Lieutenant Józef Stainisław Kosacki was born on April 21st 1909 in Poland and in 1933 graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Shortly before the invasion of Poland in September 1939 by Nazi…
Martyrs’ Monument was built to commemorate four protestants who were executed during the 16th Century. These were Patrick Hamilton, Henry Forrest, George Wishart, and Walter Mill.
Patrick Hamilton was executed in 1528 outside St Salvator's Chapel…
In September 1941 the British Army launched a competition to develop a landmine detector. Hearing of this competition, and of a fatal accident on a beach in nearby Arbroath where a Polish Army patrol was killed by a landmine, Kosacki set out to…
The Polish army’s headquarters during World War 2 in St Andrews was located at Eden Court on The Scores and at the Ardgowan Hotel in Playfair Terrace, and it was there that Lieutenant Józef Stainisław Kosacki was given a laboratory, workshop and an…
The St Andrews War Memorial is located to the West of St Andrews cathedral. It was unveiled on the 23rd of September 1922, and it commemorates fallen servicemen and civilians who died during the first and second world wars. There are 287 names…
The construction of St Andrews castle took place between 1189 and 1202. Its strategic importance became clear during the Wars of Scottish Independence where it was repeatedly taken and retaken by the English and Scottish.
Following the founding of…
Sergeant John Ripley (“Jock”) VC was born in August 1867 in Keith. After completing a roof slater apprenticeship, he moved to St Andrews. It was in St Andrews where John met Jane Laing. They married in 1895 and had a son, Alexander Laing Ripley, in…
In 1538, Archbishop James Beaton decided to create a new collegiate foundation – the College of St Mary, with the avowed aims of fighting heresy, encouraging divine worship, and offering prayers for the soul of James IV and his heirs.
There were…
