Balmavicar

NR 592 097.

Balmavicar Township.

The remains of this township occupy an arena-shaped hollow on the lower seaward slopes of Corr Bhan about 1.3km N of the Mull Lighthouse. The main area of settlement is situated on the banks of a small unnamed burn that runs parallel to, and about 180m to the N of, the Balmavicar Burn. The existing remains comprise the ruins of stone-built houses with associated out-buildings, enclosures and cultivation systems. Most of the buildings stand on gently sloping ground in the upper area of the township, at an altitude of about 120m OD, and are aligned E and W, that is to say at right angles to the general contour-lines. The lower portion of the site, occupied chiefly by field-systems, falls quite steeply seawards and terminates at the cliff top, between about 15m and 30m above the shore.

The state of preservation of the buildings varies a good deal, some still standing almost to their original height and others being reduced to their lowermost courses or to ground level. Some of the buildings and enclosures appear to have been altered or partially rebuilt in comparatively recent years for use in connection with sheep farming. So far as can be ascertained by surface examination all the buildings were of dry-stone or of stone-and-clay construction, while some at least were cruck-framed within stone gable-walls. There is little indication of the age of any of the buildings, but it is unlikely that all were erected at the same period, and at least one shows evidence of having been enlarged some time during its period of occupation.

The main area of occupation is illustrated. The principal building (A), evidently a dwelling-house, measures 19.2 m by 5·3 m over walls some 0·8 m in thickness. It comprises three main apartments, of which the westernmost, perhaps a byre, was originally free-standing; this apartment has an entrance doorway in the W wall. The two easternmost apartments, probably a kitchen and a room, represent an addition to the original building, with which they have no internal communication. The kitchen has opposed entrance-doorways-a somewhat unusual arrangement-and there is a stone-built fireplace in the partition wall that separates it from the inner room. Beyond the W. gable-wall of the byre there is a small platform which may have been occupied by an outshot. House A appears to be associated with three outbuildings and two enclosures standing on the opposite side of the burn. One of the out-buildings (B) has been considerably rebuilt within fairly recent years and now shows no features of interest. The two other out-buildings (C) and (D) are of sub-rectangular plan, and measure respectively 6·1 m by 4·3 m and 7.6 m by 4.6 mover all. They lie parallel with entrance doorways facing one another; and their upper end-walls are set into the hill side. Building C is bounded on the E. by a rectangular enclosure (C1), while beyond the N. wall of Building D there is a second sub-rectangular enclosure (DI), whose W. wall extends southwards to form the E. boundary of a considerable area of rough pasture that flanks the right bank of the burn.

Immediately to the S of Building C a small irregularly-shaped two-storeyed construction (F) stands upon the right bank of the burn. This building, evidently a "horizontal" water-mill, or clack-mill, is about 3.7m square externally. The upper storey is now reduced almost to floor level and the grindstones have disappeared; there is an entrance doorway in the N wall. The lower chamber is fairly well preserved, although nothing now remains of the mechanism. The chamber is lintelled, and at the inner end there is a water inlet formerly supplied by means of a lade and dam, of which some traces may still be seen.

To the SW. of House A there is another group of buildings and enclosures of which the most conspicuous is Building G, which is of sub-oval plan and measures 10·7 m by 6·7 m over walls some 1·1 m to 1·2 m in thickness. The internal and external angles of the buildings are noticeably rounded. There are two opposed entrance-doorways at the lower end of the building, and two small mural recesses are set high up in the inner face of the E. end-wall. A platform situated immediately beyond the W. end-wall may have been occupied by an outshot. This building is likely to have been either a small dwelling-house with a byre outshot, or a barn.

Immediately to the NE. of Building G there is an outbuilding (H) having an entrance doorway in its SW. wall, while to the NW. and N. there are two sub-oval enclosures (J) and (K), of which the latter has been reduced in size and partially rebuilt at a comparatively recent period. To the S. of Building G there is a natural mound, upon whose summit there are fragmentary traces of a small sub-rectangular building (L). To the E. of this building there is an enclosed area which shows signs of former rig-cultivation.

To the N. of Enclosure K there is a small sub-rectangular building (M), which stands within the southern sector of an irregular-shaped enclosure (M1). On the W. side of this enclosure there is a combined barn and corn-drying kiln (O). The barn appears to have had opposed entrance-doorways. The kiln has a conical-shaped drying-chamber served by a low-level horizontal flue and external fireplace

The township is approached from the Mull Lighthouse road by means of a rough track which enters the settlement through the S enclosure-dyke of the arable land on the E side of Building L, and passes round the upper limits of the built-up area before continuing northwards along the cliff edge towards Machrihanish. Access to the field-systems below the township, which are marked by stone clearance-heaps, enclosure dykes, and traces of rig-cultivations, was obtained by means of a track which traverses an area of rough pasture to the SW of the barn and corn-drying kiln. The coastline provides opportunities for line-fishing from the rocks, but there appear to be no harbour facilities within the vicinity of the township.

"Balmackvicar" is indicated on the Pont-Gordon Map of about the second quarter of the 17th century, at which period it was tenanted by three members of the "mcviccar" family; a John McVicar, tenant of Balmavicar, is also on record in 1653 and 1678. The township was uninhabited at the time of the Argyll Estate census of 1779, and is unlikely to have been re-occupied after the conversion of the Mull of Kintyre into a sheep-walk at about the beginning of the 19th century.

RCAHMS 1971, visited July 1965

NR50NE 1 5934 0974.

Balmavicar deserted township is as described and illustrated by RCAHMS.

Surveyed at 1:10 000.

Visited by OS (NKB) 23 October 1977.

Cruck-slots noted.

G Stell 1981.