Oban

Oban, a fashionable watering-place of Argyllshire, 84 miles WNW. of Stirling, and 136 of Edinburgh, by a railway opened in 1880. It curves round a beautiful and almost land-locked bay, which, sheltered from every wind by the island of Kerrera on the west and by the high shores of the mainland, forms a spacious haven, crowded in summer by yachts and steamers. A mere 'clachan' when Dr Johnson visited it in 1772, Oban began to be feued in 1803-20, and in 1832 was constituted one of the Ayr parliamentary burghs. It is now the great tourist headquarters of the West Highlands, possessing some thirty hotels and splendid steamboat facilities. Objects of interest are the picturesque ruins of Dunolly and Dunstaffnage Castles (see ETIVE), and a prehistoric cave-dwelling, discovered in 1890. Pop. (1821) 1359; (1871) 2413; (1881) 3991; (1891) 4956.