© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
East Mains of Balfour is a post-medieval farmstead located 550 metres north-north-east of Balfour in Kincardineshire, Scotland. The site occupies ground underlain by pelitic bedrock of the Southern Highland Group, sedimentary strata formed during the Middle Cambrian period. This geology, comprising fine-grained mudstones and siltstones, is typical of the region and would have presented both challenges and opportunities to farmers establishing their holding in the post-medieval period.
The farmstead represents the agricultural settlement pattern that characterised rural Kincardineshire from the sixteenth century onwards. Farms of this era typically comprised a dwelling house, associated agricultural buildings, and surrounding cultivated land, though the specific structures surviving at East Mains of Balfour require archaeological assessment to confirm their form and date within the post-medieval period.
The site is protected by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument under reference SM4888, recognising its significance to understanding the rural economy and settlement of early modern Scotland. The farmstead's survival in the landscape, despite the substantial changes to agriculture and land use over the intervening centuries, provides valuable evidence of how communities adapted their settlement patterns to the distinctive topography and geology of the north-east Scottish lowlands.
East Mains of Balfour,farmstead 550m NNE of is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4888. View the official record →
East Mains of Balfour is a post-medieval farmstead located 550 metres north-north-east of Balfour in Kincardineshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM4888.
East Mains of Balfour,farmstead 550m NNE of dates from the post-medieval period, and is classified as a farmstead. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
East Mains of Balfour,farmstead 550m NNE of is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM4888.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Castle Hillock,motte (7 km), Edzell Old Church and Lindsay Burial Aisle, 465m SSW of Edzell Castle (7.1 km), Gallows Knap,barrow 450m S of Dalhousie Lodge (7.6 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of East Mains of Balfour,farmstead 550m NNE of's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
East Mains of Balfour,farmstead 550m NNE of stands on Southern Highland Group, bedrock that formed in the Middle Cambrian. The rock here is pelite.