Oban in Scotland in 1958
This vintage home movie shows the sea, countryside and town of Oban in Scotland as it appeared in the Summer of 1958.
When I started to watch this film I wasn’t sure where it was taken until the camerawoman panned over the town and I saw unmistakably McCraig’s Tower on the hill which identified the town as Oban. I recognised it because I posted a picture of it on this site’s sister site, found-film a couple of months ago.
Once I saw that feature which I recognised as Oban, there was almost no other detective work needed because the rest of the film is obviously taken in the same area. The date is not actually a certainty because I’m just going by the expiry date of the film which was Oct 1958, but I’m pretty sure the fim was taken within a year of so of 1958.
The film starts with pictures of a woman walking along the rocks on the coast of scotland with the sea in the background. After a while a steam ship is seen quite close to the shore and moving at a fair rate – I would guess that perhaps it has just left a port and is heading out to sea.
It is just after this section of the film that the town of Oban comes into view and as well as the Tower on the top of a hill we can see another ship moored at the quayside. I’d not realised from the pictures I’d published on found-film how big the town is, it covers quite an appreciable area.
There is then some close up footage of a smaller boat, but unfortunately it isn’t possible to make out the name of the vessel. After some shots of the sea and a smaller fishing boat returning to the harbour the film finishes, but there are some sections towards the end where the film has fogged so I had to edit the last 20 seconds or so of the film.
The first part of the footage looks to be taken from the area below Dunollie Castle, I would say the steamer is coming in to the bay. The second part is from somewhere near the now Oban lifeboat station, the last section with the small boat has been filmed just along the road past the now sailing club.
The first part of the footage looks to be taken from the area below Dunollie Castle, I would say the steamer is coming in to the bay. The second part is from somewhere near the now Oban lifeboat station, the last section with the small boat has been filmed just along the road past the now sailing club.