Monument record MHG29025 - Dalballoch

NN69NE 26 centred on 6566 9893

The township and the later farmstead of Dalballoch are situated between the Allt an Lochain Dubh and the Allt Ballach and are spread across an area measuring some 800m from E to W by about 650m transversely.
The township comprises six buildings and two enclosures, of which five buildings are situated on the spur of the terrace to the W of the Allt Ballach (KING95 135-9), and the sixth on the flood plain of the Allt Ballach (KING95 133), and two enclosures. The buildings range in size from 3.9m to 9.7m in length by between 2.2m and 2.9m in breadth within faced-rubble walls, 0.65m to 1m in thickness. One of the buildings (KING95 135) abuts the S of the head-dyke that is described below.
The later farmstead comprises a roofed, three-bay, shepherd?s cottage, attached to an enclosure, and another building reduced to footings lies to the E; both are situated on the level ground on the W of the Allt Ballach. The building measures 13.6m from E to W by 3.3m transversely within faced-rubble walls 0.3m high and 0.8m thick; an entrance is on the S and there are two secondary partitions (KING95 132). The cottage is depicted as roofed and the other building as unroofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1872, sheet ci).
The field to the S of the cottage is enclosed by a stone dyke within which there are faint traces of rig and a headland, suggesting that the episode of cultivation post-dates the enclosure. Immediately inside the N wall of the field there is a much-reduced stone-walled hut, measuring about 7m by 4m overall, partly overlain with stone clearance at the E end and reduced by cultivation at the other (KING95 131). To the SW of the field (NN 6566 9857) rig extends over an area measuring about 100m from NW to SE by at least 30m transversely. It is also possible that the spur on which most of the buildings are situated is also rigged, but this could not be verified in the deep heather covering this area at the date of visit. An area of small cairns (NN69NE 27), occupying a flat terrace between the braided courses of the Allt an Lochain Duibh, lies within the enclosed ground.
There are two sheepfolds to the W of the field, one of them roughly circular (KING95 141, NN 6541 9862) and the other subrectangular (NN 6562 9863). A third sheepfold, which is defined by an earthen bank, lies at the foot of the gully cut by the Allt Ballach, immediately S of the head-dyke (NN 6567 9914). A pen, which stands on the spur near the edge of the terrace cut by the Allt Ballach, is open at its E end (NN 6559 9916).
A head-dyke encloses an area between the Allt Ballach and the Allt an Lochain Dubh, and also a segment of land to the E of the Allt Ballach. The head-dyke runs E from the the Allt an Lochain Dubh (NN 6494 9899) as far as the Allt Ballach (NN 6567 9915), before continuing SE until it is lost in a peat bog (NN 6606 9888).
The township and the head-dyke appear to be depicted on the Duke of Gordon's estate map of 1771 (SRO RHP 1835) as a group of six buildings to the S of a boundary. Dalballach and the nearby Dail na Seilg (NN69NW 1) appear to have been part of the lands held at feu by Macpherson of Clunie (SRO CR8/195/52). One roofed, two unroofed buildings, an enclosure and a field are depicted on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (Inverness-shire 1872, sheet ci). The unroofed building to the E of the field could not be located at the date of survey.
(KING95 130-3, 135-40, 141)
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 6 September 1995