Work for local craftspeople
A contemporary account in the Oban Times, discussed in Johnny Rodger’s academic study, said that McCaig intended the building work to provide employment for masons and other artisans when work was scarce. Later heritage descriptions commonly refer to winter employment.
This practical purpose matters, but it was not the whole story.
A public ornament for Oban
Contemporary descriptions presented the proposed complex as an ornament to the town and a public acquisition. The central tower was intended to include a viewing platform. A museum and art gallery were also contemplated.
These plans show that the project had a civic and public dimension. The surviving garden and viewpoint continue part of that public role, even though the intended buildings were never completed.
A family memorial
McCaig’s will proposed statues of himself, his parents and his siblings. That testamentary scheme made the family-memorial purpose explicit. Court proceedings later prevented it from being carried out.
It is therefore accurate to describe commemoration as one of the tower’s purposes. It is less accurate to say the monument existed only as a memorial, or only as an employment scheme.
What remains interpretation
Historians can reasonably connect the project with Victorian civic pride, ideas about public improvement and Scottish monumental traditions. Claims about McCaig’s private emotions, vanity or personal anxieties are interpretations unless supported by direct documentary evidence.
The detailed purpose guide separates the documented motives from later commentary.
Sources and references
- Johnny Rodger, ‘McCaig’s Tower and a Scottish Monumental Tradition’Peer-reviewed academic article
- Trove / National Record of the Historic Environment: Oban, McCaig’s TowerNational heritage record
- Historic Environment Scotland: Battery Hill, McCaig Monument (LB38814)Official designation record