Monument record MHG55120 - House (Building C4), Balmacqueen

The faint remains of a wall footing 5.2m long, which may have been a revetment of the slope to form a platform, links the NW corner of Site C2 and the NE corner of Site C4. Site C4 is a mostly upstanding drystone subrectangular building measuring 8.5m E-W by 3.9m wide internally. The walls, of double-faced, drystone construction, show some signs of mortaring on the outer face and within the wall core, but there is no visible mortar on the inner face. They measure 0.8m wide in the S and E walls and 0.9m wide in the N and W walls. The walls stand to the following heights: S wall 1.6m, W wall 1.3m, E wall 1.54m and N wall 1.6m. The building has rounded external corners and rounded internal corners in the NE and NW, but squared internal corners in the SE and SW. The base of the S wall is revetted into the sloped ground surface, although the rest of the wall is mostly upstanding, and a 1m-wide exterior drainage ditch was cut beyond the S wall. There is an entrance 0.8m wide in the centre of the N wall which has two windows to either side. Both splayed, the windows measure 1.0m wide internally and 0.65m wide externally. The building is well- preserved and in a good condition, with some turf covering the wallheads, and a grass-covered interior with some nettles. <1><2>

Excavations that took place in 2011 in advance of the dismantling of this building to allow for a new house revealed a number of finds including glass, ceramics and corroded iron objects, all of which suggested construction and use during the latter half of the 19th century and into the early 20th century. The excavations revealed a destruction layer with evidence of burning suggesting that a catastrophic fire signalled the end of use of this building as a house or workshop. There was no evidence for an earlier phase of use prior to the mid 19th century. <3>