Bread and beer were produced on the premises with soldiers drawing their rations daily. The men could purchase extra if they wished. Please click on the photo to see the price list.
Remember that this is old money - not decimal currency. I dread to think how much drinking must have gone on!
The soldiers defended the barracks armed only with muskets firing either through ground-floor gun-loops or over the parapet wall. No heavy guns were ever emplaced here.
Here we see Fr Michael Clifton (aka Fr Mildew) preparing the gifts at the altar during a celebration of Mass. The clear focus of the altar servers is impressive.
In the Gospel today, we hear Jesus tells us, 'If you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering.' It is for this reason that I favour the idea of having the sign of peace immediately prior to the offertory at Mass. It seems appropriate and fitting (indeed, Scriptural) and does not break the liturgy up as it does when it is part of the Communion Rite. I must say how much I used to appreciate the dignified way in which Fr Michael always offered Mass.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation! All ye who hear, now to His altar draw near; Join in profound adoration.
Praise to the Lord, let us offer our gifts at his Altar. Let not our sins and transgressions now cause us to falter. Christ the high priest bids us all join in his feast Victims with him on the altar.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in us adore him. All that has life and breath, Come now in praises before him. Let the Amen sound from his people again. Now as we worship before him.
Each of the two barracks was built to accommodate sixty men, ten to a room and sleeping in double beds and cooking for themselves in the fireplaces provided.
Stores were kept in the lofts and basements, the latter mistakenly provided with musket loops which were blocked up in 1720.
The great granite dome of the Cairngorm mountains shapes how people use this landscape. Travel and settlement are concentrated in the glens and passes. Ruthven Barracks commands Strathspey, the great valley that is still the main route between the Lowlands and Inverness.
Please click on the photo for further information on this strategic setting.
The Cairngorms were a notoriously difficult area to control. Following the Jacobite rising of 1715, the Hanoverian government ordered the construction of Ruthven Barracks and three other garrisons across the Highlands. These were 'to preserve the peace and quiet of the country'.
Please click on the photo for further information on Garrisoning the Glens.
