McCaig's Tower
Encyclopedia
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
on the hillside (called Battery Hill) overlooking Oban
Oban
Oban Oban Oban ( is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. It has a total resident population of 8,120. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William and during the tourist season the town can be crowded by up to 25,000 people. Oban...
in Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It is built of Bonawe
Bonawe
Bonawe is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland opposite Taynuilt on the north shore of Loch Etive, most famous for Bonawe Quarry . Bonawe is primarily a linear settlement along on the B845 road and the coast.-Etymology:...
granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
taken from the quarries across Airds Bay
Airds Bay
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 Loch Creran. The bay looks out over the Lynn of Lorn, between Loch Linnhe and Loch Creran....
, on Loch Etive
Loch Etive
Loch Etive 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 in length and from 1.2 km to in width...
, from Muckairn, with a circumference
Circumference
The circumference is the distance around a closed curve. Circumference is a special perimeter.-Circumference of a circle:The circumference of a circle is the length around it....
of about 200 metres with two-tiers of 94 lancet arches (44 on the bottom and 50 on top).
The structure was commissioned, at a cost of £5,000 sterling (£500,000 at 2006 prices using GDP deflator
GDP deflator
In economics, the GDP deflator is a measure of the level of prices of all new, domestically produced, final goods and services in an economy...
), by the wealthy, philanthropic
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
er (North of Scotland Bank), John Stuart McCaig
John Stuart McCaig
John Stuart McCaig was the second son of Malcom [sic] McCaig and Margaret Stewart and was born at Clachan, Isle of Lismore, Argyll, Scotland on 11 July 1823 and baptised at St Moluag's Cathedral, Lismore.He died aged 78 from Angina Pectoris, on 29 June 1902 at John Square House, Oban, Argyll.He is...
.
John Stuart McCaig was his own architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
. The tower was erected between 1897 and his death, aged 78 from Angina Pectoris, on 29 June 1902 at John Square House, Oban, Argyll.
McCaig's intention was to provide a lasting monument
Monument
A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, or simply as an example of historic architecture...
to his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. McCaig was an admirer of Roman
Roman architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted certain aspects of Ancient Greek architecture, creating a new architectural style. The Romans were indebted to their Etruscan neighbors and forefathers who supplied them with a wealth of knowledge essential for future architectural solutions, such as hydraulics...
and Greek
Architecture of Ancient Greece
The architecture of Ancient Greece is the architecture produced by the Greek-speaking people whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland and Peloponnesus, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest...
architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, and had planned for an elaborate structure, based on the Colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. 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.
McCaig of Muckairn and Soroba
John Stuart McCaigJohn Stuart McCaig
John Stuart McCaig was the second son of Malcom [sic] McCaig and Margaret Stewart and was born at Clachan, Isle of Lismore, Argyll, Scotland on 11 July 1823 and baptised at St Moluag's Cathedral, Lismore.He died aged 78 from Angina Pectoris, on 29 June 1902 at John Square House, Oban, Argyll.He is...
(sometimes styled as John Stuart McCaig of Muckairn and Soroba) was the second son of Malcom [sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
] McCaig (a farmer) and Margaret Stewart (6 June 1796-2 August 1865) and was born at Clachan
Clachan
A clachan is a type of small traditional settlement common in Ireland and Scotland until the middle of the 20th century. It is usually defined as a small village lacking a church, post office, or other formal building. Their origin is unknown, but it is likely that they are of a very ancient...
, Isle of Lismore
Lismore, Scotland
Lismore is a partially Gaelic speaking island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. This fertile, low-lying island was once a major centre of Celtic Christianity, with a monastery founded by Saint Moluag and the seat of the Bishop of Argyll.-Geography:...
, Argyll, Scotland on 11 July 1823 and baptised at St Moluag's Cathedral, Lismore. He is recorded in various census and documents as being a draper's assistant(1851 Census); Inspector of Poor
Poorhouse
A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
(1861 Census); Merchant(1871 Census); Banker(1881 English Census and 1891 Scottish Census; Death Certificate) and the Gas-Works
Gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is a factory for the manufacture of gas. The use of natural gas has made many redundant in the developed world, however they are often still used for storage.- Early gasworks :...
Director.(1901 Census) He owned the North Pier in Oban and was forced to sell/rent it to the newly formed Harbour Authority in 1895.
He had 8 siblings;
| Name | Date of Birth | Place of Birth | Date of Death | Place of Death | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duncan | 10 July 1822 | Isle of Lismore | 22 July 1902 | John Square House, Oban | Captain and Honorary Major Major Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ... in Argyllshire Volunteer Artillery. Awarded Volunteer Officers' Decoration in 1892. Draper Draper Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild... (1851 and 1861 Census); Merchant Merchant A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant... (1871 Census); Banker(1881, 1891 and 1901 Census; Death Certificate) |
| Dugald | 9 October 1824 | Isle of Lismore | 9 December 1885 | John Square House, Oban | Inland Revenue Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty... Officer(1851 and 1861 Census); Annuitant Annuitant Annuitant defined: A person who is entitled to receive benefits from an annuity.Since 2000, in the United States of America, Federal and State agencies have allowed the re-hiring of retired employees without the loss of their retirement benefits. Such a "re-hire" is referred to as an annuitant... (1871 Census); Merchant Merchant A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant... (1881 Census; Death Certificate) |
| Donald | 31 December 1825 | Isle of Lismore | 11 April 1886 | The Manse, Muckairn, Argyll | Appointed by Queen Victoria as Minister(1861, 1871 and 1881 Census; Death Certificate) to the church and parish of Muckairn Taynuilt Taynuilt is a large village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland located at the western entrance to the narrow Pass of Brander.-Location:The village is situated on the River Nant about a kilometre before the river flows into Loch Etive at Airds Bay. This is just to the west of a narrowing of the loch down... in 19 July 1859. |
| Jane | 27 April 1827 | Isle of Lismore | 19 February 1876 | 365 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow | Milliner(1871 Census; Death Certificate) |
| Catherine | 6 February 1829 | Isle of Lismore | 1 July 1913 | John Square House, Oban | Annuitant Annuitant Annuitant defined: A person who is entitled to receive benefits from an annuity.Since 2000, in the United States of America, Federal and State agencies have allowed the re-hiring of retired employees without the loss of their retirement benefits. Such a "re-hire" is referred to as an annuitant... (1871 Census) |
| Peggy | 13 August 1830 | Isle of Lismore | 21 August 1887 | John Square House, Oban | aka Margaret - Milliner(1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881 Census) |
| Ann | 14 February 1832 | Isle of Lismore | 18 February 1902 | 303 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow | Milliner(1871, 1891 and 1901 Census; Death Certificate) |
| Peter | 29 June 1833 | Isle of Lismore | Before 1841 Census | Unknown - Probably Isle of Lismore | Died in Infancy |
None of Malcom's children are known to have married.
John Stuart McCaig's Will
McCaig made many wills but the latest one set aside the money from his heritable estate - yielding a yearly rental of between £2,000 and £3,000 and a moveable estate of £10,000 - as a charitable trust to continue construction, with the University of GlasgowUniversity of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
acting as trustee. The Will contained the following settlement
Settlement (trust)
In the context of trusts, a settlement is a deed whereby real estate, land, or other property is given by a settlor into trust so that the beneficiary only has the limited right to the property , but usually has no right to transfer the land to another or leave it in their own will...
and codicil
Codicil (will)
A codicil is a document that amends, rather than replaces, a previously executed will. Amendments made by a codicil may add or revoke small provisions , or may completely change the majority, or all, of the gifts under the will...
:
Settlement
Settlement (trust)
In the context of trusts, a settlement is a deed whereby real estate, land, or other property is given by a settlor into trust so that the beneficiary only has the limited right to the property , but usually has no right to transfer the land to another or leave it in their own will...
dated 20 January 1900.
"The purpose of the trust is that my heritable estate be not sold, but let to tenants, and the clear revenue or income be used for the purpose of erecting monuments and statues for myself, brothers and sisters on the tower or circular buildings called the Stuart McCaig Tower, situated on the Battery Hill, above Oban, the making of these statues to be given to Scotch sculptors from time to time as the necessary funds may accumulate for that purpose; also that artistic towers be built on the hillock at the end of Airds Park, in the parish of Muckairn; and on other prominent points on the Muckairn estate, and on other prominent places on the various estates; such in particular on the Meolroor of Balagown, lying north-east of Kilachonish Farmhouse. My wish and desire is to encourage young and rising artists, and for that purpose prizes be given for the best plans of the proposed statues, towers, &c., before building them."
Codicil
Codicil (will)
A codicil is a document that amends, rather than replaces, a previously executed will. Amendments made by a codicil may add or revoke small provisions , or may completely change the majority, or all, of the gifts under the will...
dated 18 February 1902.
"Further, in order to avoid the possibility of vagueness of any kind, I have to describe and explain that I particularly want the trustees to erect on the top of the wall of the tower I have built in Oban, statues in large figures of all my five brothers and of myself, namely, Duncan, John, Dugald, Donald, Peter, and of my father, Malcolm, and of my mother, Margret, and of my sisters, Jean, Catherine, Margret, and Ann; and that these statues be modelled after photographs. And where these may not be available, that the statues may have a family likeness to my own photograph or to any other member of my foresaid family; and that these statues will not cost less than one thousand pounds sterling, and that money to come out of the accumulated clear revenue"
The Will was challenged by his surviving sibling, Catherine, taking 5 years for the settlement to be found in her favour. In a landmark ruling the Court of Session
Court of Session
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal....
decided that the tower was not a charity as it was self-advertisement and not in the general public good.
Catherine McCaig's Death and Judicial Hearing arising from her Will
Catherine died at John Square House, Oban on 1 July 1913 aged 84 leaving an estate worth £69,593. (£6,093,261 at 2006 prices using GDP deflatorGDP deflator
In economics, the GDP deflator is a measure of the level of prices of all new, domestically produced, final goods and services in an economy...
) In her Will in 1913 she left instructions to commission the statues of herself, her siblings and parents to be placed in the Tower. In 1915 the Court of Session overturned her will for the same reasons that she had overturned her brother's testament. During the hearing prior to ruling the following discourse between their Lordships and the Dean of Faculty of Advocates
Faculty of Advocates
The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary...
(representing the beneficiaries) was noted in The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
:
Court of Session (Second Division) - Wednesday, 20th January 1915
The Lord Justice Clerk said it was a good thing it was limited to statues and not to obelisks such as were set up. These things were monstrous. Both HaddingtonHaddington, East LothianThe Royal Burgh of Haddington is a town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the main administrative, cultural and geographical centre for East Lothian, which was known officially as Haddingtonshire before 1921. It lies about east of Edinburgh. The name Haddington is Anglo-Saxon, dating from the 6th...
and LinlithgowLinlithgowLinlithgow is a Royal Burgh in West Lothian, Scotland. An ancient town, it lies south of its two most prominent landmarks: Linlithgow Palace and Linlithgow Loch, and north of the Union Canal....
were disfigured. It was a disappropriation of architecture. These obelisks were on top of a hill, and were about 150 ft (45.7 m) high. They could be seen fifty miles away. It would be useful if Zeppelins would come and knock them down.
Lord Salvesen said that the bequest might be looked upon a a kind of charitable bequest for young sculptors. At all events, Peter, the infant might be treated judiciously, there being no family likeness to trouble the artist, he being an infant at the time of his lamented death.
The Lord Justice Clerk said that they could get a prize baby to copy from. He noticed that the statues were now to be hidden away. They were to be on the top of the great tower before and to be of colossal size.
Mr Aitchison, for the beneficiaries, said that about the only purpose that would be served by the statues would be that archaeologists would have discussions about 2000 years hence. (Laughter)
Court of Session (Second Division) - Thursday, 21st January 1915
The Lord Justice Clerk: - Mr McCaig might look splendid in a Roman toga. (Laughter)
The Dean of Faculty: - Our own statesmen are always enveloped in a toga which they never wore. They would have been taken up for indecent exposure if they had. (Laughter)
Lord Guthrie: - If the statues were put in the place would be called “McCaig’s Folly.”
The Lord Justice Clerk: - It is called that already.
Ruling of the Court of Session
The Court's of Session ruling was as follows:
Court of Session (Second Division)
(Before the Lords Justice-Clerk and Lords Guthrie and Skerrington)
The McCaig Statue Case
Special Case – Alex. Duffus, &c. (Miss C. McCaig’s Trs.), &c.
Judgement was given in the special case brought for the determination of questions which have arisen under the will and codicilCodicil (will)A codicil is a document that amends, rather than replaces, a previously executed will. Amendments made by a codicil may add or revoke small provisions , or may completely change the majority, or all, of the gifts under the will...
of the late Miss Catherine McCaig, of John Square House, Oban, who directed her trustees to execute certain works at the McCaig Tower, Battery Hill, Oban, and to erect eleven bronze statues of near relatives, including one of an infant, within the Tower, each statue to cost not less than £1000. These works and statues were made a first charge on the revenue of the estate, and were to be completed before certain other purposes of the will came into force. Beneficiaries under the will challenged the validity of the deed, maintaining that they were entitled to receive payments of annuities without postponement until the statues and other works had been erected and completed. The trustees contended that the directions of the will were valid, and that they were bound to proceed with and complete the erection of the statues and other works before making payment to the other parties.
The Division decided that the bequest was invalid.
Lord Salvesen, whose opinion was read by the Lord Justice ClerkLord Justice ClerkThe Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session.The holder has the title in both the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary and is in charge of the Second Division of Judges in the Court of Session...
, said the first question of law put to them was, whether the beneficiaries were bound to submit to postponement of their annuities until the statues and other works directed by the codicil had been erected and completed out of the free revenue of the trust estate. If the directions in the codicil were valid, and must be carried into effect by the trustees, the question fell to be answered in the affirmative, and, accordingly, the only question raised in the case was the validity of these directions. It was noteworthy that no beneficial interests were created by the bequest in favour of third parties. Even the public would have no right of access to the inside of the tower, for special provision was made for keeping them out by means of railings across the existing openings on the ground level, and the ground enclosed was expressly declared to be a private enclosure. The trustees alone would have the privilege of from time to time entering this museum of portrait statues of a relatively obscure family. There was, so far as one could see, no person who had a title to enforce the erection of the statues, and there were no descendants of any member of the family alive who might take pleasure in contemplating (if he were permitted to do so) the proposed representations of the forms and features of his relatives. The expenditure of this large sum on statues, which was directed apparently from motives of personal and family vanity, would serve no purpose all the more seeing that the family had virtually become extinct. It could not be of benefit to the public, because the enclosure in which the statues were to be erected was one to which they would have no right of access. The question appeared to be decided by the unanimous decision in the previous case of McCaig. There were no legal grounds of distinction, and accordingly their duty was to declare the bequest wholly void. His Lordship was prepared to hold that the bequest was contrary to public policy on more than one ground. In the first place, he thought so because it involved a sheer waste of money, and not the less so that the expenditure would give employment to a number of sculptors and workmen, for it must be assumed that their labour could be usefully employed in other ways. He thought further that it would be a dangerous thing to support a bequest of this kind, which could only gratify the vanity of testators who had no claim to be immortalised, but who possessed the means by which they could provide for more substantial monuments to themselves than many that were erected to famous persons by public subscription. A testatorTestatorA testator is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of his/her death. It is any "person who makes a will."-Related terms:...
might still leave his means to be expended in stone and lime which would form a monument to his memory, provided the bequest he made served some useful public purpose, and was not merely for his own glorification. The prospect of Scotland being dotted with monuments to obscure persons who happened to have amassed a sufficiency of means , and cumbered with trusts for the purpose of maintaining these monuments in all time coming, appeared to his Lordship to be little less than appalling. If a bequest such as that in Miss McCaig’s codicil were held good, money would require to be expended in perpetuity merely to gratify an absurd whim which had neither reason nor public sentiment in its favour.
Lord Guthrie said the elements which influenced him in thinking the provisions of the testatrix’s codicil relative to statues in McCaig Tower unnatural, not customary, and unreasonable, were
- (1) because, so far as natural, customary, and reasonable, the desire was or would be fully satisfied by the memorials already erected under the testatrix’s settlement;
- (2) because of the inappropriate place selected in relation to the people to be commemorated;
- (3) because of the method of commemoration by bronze statues of people of whom it would be impossible to make non-ludicrous representations without abandoning likeness and without putting the people into picturesque costumes which they never wore;
- (4) because of the proposal to make statues of two of whom, the testatrix’s father and her infant brother Peter, there were no materials for making any individual representation;
- (5) because of the proposal to make a statue (recumbent, he presumed) of Peter, the infant, to cost not less than £1000;
- (6) because of the absence of limit of price, the trustees being entitled to spend thousands, say, by the employment of a leading London or Continental artist; and
- (7) because the testament and codicil ordered the erection, within a short distance of each other, of two statues to the same person – namely, Major Duncan McCaig.
The statues would not, in fact, achieve Miss McCaig’s object of perpetuating an honourable memory. They would turn a respectable and creditable family into a laughing-stock to succeeding generations.
The Lord Justice-Clerk, who concurred, said that with reference to a remark made by Lord Guthrie, where he spoke of a testator ordering his money to be thrown into the sea, he thought such an order might be more rational than the orders given to the trustees in this case.
Lord Skerrington did not hear the case.
The Court of Session did allow the setting up the Catherine McCaig's Trust, which is ongoing and promotes the study and use of Gaelic and provision of various buildings for inhabitants of Oban.
Here and Now
The empty shell of the tower dominates the Oban skyline, and is now a public garden with magnificent views to the islands of KerreraKerrera
Kerrera is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, close to the town of Oban. In 2005 it had a population of about 35 people, and it is linked to the mainland by passenger ferry on the Gallanach Road....
, Lismore
Lismore, Scotland
Lismore is a partially Gaelic speaking island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. This fertile, low-lying island was once a major centre of Celtic Christianity, with a monastery founded by Saint Moluag and the seat of the Bishop of Argyll.-Geography:...
and Mull
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
. The first marriage to be conducted in McCaig's Tower was between Oban High School teachers Jim Maxwell and Margaret Milligan and was reported in the Oban Times
Oban Times
The Oban Times is a local newspaper, based/published in Oban, Argyll and Bute and covering the West Highlands and Islands of Scotland and reporting on issues from the Mull of Kintyre to Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland, to the Inner and Outer Hebridean Islands with Argyll, and Lochaber as its...
published 11 July 2003.
Also reported in the Oban Times drinking of alcohol is prohibited in the tower under local by-laws.
External links
- Panorama of McCaig's Tower (QuickTime required)