McCaig's Tower, also known as McCaig's Folly, is a prominent tower on Battery Hill overlooking the town of Oban in

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It is built of

Bonawe Bonawe (; ) is a village in Ardchattan Parish Argyll and Bute, Scotland opposite Taynuilt on the north shore of Loch Etive, most famous for the shipping firm J & A Gardener's Bonawe Quarry - now owned by Breedon Aggregates Scotland Ltd (). Bo ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

taken from the quarries across

Airds Bay Airds Bay near Taynuilt, alt=Airds Bay near Taynuilt Airds Bay is a small bay south-west of Port Appin on the west coast of Scotland. It is located at the south-western end of Appin in Argyll and Bute, forming an inlet north of the mouth of Lo ...

, on

Loch Etive Loch Etive (Scottish Gaelic, ''Loch Eite'') is a 30 km sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It reaches the sea at Connel, 5 km north of Oban. It measures 31.6 km (19 miles) long and from 1.2 km ( mile) to wide. Its ...

, from Muckairn, with a

circumference In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out t ...

of about with two-tiers of 94 lancet arches (44 on the bottom and 50 on top). It is a Grade B Listed historic monument. The structure was commissioned, at a cost of £5,000 sterling (£500,000 at 2006 prices using

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), by the wealthy,

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er (North of Scotland Bank),

John Stuart McCaig John Stuart McCaig (sometimes styled as John Stuart McCaig of Muckairn and Soroba) was the second son of Malcom sic.html"_;"title="'sic">'sic''/sup>_McCaig_(a_farmer)_and_Margaret_Stewart_and_was_born_at_ 'sic''.html"_;"title="sic.html"_;"title=" ...

. John Stuart McCaig was his own

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. The tower was erected between 1897 and his death, aged 78 from

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...

, on 29 June 1902 at John Square House in Oban. McCaig's intention was to provide a lasting

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

to his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. McCaig was an admirer of

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and

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, and had planned for an elaborate structure, based on the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world t ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. His plans allowed for a museum and art gallery with a central tower to be incorporated. Inside the central tower he planned to commission statues of himself, his siblings and their parents. His death brought an end to construction, with only the outer walls completed. Although his will included £1,000 per year for maintenance, the will was disputed by his heirs; their appeal to the court was successful.

Legacy

The structure has been a Grade B Listed historic monument since 1971. The listing summary offers this information:

There was to be a central tower and statues in the arched openings. Dean of Guild Court retains drawings of a "stone and lime wall and granite tower, with freestone dressings" dated 1895, and of "stone and lime wall as an addition to the wall at present being erected" dated 1896, and a further addition to the height of the wall by in 1897.

The empty shell of the tower dominates the Oban skyline, and is now a public garden with magnificent views to the islands of

Kerrera Kerrera (; gd, Cearara or ''Cearrara'') is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, close to the town of Oban. In 2016 it had a population of 45, divided into two communities in the north and south of the island. Geology The oldest bedrock ...

, Lismore and

Mull Mull may refer to: Places *Isle of Mull, a Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides ** Sound of Mull, between the Isle of Mull and the rest of Scotland * Mount Mull, Antarctica *Mull Hill, Isle of Man * Mull, Arkansas, a place along Arkansas Highway ...

. It is reached via the 144 steps of Jacob's Ladder or by car, but the car park is quite small. The first wedding ceremony conducted in McCaig's Tower was between Oban High School teachers Jim Maxwell and Margaret Milligan and was reported in the '' Oban Times'' published 11 July 2003. Also reported in the ''Oban Times'' drinking of alcohol is prohibited in the tower under local by-laws.Oban Times Archive 2004 - Police announce drinking in public clampdown

References and notes

External links

(QuickTime required) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mccaig's Tower Folly buildings in Scotland Scottish case law Oban Tourist attractions in Argyll and Bute