- Location: Duncraggan Road, Oban, PA34 5DP
- Opening times: 24 Hours
- Entry: Free
- Access: Free parking at McCaig’s Tower
Locals refer to it as McCaig’s Tower, while those from outside the Oban area mostly call it McCaig’s Folly. One name fits perfectly, the other less so. McCaig’s Tower is no such thing, being instead a circular wall 200 metres in circumference, ringed with two levels of open lancet windows and a couple of arched entrances, one to the east and one facing westwards. Due to being built on uneven ground the height of the wall varies, but an upper limit of fifteen metres is no one’s idea of a tower. Perched above Battery Hill, it looks like a slightly squat Coliseum.
The tower was commissioned and designed by one John Stuart McCaig, who, according to the plaque above the entrance, was an art critic, philosophical essayist, and banker. This dedication suggests that McCaig was, in the local vernacular, “pure dead up himself”, for while he was indeed an agent for the town’s branch of the North of Scotland Bank there is no record of any written works regarding art or philosophy. Such pretensions stretched to his original plan for his structure, which was to have included a hundred-foot tower within the circular wall, which would have served as some ill-defined area for the arts. Furthermore, in a display of unabashed egotism, statues of McCaig, his parents, and his siblings were to watch over the town from the lancets. Fortunately, the funds for this grandiose monument to self ran out in 1902 when McCaig went all Ozymandias on us and died, leaving only the elegant building we see today.
Which brings us to the alternative name, McCaig’s Folly. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a folly as “a costly ornamental building with no practical purpose, especially a tower or mock-Gothic ruin built in a large garden or park”. Which is basically another way of saying, “See McCaig’s Tower”. Some defenders of the Oban-preferred name will point out that the Folly had another purpose, in that, like the Fyrish Monument, it provided local people with employment during lean times, but there is no evidence this was part of McCaig’s thinking. Yes, it provided work, but only because McCaig was more egotist than philanthropist.
I worked briefly in Oban, back in the days when Frankie said Relax, and Wham! said Choose Life, and Bob said Feed the World, and the tower has changed somewhat since. Then, the interior consisted of gravel pathways, scuffed grass, and a smattering of bushes shivering against the walls like petrified wallflowers. Now, it is a full-blown arboretum, which, presumably by design rather than accident, focuses on native British trees and bushes. Here is an elm, a sycamore, a birch, some conifers; there is a bramble bush, bearing its dark fruit; there too some holly, some red-tipped pieris, some ivy climbing the walls. Whereas the interior of the tower was once quite barren, it is now lush, almost welcoming.
Another welcome change is that the attraction is positively bustling. Back in the ‘80s Oban relied heavily on coach tours full of pensioners, for whom the steep climb to the tower would have been too much. As a result, one would share the tower, if at all, with the occasional dogwalker or underage drinker. Today there is a steady stream of people of all ages, and of all nationalities. As I take some photos I overhear some French, German, and Italian, as well as American and Japanese accents.
Passing through the tower leads to an archway that takes the visitor out onto a platform overlooking both town and bay. To the left is Pulpit Hill, Oban’s other great viewpoint, and to the right, St. Columba’s Cathedral. In between is a magnificent sweep of the islands and the sea. Directly ahead is the Isle of Kerrera, where King Alexander II died of fever in 1249, and beyond that, the blue-grey mass of Mull. Kerrera seems to have grown a marina since the ‘80s, and just to its right the obelisk of the Hutcheson Monument bridges the land and the sky; along with his brother, David Hutcheson founded D & A Hutcheson, a forerunner of the current Caledonia MacBrayne ferry services that connect the islands. Across on Mull and further west stands Duart Castle, across the sound from that, on the tip of the Isle of Lismore (where McCaig was born), stands that island’s eponymous lighthouse. The lighthouse was completed in 1833, and its first Principal Light Keeper was one Robert Selkirk, a descendent of Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Between the mainland and the three islands, the grey seas are peppered with white sailboats. Visitors may come for the tower, but they stay for the view.
Destination or Diversion?
McCaig’s Tower is no more than a diversion, even with its wonderful views, but the town of Oban makes for a pleasant destination, and unlike many other British seaside resorts, it is still thriving. There are no vacant lots here; indeed, the town has been successful in attracting such high street stalwarts as Waterstones, Fat Face, and the Whisky Shop. There is a healthy cross-section of local shops too, as well as a good selection of eateries and pubs. Other attractions include the Oban Distillery and, a short distance west, Ganavan Sands beach.
