Another school trip was made on the 7th of May 2017, continuing to look for joint Polish-Scottish heritage which led us to the Great Polish Map of Scotland built between 1974 and 1979. We saw a three-dimensional (50 x 40m) model of the whole of Scotland made of concrete and stone located in the parklands of Barony Castle. This was a unique map made by Mr Tomasik as a tribute of gratitude to the people of Scotland for their hospitality shown to the Polish army during World War II. After seeing the Map, we tried to make miniature models of the original from clay. During our stay at Barony Castle, we were treated to eat a ‘truly royal’ dinner and play games in the castle park.
A brief history of the map:
In May 1940, Barony Castle was handed over to units of the Polish Armed Forces stationed in Scotland. The Military University of Warsaw also had its headquarters there during 1940-1946. A provisional spatial map of Scotland was constructed in the castle courtyard in order to get to know the Scottish terrain better to conduct military exercises and war games, however the precise location and size of this map remains now unknown. One of General Maczek’s former army subordinates, Jan Tomasik, bought the Barony Castle Hotel back in 1969, who then invited General Maczek and his family to move and live in the hotel. After some time, they came up with an idea to rebuild the old tactical map, but in a much more solid and accomplished fashion. When Jan Tomasik died, the hotel was sold, and the map fell into oblivion. However, in 2010, the Mapa Scotland charity started to officially function and received 20,000 pounds in 2017 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to rebuild and promote the Map.