The ruins of a Scottish mansion that housed Polish soldiers during WW2

@ElentirENG ES 7·08·2024 · 23:25 0

During the Second World War, and after the invasion of Poland by Germany and the USSR, many Polish soldiers managed to reach France.

The small church in the United Kingdom that pays tribute to the Polish airmen of the WW2
The Monte Cassino Polish Military Cemetery, where the poppies drank Polish blood

There they continued the fight, until Germany's invasion of France. During the famous Dunkirk evacuation, many Polish soldiers managed to reach the United Kingdom, with the purpose of continuing the fight. One of the Polish units that reappeared in that British exile was the Black Brigade, the name given to the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade of the Polish Army because of the black leather coats its soldiers wore before war.

Many veterans of that unit were stationed in Scotland, where the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade was created, inheriting the history of the Black Brigade. One of the distinctive details of its members, honoring the name of their Brigade, was that they wore the left shoulder pad of their uniform in black. On the right arm, the members of this unit adopted the coat of arms of Lanarkshire, as we already saw here in 2013, as they were stationed in the Scottish town of Lanark in the summer of 1940. There, they were so well treated by the locals in October 1940, when it was time for them to leave the town, the Black Brigade left three monuments there as a sign of gratitude to its inhabitants, today gathered in the Polish Memorial Garden.

One of the places that served as accommodation for these Polish soldiers in Lanark was the Carmichael mansion, according to the website Stravaiging.com. I found out about it purely by chance, when searching for information about this mansion after watching a video by Nikita wallis K24, in which some explorers tour its ruins:

In Stravaiging.com they point out that this mansion, built in the XVIII, he belonged to a noble family from Scotland. A document from the mid-19th century indicates that by then it was already abandoned. After the war it was used as a nursing home, until it was abandoned in 1952, after its then owner, Sir Windham Carmichael-Anstruther, removed the roof, doors, windows and everything. interior furniture to avoid paying taxes. Today the mansion remains in ruins, although it remains the property of the Carmichael clan.

You can see some screenshots from the video here. Here we see the mansion today. It had two wings, separated by a corridor in the center of which there was a tower. The runner is gone.

The top of the tower still has its roof, but the two wings of the mansion no longer have it. As you can see below, the soil of some plants has also disappeared.

Vegetation has been invading the interior of the house and in its surroundings, the old farm is now occupied by a forest, which gives a beautiful appearance to this old mansion.