Ruthven Barracks

A castle was built here before the 14th century by the Comyn lords of Badenoch on top of a modified natural hill. It was repaired and replaced several times before it was finally demolished in 1718 to build these barracks. Today only part of the curtain wall of the castle survives. The barracks themselves were built by the British Government in 1718-1721 as part of a network of roads and forts designed to control the Highlands after the 1715 Jacobite rising. During the second uprising, Jacobites captured the barracks in 1746. After their devastating defeat at Culloden, the Jacobite survivors gathered here to regroup and continue the fight. However they were devastated by a message from Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who had already fled: "Let everyone seek his own safety in the best way he can". The fugitives then set fire to the barracks before dispersing and the buildings have remained in ruins ever since.

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