Harry Young’s Rock Map of Scotland
New exhibition at Burlington House
We are delighted that Harry Young has loaned The Geological Society his hugely popular rock map of Scotland to display until October 2024.
Harry created this map of Scotland by travelling around the country collecting rocks. He shot to fame on social media earlier this year when his grandson posted about the map on X (Twitter). Since February, the post has been viewed more than 6.2 million times.
"I always liked going along the beach kicking up stones when I was a boy, and I always had a lucky stone in my pocket," Harry said.
"I'd never seen it done, so I just started collecting area by area. At that time I was travelling all over for work so I just collected as I went. Every rock you see on that map I went to that place and collected it.”
Harry started making the map in 1992 and added the final piece in 2020.
We are delighted that Harry has loaned The Geological Society his hugely popular map to display until October 2024.
From July, Harry's map will be available to view in the Upper Library of Burlington House from Tuesday to Thursday, 10am – 5pm.
We are hoping to host special events to celebrate the map, such as children's events, during Earth Science Week in October.
Visitors will also be able to view William Smith's famous 1815 geological map of England and Wales, considered to be the first geological map of a complete country ever made, and a reproduction of John MacCulloch's 1840 (third issue) geological map of Scotland, the first based on an official survey and published by a government.
Map image is © The Geological Society of London, 2024.