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When driving the A86 from Fort William towards Aviemore and the Cairngorms National Park at some point you will see some ruins on a hill in the marshlands. But it’s not what you expect in Scotland. Those ruins are clearly not a castle although they look well-fortified with high walls, marshlands all around the hill and only one way up. Those ruins are the Ruthven Barracks.
Those ruins are the Ruthven Barracks.
Ruthven Barracks you say, I never heard of these? This might be true and they are certainly not very famous because they were not even in use for half a century. But those old stones have quite an interesting story to tell.
Where to begin? Certainly, the history of the hill - or more accurate motte - is much older than the one of the barracks. And the barracks were erected for a certain political propose with its roots in and before the creation of the Union of Scotland and England. But I think 1715 is a good year to start.
So let’s start with the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. Shortly after the assumption of the – then already British - throne of the Hanoverians the Stuarts decided to try to take back the throne they thought to be theirs. Led by the Earl of Mar the Jacobites occupied parts of Scotland but were quickly defeated after the inconclusive Battle of Sheriffmuir. James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) landed too late in Scotland to turn the tide or have any influence on the upcoming defeat. Despite the quick suppression of the Rebellion, the government had noticed that they had no grip over the Highlands. Not that previous governments really controlled the Highlands. Yet this time the government was serious about controlling the Highlands because now they were a threat as a potential source for new uprisings by the Jacobite pretenders. Therefore it started to build – among other measures - four fortified barracks at strategic locations. One of those are the Ruthven Barracks.
From its position, it could guard a key junction General Wade’s roads – the junction of the roads from Perth, Fort Augustus and Inverness although the roads were built after the Barracks. The design of the Ruthven Barracks was very simple – two three-storey blocks which could house up to 120 men, and a rectangular wall connecting these buildings with a tower on each the western and eastern side of the wall. Later in 1734 – behind the backside gate – a stable for 28 horses for dragoons was built.
On the left is one of the barrack-blocks and on the right the stable.
But the most interesting part of our story (and in fact the end of the story of the Ruthven Barracks) starts with Bonnie Prince Charlie’s landing in Scotland and the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
On 19 August 1745 at Glenfinnan Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart, son of James Francis Edward Stuart) raised the Royal banner before previously landing with little French support at Eriskay. At Glenfinnan 700 Highlanders had gathered in support of Bonnie Prince Charlie. From there they marched towards Edinburgh. During the march, more and more highlanders gathered to the cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
At the same time, the Hanoverian commander Sir John Cope (‘Johnny Cope’) marched north from Edinburgh to meet the Jacobite army. On 26 August 1745, he reached the Ruthven Barracks. The next they, hearing of a planned trap on his way north, Sir John Cope marched his men north (some might say fled), avoided the trap and reached Inverness on 29 August 1745. In Ruthven, he left behind a small garrison of 13 men led by Sergeant Trevor Molloy.
The Jacobites decided not to follow Sir John Cope and instead raised more men. Being already near the Ruthven Barrack John Gordon of Glenbucket came up with a plan:
Originally Posted by ”John Gordon of Glenbucket”
Originally Posted by Sergeant Trevor Molloy
This is how the Highlandmen might have looked up to the Ruthven Barracks before their assault.
For this conduct, Sergeant Molloy was promoted to Lieutenant on 12 September 1745 (which makes him one of the rare examples of being promoted from the ranks, so a real-life ‘Richard Sharpe’).
Still, that’s not the end. The Jacobites – again under the command of John Gordon of Glenbucket - came back on the 10 February 1746 and this time they had brought artillery with them. John Gordon of Glenbucket wrote the following note to now Lieutenant Molloy and asked for surrender:
Originally Posted by John Gordon of Glenbucket
Originally Posted by Lieutenant Trevor Molloy
We all know how the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 was defeated at Culloden. After the battle of Culloden up to 1500 men of the Jacobite army (mostly units from the Lowlands but also elements the Royal Ecossois and most of the surviving Jacobite cavalry) rallied at the Ruthven Barracks. For himself, Bonnie Prince Charlie decided against going the Barracks and fled to the north searching for a passage back to France. His final message to the men waiting arrived on 19 April 1746 and was:
‘Let every man seek his own safety in the best way he can’.
This they did but in order to prevent the Ruthven Barracks ever being used by Hanoverian troops the remnants of the Jacobite army burned them down. Now the story of the Ruthven Barracks has ended but as a short footnote, here is what happened to the man who defended the Barracks so well twice:
Lieutenant Molloy was eventually promoted to Captain-Lieutenant and managed to fight his way out of the disastrous Battle of the Monongahela. After this battle, it seems like he had seen enough as he sold his commission on 5th November 1755 and disappeared from history.
Bibliography:
Stuart Reid, 1745 – A Military History, Spellmount, 1996
J. Johnstone, Romantic Badenoch: a guide book compiled for the benefit of visitors to the district, 1904
Chris Tabraham and Doreen Grove, Fortress Scotland and the Jacobites, Historic Scotland, 2001
https://www.jacobites.net/sergeant-molloy.html
https://www.historicenvironment.scot...racks/history/
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co....cks/index.html
The photos are taken by me.
