Halcrow Stadium was a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

stadium in Annan Road, Gretna,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

The plans to build a new greyhound stadium on a ten-acre site, west of Gretna were first instigated in 1983. The name Halcrow derives from Jim Halcrow a well-known Shetland

accordionist Accordions (from 19th-century German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed in a frame). The es ...

. The construction was started by James Norman and sons as a replacement for the previous track at

Raydale Park Raydale Park is a football stadium in Gretna, Scotland. It is home to Lowland League side Gretna 2008 and now has a capacity of 1,030. Raydale formerly served as the home ground of Gretna until the club resigned from the Scottish Football Lea ...

and the first race meeting took place in June 1986. The original circumference of the track was 416 metres. Distances included 120, 300, 490 and 685 metres but later distances of 280 and 470 metres were used. The stadium was forced to suspend some racing in the Summer of 1987 due to a shortage of racing greyhounds. The racing remained independent and was not controlled by the

Greyhound Board of Great Britain The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is the organisation that governs licensed greyhound racing in Great Britain. It does not govern independent tracks or Northern Irish tracks and therefore has no jurisdiction over them. History It wa ...

. Amenities included several bars, a hospitality suite and function rooms for parties, weddings and traditional music events. The stadium was also used for occasional concerts. The track was closed in April 2017 and in 2021 was purchased by the Cunninghame Housing Association for the purposes of building new housing.

References

{{Scottish greyhound tracks Greyhound racing in Scotland Sports venues completed in 1986 Sports venues in Dumfries and Galloway Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway