Ruthven Barracks – A Jacobite Ruin at Sunset
A few hours.
The route
Ruthven Barracks stands roofless on a green mound across the Spey from Kingussie, built for government soldiers after the rising of 1715 and burned by the Jacobites in 1746.
In the last of the light, with the floodplain below and the hills going dark around it, it feels wonderfully lonely. Supper is then a few minutes away in Kingussie, in the bar of the Duke of Gordon Hotel.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Kingussie
A Jacobite ruin on its mound as the light goes, then supper and a dram in Kingussie.
About two and a half hoursAbout 0.5 miles on foot
Ruthven Barracks
Ruthven Barracks is signed from the A9 and from Kingussie, a mile out of the town on the B970, and you park at the foot of its mound. A steep grassy path climbs to the walls in five to ten minutes, so wear strong shoes, and the ground inside is uneven. The government finished the barracks in 1721 on the site of an old castle, once held by the Wolf of Badenoch, with two big three-storey blocks and a wall round them for 120 soldiers and their horses. After Culloden the Jacobites set it alight, and it has stood roofless ever since. It's free to visit and unstaffed. Come up an hour before sunset and watch the light go over the Spey floodplain and the hills around Kingussie. The sun sets at about half past three in December, a quarter past six in mid-October and after ten in June. Sheep and cattle can graze round the mound, so keep dogs on a lead. In summer, when the sun sets after supper ends, eat first and come up afterwards. Bring a torch or a phone light for the steep grass path down.
3 min by car
The Duke of Gordon Hotel
Supper
Supper is 3 minutes' drive across the Spey into Kingussie, at the Duke of Gordon Hotel on Newtonmore Road. Its Ghillies Rest lounge bar is open every day to people not staying, and bar meals are served daily, with the dinner menu from 5.30pm to 8.15pm. There are more than 50 malt whiskies to choose from, and local beers on draught and in bottles. Ring 01540 661302 to check for a table on a busy evening. Over Christmas and New Year, check before going.
If it rains
On a wet or cloudy evening there's no sunset to wait for: look at the barracks from the foot of the mound and go straight on to supper.
Make it a weekend
