Balallan ( gd, Baile Ailein, Bail' Ailein), meaning "Allan's Town", is a crofting township on the
Isle of Lewis, in the
Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Balallan is within the parish of
Lochs
''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch.
In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spelling ...
.
The township has the distinction of being the longest village ( from end to end) in Lewis, and also in northern Scotland. Straggled along the head of a long
sea loch
''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch.
In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spel ...
between
Arivruach and
Laxay, it developed due to a mixture of crofting along the loch shore and fishing. It sits at the head of
Loch Erisort
Loch Erisort ( gd, Èireasort) is an 8-mile-long narrow sea inlet on the east coast of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland.
Its name is a relic of the Viking Age and came from Old Norse ''Eiríksfjorðr'' = "Er ...
.
Those on the loch side were each given direct access to the loch for their boats as well as access to the moorland behind for their sheep. They also attended to their croft, given relative shelter from the elements by the high ground to the west.
The village formerly had a police house, and currently houses a post office.
Just south of the village there is a cairn that stands as a memorial to the Deer Park Raiders. It is one of three Land Struggle cairns to have been commissioned on the Isle of Lewis.
References
External links
Canmore - Lewis, Balallan site recordCanmore - Lewis, Balallan, Carved Stone Ball site record
Villages in the Isle of Lewis
{{WesternIsles-geo-stub