He also won the 880 yards at the Piershill Garrison Sports in 1872. In July 1879, Lapsley took a share in the lease for the Royal Patent Gymnasium Ground in Royal Crescent Park, Edinburgh. By draining the adjoining Boyton's Pond he added to the existing football ground an 880 feet circular running path (6 laps to the mile) and a sprint track of 125 yards. There was also a grandstand, similar to but smaller than, that at Powderhall. This had its opening on 19 July 1879 and was obviously in direct competition with the Powderhall Grounds. However, in July 1880 the Bauchope syndicate at the Powderhall Grounds dissolved their company and the grounds were briefly taken over by two gentlemen named Lauder and Hughes, but by January 1883 William Lapsley had taken over the lease for the Powderhall Grounds.
The Scottish AAA was formed in 1883 and held their first championship meeting at the Powderhall Grounds in June of that year. The championships were subsequently held at Powderhall many times, including in 1884, 1886, 1888 and 1910. At the 1890 Scottish Championships at Powderhall, Kenneth Whitton (Edinburgh Harriers) set a Scottish Native and All-comers hammer record of 103 ft 0in (31.40m), beating his own record set at the 1885 championships at Paisley. - Scottish Athletics Record Book Athletics continued to be held at Powderhall for the next one hundred years with competition transferring to Meadowbank Stadium in 1971."Sporting Gazette", Sat 30 Jun 1883 p. 27"The Scotsman", Sat 21 Jun 1884 p. 1"Field", Sat 3 Jul 1886 p. 47"Daily Mirror", Mon 27 Jun 1910 p. 14
Change of venue In October 1888 the Lord Provost's Committee submitted a report to Edinburgh Town Council recommending that "the ground at Powderhall belonging to the city be taken over from the present tenant and converted into a Public Park from Whitsunday next." William Lapsley, the chief tenant and owner of the Powderhall Grounds, negotiated a three-month extension and the last races run on the original Powderhall Grounds took place on Saturday 25 May 1889, at what had come to be known as the Queen's Birthday meeting. W. Grant of Edinburgh won a 130-yard handicap off 17 yards in 12 1/2 seconds, W. Balmer of Edinburgh won a 300-yard handicap off 37 yards in 30 1/2 seconds, and John D. Henderson of Edinburgh won a 1-mile handicap off 135 yards in 4:19 1/2.
On Wednesday 29 August 1889 Lapsley was granted a warrant at the Dean of Guild Court in Edinburgh authorising him to proceed with the layout of a new running ground at Beaverhall Road, practically adjoining the land recently vacated, and to construct on them two grandstands and changing rooms. The first promotion on these new grounds, called New Powderhall, was the New Year Handicap of 1890 at which J. Jackson of Hawick won the New Year Sprint off 10 yards in 12 3/5 seconds.
William Lapsley died on 28 February 1903 as a result of an accident in a horse drawn cab on his way to a rugby union international between Scotland and Ireland. The driver of the cab lost control of it on a steep hill and the horse bolted and crashed into the basement of a nearby house. Lapsley died at the scene and his wife, though seriously injured, survived. The lease of the Powderhall Grounds was due to expire in May of that year and the trustees appointed to conduct business after his death failed to renew the lease and the grounds were taken over by Mr Frederick Arthur Lumley, a maker of gymnastic apparatus and a boxing instructor. The first meet under this new management was on Wednesday 13 May 1903 when L. Richards of Lanark won a 130 yards handicap off 13 yards in 12 1/5 seconds, and D. Todd of Edinburgh won a 1-mile handicap off 145 yards in 4:21.
After winning the 100 yards at the Edinburgh University sports in May 1921, the Olympian Eric Liddell, portrayed in the film Chariots of Fire, started training at Powderhall under the care of Tommy McKerchar, a printer by trade who coached professional pedestrians on the side. But McKerchar coached Liddell three times a week for free.The Flying Scotsman: The Eric Liddell Story, Sally Magnusson (1981) p. 28-9
Over the next few years professional pedestrianism gradually waned in importance, from regular meets at dozens of grounds around the country there were now apart from Powderhall just those at Blackpool, Morpeth, Cardiff, Pontypridd and Newcastle keeping the sport alive. But decline is a relative term as at the 1907 New Year Handicap 24,000 spectators turned out despite rain having fallen for several hours before the meet commenced. That was the last time that Alexander McKenzie, a paper ruler by profession, acted as starter at Powderhall Grounds, having started there in 1879. His successor as starter was James Lynch who officiated in that capacity until his death in May 1930. In 1920 his son Chris Lynch became the official handicapper at Powderhall.
In June 1904 the Caledonian Whippet Racing Club held a 160 yards handicap, and the following June they held dog races, without any restriction as to breed of dog, for the first time in over twenty years. From this time a series of these promotions were held at regular intervals throughout the season, and as professional sprinting declined these other events gradually assumed a greater importance in the sporting calendar. In 1926 it was observed that there were more bookkeepers at a greyhound racing evening than there were spectators at a pedestrian meeting and the end was clearly in sight. The circular cinder running path was turfed over, a new sprint straight was laid down to serve the needs of the pedestrians at their annual New Year festival, and New Powderhall was converted into a greyhound racing stadium with the first event under the auspices of the Greyhound Racing Association, held on Wednesday 3 August 1927. In 1923 Fred Lumley had exercised his option to purchase the grounds outright, and in 1930 The Greyhound Racing Association Trust purchased the Powderhall Stadium, as it was now called, from Lumley.
Scottish athletics records