Balloan
Field Boundary (Period Unassigned), Road (Period Unassigned), Wall (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Balloan
Classification Field Boundary (Period Unassigned), Road (Period Unassigned), Wall (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 76700
Site Number NH64SE 62
NGR NH 67114 42581
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/76700
- Council Highland
- Parish Inverness And Bona
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Inverness
- Former County Inverness-shire
NH64SE 62 671 426.
Excavation was carried out in advance of house building on the site of a NNE-SSW linear cropmark. Three areas, each at least 30m long by 5m wide were opened, using a mechanical excavator. The linear feature was not a pit alignment but a gulley, interpreted as a post-medieval field boundary.
In the northern trench a gravel-surfaced road, some 5m wide, with drains on both sides of it, was recorded running from Balloan Farm eastwards, possibly to Castle Heather. This road is not shown on a 1725 map of the area. At right angles to the road, and abutting it on the N side, was a trench 1.2m wide cut 0.4m deep into the subsoil. A slight stone wall c0.25m wide had been built in the trench, against its W side. This curious construction has been tentatively interpreted as a ha-ha - that is, a retaining wall-ditch defining the garden area around Balloan House.
J Wordsworth 1990a.
