C O N T E X T 1 2 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 2 19 Lomond andTrossachs National Park may have begun life as a barracks to house troops during the building of the military road from Tarbet to Crianlarich by Caulfeild in 1748–53. However, many barracks built for road building developed into inns and this building appears on a 1776 map as an ‘inn’. It was an important stopping off point for another type of transport – not people, but cattle. Cattle raised in the north of Scotland were walked to market by drovers over long distances. Places like the inn at Inverarnan provided food and shelter for the drovers along the way. While Jacobite rebellion occupied the north of Scotland, the Scottish Enlightenment was gaining pace in Edinburgh. This burst of intellectual and scientific accomplishments brought renowned philosophers and scientists to the capital. At that time transport to Edinburgh would have been by sea, foot or horse, but once in the city those with the means could travel by an alternative form of manpower. Surviving in one of the closes off the Royal Mile, the narrow lanes or alleyways which run in a herringbone pattern off the street, is a structure known as Sedan Chair House. This single storey lean-to structure has long been reputed to be a store for sedan chairs, although there is no documentary evidence yet to give weight to this theory.What is known is that sedan chair use reached its height in Edinburgh in the 18th century. In 1687, six chairs were available for public hire. By 1779 this had risen to 180 hackney-chairs and 50 private chairs. Moving coal was the trigger for building Scotland’s longest and tallest aqueduct. The Avon Aqueduct is 810 feet long with 12 arches, each spanning about 50 feet at about 86 feet above the water. It is part of the Union canal, which opened in 1822. It connected the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde canal at Falkirk, providing a direct connection between Edinburgh and Glasgow.The link between the two canals was lost when a series of locks was dismantled in 1933. A Millennium Link project to restore navigability was completed in 2002 with the engineering marvel the FalkirkWheel, the world’s first and only boat lift, now a tourist attraction in its own right. This Edinburgh building is reputed to be a former store for sedan chairs. The FalkirkWheel, the world’s first and only boat lift
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