Local history of the village and area
The Balloch Cairns
Initial paper by GD on the provision of preservation, access and interpretation for the Balloch A96 cairns
Balloch Cairns
My proposal is that the forthcoming works on dualling the A96 through Balloch, and hopefully the provision of a footbridge, should include the opportunity to make the three prehistoric cairns that lie very near to the road accessible to interested visitors.
The three cairns form a linear arrangement roughly east to west and are all within reach of the A96 starting near to the old Allanfearn Station and finishing around Newton.of Petty.
The cairns are of course important remains of some of our early inhabitants and seem to comprise a chambered tomb in need of consolidation, and two ring cairns, all of the Clava type, the site at Clava itself being nearby and forming an obvious association.
These monuments demand our respect and care, whatever beliefs they represent they must have been constructed at considerable social cost by a community that lived a life that was probably hard and difficult. We are now custodians of monuments that they held in great esteem, and like our more modern preserved buildings, (churches, castles, great houses) these are a very precious link to a people with whom we share a bond of tenure.
In my view access is very difficult due in the main to traffic on the A96 and the lack of safe stopping places, also there are no pathways to the cairns nor any information for visitors. Currently any traffic slowing down or stopping to see the cairns presents a hazard to other vehicles.
The proposed A96 works would be a great opportunity to make the Balloch Cairns accessible and to preserve them in a fitting manner, an excellent example being the access to the various monuments in Kilmartin Glen in Argyll.
Although only one of the Balloch Cairns is strictly within the parish of Balloch there is a great deal of interest in these monuments from within the village. We are proud to have them within our community and also mindful of the need to preserve them and to make them better known to visitors. Reciprocal information at Balloch and Clava would be very helpful
Below are images of the Balloch Cairns from west to east taken with great difficulty from the A96.
GD June 2007
