McCaig's Tower

Above the harbour of Oban, on Battery Hill, stands something that looks at first like a Roman amphitheatre dropped onto a Scottish hilltop. McCaig's Tower is a great ring of granite, roughly 200 m round, pierced by two tiers of slender lancet arches — 44 below and 50 above — that frame the sky from inside and the sea from outside. It was built from Bonawe granite quarried across Airds Bay on Loch Etive, and it dominates the Oban skyline from every approach, whether by road, rail or the ferries that come and go below.

It was the idea of John Stuart McCaig, a wealthy banker with the North of Scotland Bank and an admirer of classical architecture, who acted as his own architect. He began building in 1897, with two aims: a permanent monument to his family, and winter work for the town's stonemasons. The plan was ambitious — a museum and art gallery inside the ring, a central tower, and statues of himself, his parents and his siblings. When McCaig died in 1902 only the outer wall was finished, and nothing more was ever added. His will left money to maintain the tower and to raise statues and further "artistic towers" in Oban, but his heirs challenged it, and in 1907 the Court of Session set the trust aside as contrary to public policy; a similar bequest by his sister Catherine met the same fate in 1915.

The unfinished shell turned out better than any museum. Inside is a quiet public garden, and from the arches the view opens over Oban Bay to the islands of Kerrera, Lismore and Mull. The tower is a Category B listed building. Come near sunset, when the low light turns the granite warm and the ferries to the isles slip out below.

Getting there

The tower stands on the hill directly above Oban town centre. It is reached on foot by the 144 steps of Jacob's Ladder or by car, though the car park at the top is small. Oban railway station, next to the ferry terminal, has direct trains from Glasgow Queen Street along the West Highland Line, a journey of a little over three hours. The practical airport is Glasgow Airport (GLA), about 90 miles (145 km) away by road, under two hours' drive. Fort William, the nearest larger town, is about 50 km to the north.