it was built in 1806 for the West Indies merchant and prominent Glasgow Tory politician, John Gordon. The estate, featuring a walled flower garden, stone sundial and centuries-old trees came into the ownership of the MacTaggart & Mickel housebuilders at the time of the district's construction as a residential suburb, and was donated by them for use as a public park in 1930. The local 9-hole golf course (a sector of the public park but actually located in Croftfoot which was developed for housing in the same era) was notable for being dug into a hillside 20-35° steep in some places. Donated to the city by the Western Heritable Investment Company which managed the housing and established in 1934, it is now closed and used as an area of common ground, with plans to enhance its woodland aspects by planting more trees in conjunction with the completion of flood prevention work in the area (however, local residents noted with concern that a number of older trees of high aesthetic value were felled in the course of this work). Amenities The local eponymous Church of Scotland parish Church (1930) and St Oswald's Episcopal church (1931) are both found in the east of the district on Castlemilk Road (there is also a Kings Park Baptist Church on Castlemilk Road, but this is the Croftfoot continuation of the same road, half a mile to the south). Opposite the churches is a row of convenience stores, cafes and a post office, a former small public library (on the Rutherglen side of the local authority boundary so operated by South Lanarkshire Council) which closed in 2010, and the site of the State Cinema, later a bingo venue, which was a prominent landmark in the area from the 1930s until its demolition in the early 21st century. Another imposing structure in the area which has survived is the Cathcart Old Parish Church dating from the late 1920s (not to be confused with the ruin of its predecessor a short distance to the east at Manse Brae, including a graveyard dating back centuries) which stands out in its surroundings, a flat area mostly consisting of bungalows. Owing to the occasional but significant influxes of patrons whose primary destination is Hampden Park, there are two large public houses in its proximity within King's Park's boundaries, The Montford and The Beechwood, both of which adjoin another cluster of shops,