About us

             Restored map on June 30th 2023

On 30th June 2023 the 10 year lease granted by Barony Castle LLP to the charity, Mapa Scotland SCIO, expired. Ownership and responsibility for maintenance of the Great Polish Map of Scotland returned to the hotel. The Charity Mapa Scotland SCIO continues with its remit to promote the historical and cultural links between Scotland and Poland.

December 2017

Mapa Scotland (Polish: Mapa Szkocji) is a registered Scottish charity (No. SC043255) made up of volunteers dedicated to celebrating and promoting the historical and cultural links between Scotland and Poland. 

Chair:  Lyn Barr

Vice Chair:   Keith Burns

Secretary:  Majka Koslowska

Treasurer:  Gordon Cameron

Membership Secretary:  Nigel Rose

Polish Liaison: Majka Koslowska

Trustees:  Keith Burns, David Cameron, Majka Koslowska, Tish Chalmers, Lyn Barr. 

Founder Members:  Jim Barton, Keith Burns, David Cameron, Roger Kelly, Nick Macdonald, David Peck.

Historical research: Kim Traynor, Marek Melges, Jan Tomasik III, Robert Ostrycharz.

Major contributors: the above plus Kim Traynor (historian), Graham Russell, Lyn Barr, Graham Little, Tish and Jim Chalmers, Keith Burns.

ACCESS TO THE MAP IS FREE TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

Learn more about current progress of the project or the history of the map and the role of Polish forces in wartime Scotland by exploring our website.

To inquire about membership or progress of the project, click here

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The Great Polish Map of Scotland is a globally unique feature in the Scottish landscape. It is a large physical relief map of Scotland, sculpted in concrete and measuring some 40m by 50m. It stands in the grounds of Barony Castle, Eddleston, once the home of the Murrays of Elibank, and later the Hotel Black Barony. But how did this remarkable artefact come into existence…? Read more here

Here is the place that was chosen for the Great Polish Map of Scotland: the South Lawn putting green of the Hotel Black Barony, Eddleston.  The moment captured in this image is at the end of April 1940.

South Lawn of Barony Castle in 1940

Germany had just invaded Denmark and the last ports of Norway were about to fall. The invasions  of France and the Low Countries still lay ahead.  A month or two later, with the Fall of France, the first Polish forces began arriving in Scotland, and in due course used the hotel as a staff officer training college. Read more here