McCaig's Tower On Visit To Oban Argyll and Bute Highlands Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video clip, with Scottish music, of McCaig's Tower on Battery Hill in Oban on ancestry visit to Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands. The tower is built of Bonawe granite taken from the quarries across Airds Bay, on Loch Etive. John Stuart McCaig was his own architect. The tower was erected between 1897 and his death, aged 78 from cardiac arrest, on 29 June 1902 at John Square House, Oban, Argyll. McCaig's intention was to provide a lasting monument to his family, and provide work for the local stonemasons during the winter months. McCaig was an admirer of Roman and Greek architecture, and had planned for an elaborate structure, based on the Colosseum in Rome. 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. The surname McCaig was first found in County Galway, Irish: Gaillimh, part of the province of Connacht, located on the west coast of the Island. spelling variations of the surname McCaig include; MacTeige, McTeige, MacTigue, McTigue, MacCaig, MacCaige, McCaig, McCaige, MacKaig, McKaig, MacKeague, McKeague, McKeage, MacTague and many more. Duncan McCaig was convicted in Edinburgh, Scotland for 14 years, and transported aboard the ship Circassian on 4th November 1832, arriving in Tasmania; William McCaig, aged 22, was a labourer, who arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, aboard the ship Madawaska in 1833; John McCaig, who arrived in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, America, in 1852; Robert McCaig landed in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, America, in 1876. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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