Balallan has the distinction of being the longest village (4 miles measured from end to end) in Lewis

Lewis

Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....

 (and also in northern Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

). Straggled along the head of a long sea loch 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

Loch Erisort is an 8-mile-long narrow sea inlet on the east coast of the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland.Its name is a relic of the Viking period and came from Old Norse Eiríksfjorðr = "Eric's fjord"....

.

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 has a police house and a post office that sells various groceries.

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.