18 C O N T E X T 1 2 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 2 Elizabeth McCrone Moving with the times A handful of buildings (not necessarily the best-known ones) associated with transport from the 18th century to the 20th century give a flavour of Scotland’s riches in this field. Scotland’s geography has played a strong part in shaping our legacy of building types related to transport. At Historic Scotland it is not unusual for an officer to travel by air, car and ferry, all in one day, to reach some of our remote islands. Scotland also had an important role in engineering, and manufactured ships and trains for the home market and for export all over the world. In the late 19th century Glasgow produced half of Britain’s tonnage of shipping and a quarter of the world’s locomotives. In this article I will look at buildings associated with transport from the 18th century to the 20th century. It is not intended to describe the cream of our transportrelated heritage (I could easily write a whole article about the Forth Bridge!), but the majority of the structures are listed and all of them have a story to tell about Scotland’s history. I have picked out a handful of buildings, not necessarily our best-known ones, but examples which strike a chord with me. I hope that they will illustrate the breadth of our transport buildings, whether for moving troops, people or commodities. I have chosen to describe one building in Glasgow in more detail as a case study. In the 18th century GeneralWade and his successor Major Caulfeild made one of the most lasting contributions to transport in Scotland. Between them they were responsible for building more than 1,000 miles of roads and over 600 bridges. The purpose of this huge programme was to transform communications in order to suppress Jacobite rebellion. Existing forts were repaired, and new garrisons planned and constructed. The roads and bridges linked this network of forts.The Highlands were opened up in a way not seen before, and travel from the north to the south of Scotland was made considerably easier. Many of Wade’s and Caulfeild’s bridges, such as Aberdeenshire’s Gairnshiel Bridge, survive today. It was not only people who were transported across the country.The Drovers Inn at Inverarnan in the Loch Gairnshiel Bridge, dating from around 1749, formed part of the military road from Blairgowrie to Fort George The Drovers Inn at Inverarnan
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=