Kingussie Property For Sale and Rent

The town takes its modern form from development at the end of the 18th cent, when the Duke of Gordon planned to set up a centre of woollen manufacture. Its earlier history goes back to pre-Pictish times, and a priory was founded in the area by an earl of Huntly in 1490.Across the R. spey, on a grassy mound, stand the remains of Ruthven Barracks. Adopted as an anti-Jacobite garrison between the Risings of 1715 and 1745. the barracks were captured and destroyed by supporters of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1746. The clans rallied here after defeat at Culloden in the hope of carrying on the fight, but were instructed by the Prince to disperse. The site was originally occupied in the latter half of the 14th cent, by a castle stronghold of the Comyns and the 'Wolf of Badenoch' James Macpherson (1738-1796), the translator-creator of'Ossian', was born at the nearby village of Ruthven (pronounced 'riven') and for a time was parish schoolmaster. The Highland Folk Museum, Am Fasgadh, in Kingussie, displays a remarkable collection of tools, domestic utensils, furniture, dresses, pot­tery, and other items illustrating Highland cus­toms in the past two centuries. Founded by the historian Dr I. F. Grant in 1935, the collection is now owned and maintained by four Scottish universities. The town is an excellent base for walking, touring excursions, and fishing, it has a pleasant golf course, and is a shinty stronghold. Shinty is a game vaguely similar to hockey; it is played in parts of Scotland and Northern England.