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Home  >  Blog  >  The Great Polish Map of Scotland

The Great Polish Map of Scotland

Trish Burgess Posted on06/10/201706/11/2017 Scotland, unusual places in Scotland 21 Comments
Great-Polish-map-of-Scotland
For scale – see if you can spot two of our group by the ramp on the far side of the map.

At the end of our Scottish road trip this summer, we were searching for somewhere unusual to go for a meet-up with Dougie’s cousin and uncle. After a bit of internet searching, I chanced upon the Great Polish Map of Scotland, tucked away in the grounds of the Barony Castle Hotel in Eddleston in the Scottish Borders. This concrete scale model of Scotland, measuring 50 x 40 metres, is open to visitors. Lunch at the hotel, followed by a walk around the whole of Caledonia, sounded like the perfect afternoon.

The idea for the map, which claims to be the world’s largest terrain relief model, came from Polish war veteran Jan Tomasik. It was designed by Dr Kazimierz Trafas, a cartographer from the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. The map was built on a scale of 1:10,000 and was a huge task undertaken by a small team over the summers of 1974 to 1979. Some of the labour was provided by Polish exchange students from the university.

Tomasik, a sergeant in the 1st Armoured Division, was stationed in Scotland during World War II, along with about 17,000 Polish allies. The hotel, called Black Barony at the time, had been requisitioned as the Polish Staff Officer Training College. In 1942 Tomasik married a Scottish nurse and after the war he became a successful hotelier in Edinburgh. He added the Black Barony to his properties in 1968.

Barony Castle Hotel
What made Tomasik create a relief map of Scotland in the grounds of his hotel? He may have been influenced by an outline map of Poland created by Polish soldiers at their military camp at Douglas, Lanarkshire, where Tomasik was first stationed. He was also enthralled by a scale model of Belgium he saw at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958.

Relief models were an important resource during wartime. In the First World War there were about 1000 relief models constructed to aid British forces. In the Second World War there was extensive use of terrain models, created by sculptors, architects and artists using local materials. The use of aerial photography was essential in building up an accurate model and maps were studied to help indicate where airfields, roads and rail lines were situated. Before a mission, air crew were often shown photographs of the models from above and commandos were briefed with photos of the models so they could visualise their target from the sea.

Unfortunately when the hotel was sold in 1985, the map began to deteriorate. On a visit to Scotland in 1994 the original designer, now Professor Trafas, mentioned the map while attending a EU-sponsored meeting of town planners from Edinburgh and Krakow. This led eventually, in 2010, to the formation of charity, Mapa Scotland, a group of volunteers dedicated to restoring it to its former condition.

WEstern part of Great Polish Map of Scotland

On our visit, we happened to meet one of the volunteers who was checking up on progress whilst walking his dog. We could see how proud he was of the work that has been done and we chatted about a few problems with algae in the water, and decisions to be made about the future colour of the model.

A viewing platform has been built but my photos don’t really do the map justice. I could have done with a drone or an aeroplane. To get some idea of the scale you can just see some of our party standing by the railings in some of the images.

Over the years Tomasik is known to have said, “I shall die, but I shall leave my map as a gift to the Scottish people to thank them for the hospitality they showed the Poles when it was needed”.
Let’s hope the restoration of the Great Polish Map of Scotland continues and this symbol of friendship between Poland and Scotland is forever preserved.

POlish flag at Great Polish map of Scotland

This post is a slightly longer version of an article I wrote for the Lincolnshire Free Press in my column, Trish Takes Five. 

Linking up with Monday Escapes 

CulturedKids

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21 Comments

  1. Emma Reply
    16/10/2017 at 11:26 am

    I love finding things like this, and hearing about the history behind them… How fantastic it’s being restored! 🙂 x

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      23/10/2017 at 12:38 pm

      It was exciting when I came across it online, I couldn’t quite believe it. Dougie had never heard of it, neither had his relatives who live near it. Such an uplifting story.

  2. Jenny - TraveLynn Family Reply
    23/10/2017 at 8:02 am

    How fab that you came across this. This is just the sort of thing I would stop at. I LOVE a good map! #MondayEscapes

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      23/10/2017 at 12:37 pm

      Isn’t it brilliant! Thank goodness it’s being restored as it would have been so sad for all that hard work to have been lost.

  3. Coral-Way too much luggage Reply
    23/10/2017 at 9:10 am

    I was just watching a feature on the rediscovery of this on television last week, so Interesting ! We must go and visit. #Mondayescapes

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      23/10/2017 at 12:35 pm

      ooh I’d like to watch that. Do you remember what channel it was on? I’ll have a look anyway.

  4. Nicola Reply
    24/10/2017 at 7:26 am

    Wow would love to see this!
    #Mondayescapes

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      25/10/2017 at 10:20 am

      When I read about it I was amazed as I’d never heard of it. It’s quite something to go for a stroll after lunch and see this structure – so clever.

  5. Claire at Tin Box Traveller Reply
    24/10/2017 at 11:06 pm

    What an interesting project and a great chance meeting with one of the volunteers! A great discovery during your trip #MondayEscapes

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      25/10/2017 at 10:19 am

      We just thought he was a visitor – so good to be able to talk to him and understand more about the charity and its aims.

  6. Mini Travellers Reply
    29/10/2017 at 7:48 pm

    This really is fascinating, what a find. I love finding things like this too – there are some fascinating people out there doing some very different things aren’t there! Thanks for linking up to #MondayEscapes

  7. Catherine's Cultural Wednesdays Reply
    03/11/2017 at 10:45 pm

    I would go to Scotland just to see this! What a wonderful thing to create and see. Thank you for linking up to #CulturedKids

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      04/11/2017 at 12:42 pm

      It seems a tragedy it was left to crumble and people forgot it was there. Such a great story, I think, and huge respect for the Mapa Scotland team who are putting things right.

  8. Phoebe | Lou Messugo Reply
    06/11/2017 at 2:19 pm

    I couldn’t get a grasp on the scale till I noticed the people on the far side of one photo…It’s really enormous. It’s great it’s being renovated. #culturedkids

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      06/11/2017 at 4:17 pm

      I know what you mean – I think I mentioned the people somewhere in the post, but I might add a caption on the photo to help readers as it really is huge!

  9. Nell (Pigeon Pair and Me) Reply
    08/11/2017 at 11:04 am

    Gosh – it really is big! I’m not surprised they’re proud of it. So much detail, on such a large scale. You mentioned preservation, and problems with the algae – I wonder if they cover it up when the weather’s particularly foul? Thanks ever so much for sharing with #CulturedKids

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      10/11/2017 at 9:12 am

      I don’t think they do cover it up – there isn’t the facility for that at the moment anyway. But it is massive, isn’t it!

  10. tots2travel Reply
    08/11/2017 at 5:53 pm

    Embarrassed to say I have never heard of this. Fantastic read. Must be even harder to preserve it in the snow, rain, hail and shine of Scotland.
    #culturedkids

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      10/11/2017 at 9:11 am

      My husband’s family hadn’t heard of it either, and they live fairly near it. It’s going to be a constant job to keep it in good condition.

  11. Annabel Reply
    11/11/2017 at 9:56 am

    What an interesting find, and such an interesting history behind it. #culturedkids

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      21/11/2017 at 12:57 pm

      We were so surprised to hear about it too.

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