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Ballone Castle is a large late 16th century Z-plan tower house. It consists of a main block of three storeys and a garret, and a round tower and square stair-tower projecting from opposite corners. There are two ruined stair turrets. Corelled-out bartizans crown the corners, and have shot-holes and stone roofs. A courtyard enclosed ranges of buildings, including a bakehouse.
The arched entrance, at the foot of one stair-tower leads to the main turnpike stair, which climbs only to the first floor. The upper floors are reached by the turret stairs. In the square tower is a guardroom and small adjoining vaulted prisons. The main block basement is vaulted and contains the kitchen, which had an arched fireplace; and wine cellar, with a small stair up to the hall above. The hall on the first floor had a private chamber off the main block.
The lands were a property of the Earl of Ross, but passed to the Dunbars of Tarbat in 1507, then to the Mackenzies in 1623, who were made Earls of Cromartie in 1703 and changed the name to Castlehaven. It was abandoned in favour of Tarbat House, a three storey classical mansion, in the late 17th century, and wa ruined by 1680. Although long unroofed, the castle has been restored.
References:The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.