In Scotland what does Bal mean eg Balmoral, Balblair etc?

Bally is an extremely common prefix to town names in Ireland, and is derived from the Gaelic phrase 'Baile na', meaning 'place of'. It is not quite right to translate it 'town of', as there were few, if any, towns in Ireland at the time these names were formed. For example, Ballyjamesduff [Place of James Duff] (county Cavan), Ballymoney (county Londonderry). The Irish name for the site of present-day Dublin was 'Baile �tha Cliath', which, if anglicised, would be spelt something like 'Ballycleeagh'. Note that 'Dublin' is actually a Viking word.