Monument record MHG44177 - Balloan

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. <1> <2>

<1> Wordsworth, J., 1990, Archaeological Excavations at Balloan Farm, Inverness, March 1990 (Text/Report/Fieldwork Report). SHG25712.

<2> Wordsworth, J {B}, 1990, 'Balloan Farm (Inverness & Bona parish), gulley, road', Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1990, p.23, 23 (Text/Publication/Article). SHG236.