ABOUT JERICHO - LANDMARKS

Oxford canal

Jericho is almost at the end of the Oxford Canal

The canal is one of Jericho's most attractive amenities.

Posted - December 25, 2012

Its towpath offers an alternative route to the city centre. The canal was completed in 1790 as a way of linking Oxford with the West Midlands (it reaches just north of Coventry). But the arrival of the railways eventually put paid to the canal for industrial transport and it is now used solely for leisure craft. For a detailed history, see the page in the 'Jericho Sketchbook'. Jericho is virtually the end of the canal, so many visitors moor here. We used to have two boatyards to hire boats and to service them. One yard, Orchard Cruisers has now closed, but the other,'College Cruisers, is still going strong. The Oxford Navigation Company was floated in 1769 and received enthusiastic support from both the City and University. At that time the country was suffering some of the hardest winters of the Little Ice Age when the average January temperatures were 2.5°C lower than the present day and prolonged heavy snowfalls regularly blocked the roads. The prospect of a cheap, reliable and fast means of bringing coal, raw materials and manufactured goods from the growing industrial centres of the West Midlands to Oxford was very enticing.

Funds were soon raised and James Bradley appointed as surveyor and engineer to build a 91-mile canal from Hawkesbury, just north of Coventry, to Oxford. The first section to Banbury was completed by 1778 and by 1788 the canal had reached Hayfield Hutt, the old tavern by Aristotle Lane, now replaced by the Anchor. Here a coal wharf was built. The last section into Oxford which included the terminal basin and wharves along New Road was opened on 7th January 1790 with a civic ceremony; the price of coal fell about eightfold. The canal was built to a minimum bed width of 16 ft and a depth of 5ft throughout its length allowing two standard narrow boats to pass. It was flanked by a 7ft wide towpath and numerous narrow bridges were built to permit the tow horses to cross from side to side and local bridges for carts and wagons. Until the Grand Union Canal was finished in 1794 the Oxford canal was the fastest means of getting from the Midlands to London. That it made steady profits can be seen from the magnificent Wyaston Hall in New Inn Hall Street which was its first company offices. This is now the entrance to St. Peter's College. The company was affected by the building of the railways in 1850 and in 1878 the offices were moved to Canal House on Bulwarks Lane, now the lodgings of the Master of St. Peter's.

The first firm in Jericho to take advantage of a canal site was Carter Ironworks in 1825. Five years later Henry Ward built his coal wharf at the end of what is now Nelson Street. Further growth was delayed by waterlogged ground but by the end of the 1870s the whole front was built up, with a chain ferry over the canal at Ferry Road, renamed Combe Road in 1959. The footbridge to the north is very recent, about 1976. Trade engendered by the canal prospered until the end of the 19th century by which time it was being undercut by the railways; nor were the railways latterly doing much better.

Finally in 1937 Lord Nuffield bought the terminal basin and its wharves on which to build his new college and the canal was terminated at Hythe Bridge Street. Trade continued at a low level with a slight resurgence during the 1939-45 war; in 1942 223 barges docked in Oxford. Commercial traffic virtually ceased on the southern section of the canal in 1956 when only 16 barges were recorded. Most vessels now using the canal are pleasure boats. A few are houseboats. All the wharves are now closed. The last to go was the Jericho wharf where barge conversions were carried out and pleasure boats serviced. This too is being converted to housing. Much of the canalside land in Jericho is now due to be redeveloped, which has led to a national controversy over the use of the site and particularly the loss of the valuable community boatyard which had been established on the Orchard Cruisers site. Further information from Jericho Wharf Trust. There is also talk of reopening the former canal basin, currently submerged under Worcester Street car part.

This article is largely derived from the Jericho Sketchbook

Did you know?

The origins of Walton?

Walton is derived from "wall town" which was used centuries ago to indicate a location outside the Oxford city walls. The ancient manor of Walton was certainly in existence before the Norman conquest in 1066.

About the church bells?

Originally the Church only had the single ‘Barney’s Bell’. In 1890, when the clock was installed, it was decided to add a set of tubular bells to ring the chimes and the hour strike, as well as a tune or ‘carillon’. The are driven by an elaborate mechanical contraption.