McCaig's Folly Tower, Oban Argyll, follies and folly towers at follytowers.com (original) (raw)

M c C a i g `s F o l l y

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Often when looking for a folly, you see your objective from a distance but encounter problems finding it when nearer, especially if it is a tower in woodland. If though you go to Oban in north west Scotland you cannot fail to see McCaig`s folly looking down onto the harbour.

John S McCaig
It was built over a three year period starting in 1897 by John Stewart McCaig an Oban banker of considerable wealth as the cost of the folly was in the region of £5000 (UK pounds). His interest was of Roman and Greek architecture and having travelled widely in Italy he built his own 'copy' of the Colosseum, although the main difference in his structure is that it is round instead of the oval shape of the roman original.
The plan was for a museum to be housed in the structure along with a central tower, and for statues of himself and his family to be erected in the windows ( some sources say on the parapet ) overlooking the city, but McCaig`s death saw the end of the project.

Legal Wrangling
He had made provision in his will for several thousand pounds each year to be made available for the work to continue, however this was successfully challenged by his surviving sister Catherine. The judges in their report calling McCaig an, "eccentric testator", and so the folly now stands an empty shell. The structure with its two foot thick walls rising forty feet against the skyline is not wasted though, as the interior has now become a public garden.

McCaig`s Folly illuminated at night

Co-Ords: 186100 730230 / NM 861302

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