Oban War & Peace Museum at the Old Oban Times Building

A Town’s Story in a Historic Newspaper Home

Standing on Corran Esplanade just north of Oban’s North Pier, the Old Oban Times Building now shelters a quietly compelling museum dedicated to the town’s wartime and peacetime history. Originally the headquarters of the local newspaper, The Oban Times, this building has long been a hub of community life, first as a place of news and now as a keeper of memory. Since 2006, its ground floor has been home to the Oban War & Peace Museum, a modest but richly layered space that traces how Oban lived through conflict and change over the last century.

From Wartime Hub to Island Gateway

The museum’s roots lie in a 1995 exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, which drew such a strong response from local families that a permanent museum became a natural next step. Its focus naturally leans toward Oban’s military role, especially its time as a RAF Coastal Command flying boat base at Ardantrive Bay on Kerrera. Models of Sunderlands and Catalina flying boats evoke the days when aircraft operated from Oban Bay, patrolling the sea lanes and defending the west coast. Alongside these are uniforms, medals, and personal items that speak to the lives of local men and women who served.

Peacetime and Progress

True to its name, the museum also looks beyond war. A striking painted board of Calmac ferries celebrates Oban’s enduring role as a vital link to the islands, while displays cover the town’s development as a terminus for the first transatlantic telephone cable in 1956 and the engineering marvel of the Cruachan pumped storage hydro scheme at Loch Awe. Ship models, including one of the Royal Yacht Britannia, and objects like an ornamental plate from the Boer War, help connect Oban’s story to wider national and imperial history.

Intimate Exhibits and Local Voices

Inside, the museum feels personal and carefully curated. Near the entrance, a large Thomson-Houston projector from Oban’s first cinema, destroyed by fire in 1958, stands as a reminder of everyday life and culture. Further in, exhibits on McCaig’s Tower and other local landmarks ground the collection in the town’s built environment. An audio-visual area at the rear offers a concise overview of Oban’s history, making the museum accessible to visitors of all ages. Because it is run largely by volunteers and funded by donations and a small gift shop, each visit supports a genuinely community-driven effort to preserve local heritage.