I was down near Peebles today in the Borders for a first aid day course at Barony Castle at Eddleston near Peebles...
Owned by Prestige, the new owners of Whitekirk i was looking forward to seeing something afterwards beside the Hotel...
A bridge over a ravine leads to what is regaurded as the largest outdoor map in the world...
It is known as the Polish Map of Scotland, or `Mapa Scotland`...
It was built between 1974 and 1979, more info here on the Wiki link;
Poilsh Troops in Scotland, WW2...
When Polish troops started to arrive in the UK after German Invasion in 1939 many were based in the Lothians and Borders of Scotland. They were given areas to set up camps and they immediately set to work building defences along our eastern coastline in preparation for a forth coming Nazi Germany invasion during the summer of 1940, as the RAF fought for supremacy over the skies of our country.
The coastal defences that they built were built buy a determined force who having been invaded had no intention to let an invading army set foot on our tiny (in comparison to the concurred Europe) island...
Anti Tank block defences across Aberlady Bay here in East Lothian...
You prob have not seen this pic from 1940 along the Aberlady Road to the east of the village....
The blocks in the pictures here and below were removed to build the foundation for Cockenzie power station in the 1960`s...
The Polish Armoured division were also present in the county, here at Haddington at Aimsfield...
And Haddington Railway Station...
And the main street!...
A lot of these concrete coastal defences- called the `Coastal crust` still remain in places as shown in my blog today in east Lothian...
Barony Castle and a WW2 Secret;
I was told today that while Barony Castle was the Polish HQ, the details of what went on here still remains secret under the 90 year Official Secrets Act since 1945. It is believed that it was the base for the Polish SOE (Special Operations Executive) forces. we will need to wait until 2035 to find out!
Back to the map today and it is no longer surround by water with water running from piped down all the rivers , and the paint has peeled and mostly disappeared...
Here is the Firth of Forth and East Lothian!...
You can see here the hose piping...
The Good news is the map is being restored to its original grandeur!. Money has been secured and work has already started as you can see by loose debris removed in the pictures above.
You can follow the restoration of the Map here on the Maps Scotland website
And follow and support it on facebook here; MAPA Scotland
You also can read more about Poland's Forces in Scotland Here
And also the true story of The Soldier bear Wojtek Here
Fascinating stuff bro! I went to a wedding reception at the hotel years ago but didn't know about the map!
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