Battery Hill before the monument
The hill was already a conspicuous site above Oban before McCaig’s project. Historic maps held by the National Library of Scotland help place the Battery within the expanding nineteenth-century town, whose harbour, railway, tourism and civic buildings were developing rapidly.
Planning and construction, 1895–1900
Historic Environment Scotland records Dean of Guild drawings dated 1895 and 1896 for a stone-and-lime wall, granite tower and additions. A further proposal in 1897 increased the wall height by 15 feet. The National Record of the Historic Environment describes the surviving ring as having been begun in 1895 and left unfinished by 1900.
The date 1897 remains common on visitor information because it corresponds with a prominent stage of visible construction. A careful account therefore treats 1895 as the beginning of the documented scheme and 1897 as a major construction date, rather than forcing the evidence into a single start year.
McCaig’s death and the unfinished scheme
McCaig died in 1902. By then only the outer part of his much larger concept existed. His will sought to continue monumental and commemorative work, but litigation brought by his surviving sister Catherine resulted in the will being set aside in 1907. A later attempt in Catherine’s own will to fund family statues was also rejected by the Court of Session.
From unfinished project to public landmark
The building remained an empty monumental ring. Its enclosed ground was landscaped, and the site became valued as a public garden and viewpoint. McCaig’s Tower was designated a Category B listed building on 20 July 1971. Historic photographs and aerial views document its continuing dominance of the Oban skyline.