Moored at the end, the very end

Friday, 25 November 2011 15:02

Moored at the end of the Oxford Canal on the Hythe Bridge Arm means being prepared to be photographed! The towpath is used by walkers, boaters, students and tourists and everyone appears to have a camera of some sort, taking photos of the narrowboats. 

We are looking a little smarter thanks to John's hard work painting 

When the sun shines it is really lovely along here and further up too so I took my camera with me ......

This is the very end with a capstan and a 1990 commemorative plaque to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the canal.

Capstan at the end

Plaque

I wandered along the Arm and this is the view of Isis Lock from the footbridge

Isis Lock and Hythe Bridge Arm on the left

The South Oxford Canal stretched before me, it will not be long before we will be cruising up it towards our next mooring - wherever that might be! 

South Oxford Canal and winding hole (52ft max) above Isis Lock

I only went a little way further and this is the footbridge from the towpath above the lock with the first of the moored narrowboats just above the winding hole.

Isis Lock footbridge and the Arm

The 1869 St Barnabas Church is such a landmark. It is in the area known as Jericho, an historic part of Oxford with links to writers and boaters. The Church was built by Thomas Combe, the Oxford University Printer. The Oxford University Press had been relocated here in the 1830s and many of the workers at OUP lived in the developing Jericho. The campanile or tower can be seen from a long way away. It has a set of tubular bells (which we can hear if the wind is in the right direction) and a clock. The inside is impressive and there is an informative guide (PDF).

St Barnabas Church over the old boatyard site

Writers such as A N Wilson, Evelyn Waugh, Thomas Hardy, and poet John Betjeman have all mentioned St Barnabas' and of course Colin Dexter set one of his Morse crime novels in Jericho. Jericho Boatyard has been closed for a long time now and despite controversy, discussion and community support for development it is still the subject of debate and active participation of the various interested parties (see 6/5/11 update). Philip Pullman, another writer who set a couple of books (Lyra's Oxford and Northern Lights) in Jericho was a supporter of the boatyard.

Walking back the sun was beginning to disappear, but I could see why this part of the Oxford canal is so attractive to all.

Hythe Bridge Arm permit moorings

It was once described as a "beauty spot" with a "bottle menace". Back in 1985 an article appeared in the Oxford Mail about the "tramps and drunkards" who were turning it into an "eyesore of littered bottles and cans". The Oxford IWA regularly cleared the towpath. 

This photo of the volunteers was taken just about where we are moored (from the Oxford Mail, September 1985) 

We have been reliably informed that the Arm was full of rotting boats and a community of drunks living under Isis Bridge beside the lock, then known as Louse Lock. If it wasn't for the local IWA maybe the Arm would be still in a bad state, without visitor moorings and facilities.

Along the towpath are water points for permit moorers and one on the visitor moorings; electricity pods for the moored narrowboats and a sani-station for all. It will take a while to get used to using the BW Watermate key now we're back on the canals. We will have to remember to carry our keys at all times.

Narrowboats and sani-station

Our thanks must go to all involved both then and since: boaters, volunteers (including you Roger!), BW and Oxford Council. Sadly although the towpath and moorings are now clear, there is still a lot of graffiti.