Starting at its junction with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury, the Oxford Canal reached Napton in 1774 and Banbury in 1778. Finally after a significant delay, it was completed to it’s destination, Oxford, in 1790.
Tooley’s, one of the oldest working dry docks on the Inland Waterways, has been in continuous use since 1778. It was established to build and repair the wooden horse-drawn narrowboats which plied the newly constructed canal network, so vital to the development of the Industrial Revolution. From completion for the next 15 years the Oxford Canal was one of the most important and profitable navigations being the main route between the Midlands and London.
Gradually, rail and then road transport eroded the importance of the canals (although during the Second World War they were once again used extensively), but Tooley’s, immortalised in Tom Rolt’s popular book ’Narrowboat’, kept on working up until 1995. Then its future was threatened by the Castle Quay development. But good fortune prevailed, and the site was saved and incorporated in the new Museum and Heritage centre.
Now a scheduled Ancient Monument and run by a private company, Tooley’s is in business. Its dry dock providing a service for the boating community and an opportunity for visitors to see work in progress. The fully restored workshops, dating from the 1930s include a carpenter’s store, a belt-driven machine workshop and a paint store. There is also a 200 year-old forge where a blacksmith plies his/her trade.
More recently, the wooden narrowboat Hardy built in 1940 was raised from the canal bottom, towed to the site and is in the course of restoration. The work is using all the traditional methods and we have had seek out and learn some of the original crafts. For a full description and to see recent progress see Narrowboat Hardy