Bernera Barracks

They are a reminder that for centuries the only practical road to Skye ran over the hills to Glenelg and across the narrows of Kyle Rhea.

After the Jacobite rising of 1715, the government built barracks at four places in the Highlands. Bernera, finished in 1723, was built to hold up to 240 soldiers and to guard the crossing to Skye. Stone for it is often said to have come from the ancient brochs up the glen, though the story may be too good to be true. By the 1790s it was already falling into disrepair.

The ruins stand in open ground by the road. The Glenelg brochs are a short drive away.