Canonmills

Formerly a small village, Canonmills owes its origins and name, in the same way as The Canongate, to the Augustinian canons of Holyrood Abbey who operated a mill here from the 12th century.

With the final draining of the loch in 1865 it became the site of the Royal Patent Gymnasium, described by James Grant as "...one of the most remarkable and attractive places of its kind in Edinburgh", created "at considerable expense for the purpose of affording healthful and exhilarating recreation in the open air".

The principal feature was the circular Great Sea Serpent which could seat 600 rowers embarking and disembarking at four separate piers.

The tunnel, built under Scotland Street in 1847 by the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway, is three quarters of a mile long and descends a 1 in 27 gradient.

Robert Louis Stevenson described the appearance in his 'Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes' (1879): "The Scotland Street Station, the sight of the train shooting out of its dark maw with the two guards upon the brake, the thought of its length and the many ponderous edifices and thoroughfares above, were certainly things of paramount impressiveness to a young mind."

For the return journey, 150mm steel cables were attached to the trains which were pulled up the slope by a stationary winding-engine at the Waverley end.