Monument record MHG4510 - Ruthven Barracks

Ruthven Barracks, generally as described and planned by MacGibbon and Ross, now being restored by the MoW.
Visited by OS (N K B) 31 November 1967.

Ruthven Barracks (in ruins)
On Site of Ruthven Castle (NAT)
OS 6"map, Inverness-shire, 2nd ed., (1903)

The site is an alluvial mound. There was a fortress on it during the 14th century and probably earlier. In the 16th century, another castle was built here; this was destroyed in 1689 but seems to have been rebuilt before 1715. The Barracks were erected by the government in 1718 for a garrison, but were burnt by fugitives from Culloden in 1746 and never repaired. No trace of the earlier works survived.
D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887.

REFERENCE

Ruthven Barracks stood hard by Kingussie, a village and a parish in the Badenoch district of S.E.Inverness-shire, occupying a conical mound one and a quarter mile S by E of the village and on the other, or right, bank of the River Spey. The distance is stated as 44 and a half miles from Inverness and 50 E.N.E. of Fort William.
The Barracks, according to Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer, were built by the Government in 1718, and were burned by fugitives from Culloden in 1746.
In the National Library of Scotland is a series of Military Maps and Drawings (many coloured) of the Board of Ordnance and of the 18th Century. In the Index Volume No.1852 it is recorded that in 1928 the guardianship of the buidings was offered the Commissioners of H.M.Works, but was declined. In Case or Volume No.1648 are the following Drawings:-
Number. Year.
Z.3/18. No date. Small scale Plans, Sections, and Elevations of the four Barracks of Killiwhiman, Inversnait, Ruthven of Badenoch, and Bernera, with Explanations. Scale 30 Feet to an Inch. There are copies. Also indexed under the names mentioned besides Ruthven.

Z.3/19. 1719. "Plan showing situation of the barrack at Ruthven in Badenoch Anne 1719", and surrounding Country. Scale 10 Feet to an Inch. There is a copy.

Z.3/20. No date. "Ruthvan of Badenock" Plan, Sections & Elevations of Barracks. With Explanation. Scale 10 Feet to an Inch. There is also a small scale Engraving.

David Macgibbon and Thomas Ross, in "The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland" give a Plan of these Barrack and Stable buildings, as an example of a fortification of that late period, with a sketch, in pen and ink, from the South-West. They state there is no vestige of any earlier building or castle on the mound.

National Library - Country Life 6th April 1945 - photograph.

National Library of Scotland: Nattes Drawings. 1 Drawing, Vol IV No 20.

BAS Local Plan, Sept. 1997: P19/2.5.13. Historic Buildings.
J Aitken : 24/05/01.