I took a walk up to McCaig’s Tower up above Oban this afternoon. It was a very grey day but the rain held off. John Stuart McCaig was a local banker and philanthropist, who commissioned the monument in 1897. He did it to create a way to create work for local stonemasons, and serve as a a monument to the McCaig family. McCaig died in 1902. He had spent £5000 on the monument and wrote in his will that £1000 per year should continue to go into the project. But according to the Explore Oban website, his family successfully challenged the will calling McCaig an “eccentric testator.” So the project was never finished.
Its not known for sure what the plan was for the finished structure, (perhaps an art museum and museum surrounded by the tower.) You can park next to the tower, or you can walk up some side streets and the 144 steps of “Jacob’s Ladder” (leg burn!) from the waterfront in town. It is worth a visit, and maybe you will encounter a sweet napping kitty ❤
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