Monument record MHG8101 - Balconie House (site)

Balconie House (NAT). OS 6" map, (1959)

Balconie Castle on site of 1 of castles occupied by Earls of Ross.
N Macrae 1923. <1>

Balconie House is a derelict 4 storey building. There is no trace of a former building to be seen. It is perhaps significant that position is opposite Castlecraig (NH66SW 2) which stands on SE shore of Cromarty Firth and it is believed locally that a castle guarded firth on each side here.
Visited by OS (R D) 5 May 1963.

The 19th-century Balconie House has been demolished.
RCAHMS 1979. <2>

There were at least two castles thought to be on the site: a medieval one and the later one destroyed in c. 1868. Mary MacDonald researched the medieval castle for ARCH Community Timelines course 2010. The medieval castle is mentioned in 1297 in a letter to Edward I (Calendar of Scottish Documents No. 922, Royal Letters No. 3258). Alexander, Earl of Ross issues documents at Balconie in 1439/40. A document of 1473 is issued at Balconie [Balkny) by John, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles (Acts of the Lords of the Isles, ed. Jan Munro & R. W Munro, 1986). Balkeny is listed in 1479 as one of the 'five quarters' of Ross in connection with the confiscated estates of John, last Earl of Ross (W.J. Watson, Place-names of Ross and Cromarty, p. xxv.) In 1551, Queen Mary grants 'the chaplainry of St Monan on the lands of Balcony' to Sir William Munro. (Origines Parochiales Scotiae, ed. Cosmo Innes et al., 1850-5.). <3>